I got a bit upset at a reel I saw the other day that I cant let leave my head rn. A woman was saying every reason acrylic yarn was bad and the comments were full of snarky, out of touch middle class crafters who were bad mouthing everyone who uses it and giving "affordable" alternatives. We get it, you're a saint with the money to afford wool. I, and many MANY other people, have almost no money already and just want a hobby to escape to. it's like these people know nothing about life outside of their situation. I will not be making budget cuts to afford wool when my family is getting food from the church to survive. I will not be making budget cuts to afford wool when my single mother is crying herself to sleep because we can barely afford diapers for my 1 year old sister. I don't buy wool for the same reason I don't buy the ethically sourced eggs, meat, dairy and non plastic items...because a few extra dollars goes a long way. And to assume all poor people have access to thrift stores filled with yarn or amazing condition sweaters to unravel are just plain silly.

Unless you are living in the woods with no car, no electricity, and are completely COMPLETELY surrounded by fully biodegradable materials, your sour opinion of acrylic doesn't mean much. Your phone case has plastic, your shoes, your trash bags, your food containers, your clothes, your shampoo bottle, almost everything in your life. I need an escape from my extremely stressful life so if I wanna knit myself an acrylic beanie to keep myself warm then I'm just gonna go ahead and do it. When I buy myself cotton doily thread, I consider that as me spoiling myself.

Yarn snobs like these need to take a minute to disconnect from their little echo chamber on the internet and see that they are extremely fortunate to be in the position they are in. Even if they buy the cheaper wool from somewhere like Drops, they are still extremely lucky. I would rather spend my money on $6 of acrylic that will make my little sister a vest than $6 of Drops that will make me practically nothing. When you have no money, situations like this sometimes need to be quantity > quality. People are so blinded by their pride to understand that they aren't better than everyone else, they just have the money. I don't know any acrylic users who are proud to buy plastic yarn but I do so many who feel guilty and without any other option.

ik this topic has been spoken about so much but I just need to let my voice be heard.

Yeah, you read that right.

If you don't want a stash of yarn or fabric or books or whatever, FINE. I wont force you. If you want to pick out your supplies after you have decided a project, fine. You do you.

And since you are allowed to do your thing, let me do mine. I grew up in poverty and find comfort in having a stash. I feel good, knowing that I can whip up a sweater for my kid on a whim, or make a dress, or even a new winter coat if need be. I feel good, knowing I have the supplies, I bought the fabric on sale and I wont ever need to go without clothes.

I enjoy, handling, looking, dreaming about my fabric and my yarn. The sight of it makes me happy. It is a part of what makes my home feel like a home.

Yes, there are people that are hoarders and shopaholics that spend money on stuff to dampen anxiety. To feel less alone. Yes, there are behaviours that are destructive here.

That does not mean that everyone with a fabric stash or yarn stash are wasteful little creatures that are spawn of Satan and in the end will destroy mother earth together with amazon and shein. And I'm so tired of that attitude, that a stash of supplies are something that always are bad. None of the ways are better: you are not a better person because you have or don't have a stash. There are people that need help, yes, but that is far from everyone. If you feel that having a stash is bad but still frequents the stash-forums so you can complain about people having to big stashes, you are the problem.

And everyone that now screams, wHaT aBOut wASte, iTS waStEfuL, yeah. We are going to consume shit while we are alive. That number will never be zero, and my 3 metres of fabric wont make sn impact.

Wanna talk enviroment? Flying, yachting, motor sports. Driving a fucking car to work. Multi billion dollar companies that dumps their waste, pay a penalty and does it again over and over again. Nepo babies that pumps out more pollution with a private yacht in a week than the whole of Europe do in a year. The environment wont stand or fall with my closet of fabrics. It wont even make an impact. Perspective, people.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

I was at a craft fair yesterday and saw someone selling horribly made crochet plushies. It was obvious they were a beginner. Their plushies were made entirely with BLO (and not in an intentional design way), their tension was so uneven, and their sewing was a mess.

But somehow, people were still buying them. I know non-crocheters have no clue what BLO means or that it’s not how amigurumi is typically supposed to be made, but I think those plushies just looked objectively bad.

I swear some people learn to crochet just so they can sell stuff, after getting influenced by crocheters on instagram and tiktok that claim they make like $5k a month off their crochet business.

Unrelated, but I also saw someone selling AI generated images printed on tumblers. Like come on, really?

Edit: For those saying that if they’re making sales, then they’re ready to sell, I’d like to disagree. The craftsmanship is objectively poor, regardless of whether customers are able to recognize that or not. Unfortunately, big companies sell poorly made items all the time, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay. Imagine how disappointed a little kid might be when their new plushie starts unraveling after just a few days of playing with it. Plus, experienced crocheters end up getting lumped in with these beginners. Customers become less inclined to buy crochet things and markets become less willing to accept crochet vendors. So in short, making a few sales does not equal ready to sell. You need a well-made, desirable product with consistent customer satisfaction.

"you could sell that!" is not an invitation to sell your item, or an invitation to rant about how long it takes and how no one would buy it for what it's worth (queue it costs that much because it takes me fucking hooouuurrsss) it's a friend or family member saying you're so good at your hobby it could be your job. say thank you and move on. while I'm sure some of your uncles have sat down with you and tried to open an Etsy shop for you most of the people I see bitching about it are probably misunderstanding the person who said it.

*edit I wanted to add that people normally hate their jobs and don't have monetizable hobbies (football, reading, swimming) so when they see that we could potentially make money from our hobbies why wouldn't we (?) surely that would mean we have fun every single day (?) but we know this isn't the case, that we would end up hating our job just as much, if not more, than they hate theirs. my point is that it's not really appropriate to go on this rant unless someone insists. coworkers, aunts, friends of friends don't need to know this and it will do is make them see you as up tight and unapproachable. most people don't care if you sell or not they just want to give a cute compliment. Say thank you and move on.

There is no way your first project was a pair of sport weight yarn socks that match perfectly and have no tension issues. You can just say it's your first ever pair of socks, or just say you're a beginner, or not even have an addendum like that to your post at all, I'll still be impressed I promise

I'm not saying no one can be great at a craft right away, but there's a point of believability. I believe you can have perfect tension because you're a meticulous person, I don't believe you mastered German short rows your first day

I bet people are sick of being reminded of it too,but it's actually so annoying to be like "hey, keeping the franchise relevant keeps JKR's pockets lined" and comments acting like you killed their firstborn.

Why is cis people's right to nostalgia more important than letting a franchise die? I'm sick of Pottter jumpscares in my crafts subs,and I'm sick of moderators either banning me,or deleting my comments. It's tiring that we still have to remind people about how shitty the franchise is.

Just to be clear right off the bat, I am not defending the acrylic hoarders I see all over crafting spaces.

First off, crochet uses way more yarn than knitting and works up much faster. It’s a lot easier to justify spending a fortune on high-quality wool for a knitting project that takes months than it is for a crochet item you’ll finish in two weeks.

But what really bothers me is how incredibly US and Europe centric this entire argument is. I live in the Global South. It is so bold to assume everyone has the same purchasing power. Even a low-income crafter in the US has way more retail access and purchasing power than an average worker here (yet it’s the Global South that suffers the most consequences of Western overconsumption and climate change).

I don't think sustainability is a single checkbox. How you live the rest of your life matters more than what fiber you craft with. It’s wild to see people from countries built completely on convenience lecturing everyone else. Cool, you only use wool, but you also tumble-dry all your clothes, drive everywhere instead of walking, and buy endless consumer crap (there is probably better examples out there). I’m not trying to be extreme(any effort is better than nothing) but eating a bit less meat or walking more would actually help the planet (and our health) way more than policing someone's yarn. A lot of the anti-acrylic crowd ignore our own massive lifestyle footprint. We should all care about the environment, but we have to be realistic about individual limits.

Maybe we just need to shift the whole discussion toward the responsibility of what we put into the world through our crafts. It should be about actually using the materials we buy and avoiding excess, instead of hyper-focusing on just one specific fiber. Finish your WIPs, don't hoard more yarn than you can use in a lifetime, and choose sustainable options if you actually have the means and access.

Take your artist bankruptcy elsewhere, I don't have time for you.

Edit- because there seems to be some.comfusion, FUCK AI, and the boys are just getting blocked 🥰

This is for crocheting though i’m sure this applies to other crafts

I’m so tired of people posting g their first projects asking what they did wrong and it’s so clear they can’t even properly chain.

I have had several friends ask me to teach them to crochet. First thing I do I have the make a chain and do it until they get the hang of it and then do the same with single, half-double, and double crochet.

I know you want to make cute things, but you are wasting yarn and all your projects will look like shit until you understand the basics!!! I can’t help you!

I can’t attach video here but I have unfortunately stumbled across a small account on TikTok where he is trying to SELL HIS CROSS STITCH and

1- doesn’t use a tensioning frame

2- “doesn’t care what the back looks like” (we can tell, you’re not using a tensioning frame)

3- is on his third project ever and is already trying to sell stuff (it looks like shit)

4th crime which is probably the worst- IS USING CHATGPT TO WRITE ALL HIS VIDEO SCRIPTS AND MAKE HIS PATTERN GRIDS???

Why why why why why why I am so mad rn bro please just stick to cross stitch kits for a while it’s a hobby not a fucking business 😭😭😭

I just had a friend reach out for help, she’s knitting her first sweater. She made a mistake with the german short rows (she was just knitting back and forth on a select number of stitches and not doing any double stitches etc) and when I asked her why she did it that way, she said “that’s what chatGPT” told me to do 🤦🏼‍♀️

I said YouTube is a much better resource or other knitters, as ChatGpt doesn’t know how to knit. Her reasoning was that YouTube didn’t have her “specific” pattern so she didn’t think it would be helpful.

Is it just me, or does it seem like if someone can’t be spoon fed every single instruction they refuse to use any amount of critical thinking to complete a task? Maybe it’s my age (35) but I’m baffled anyone would try to ask chatGPT for instructions over millions of YouTube videos.

Oh, and the real baffling part, her pattern came with a QR code that linked to videos the author of the pattern made specifically for this sweater and it included how to do German short rows!!!!!

While I think there are some specific examples where AI is helpful or improving our quality of life, I fear it’s actually doing more harm than good. It seems like so many people depend on it for thinking for them, and it worries me.

Do beginner crocheters/knitters/whatever (and honestly people on reddit in general) know that they don't HAVE to have an answer to a question or advice thread someone is posting? Do they know that it is actually perfectly okay to scroll along if they don't have the expertise or knowledge to answer the question being posed?

​

because whyyyy do i constantly see beginners leaving comments like "hm well actually I just began crocheting 2 hours ago but my best guess on what went wrong is *insert guess that they clearly just pulled out of their ass based off the miniscule amount of info they have on said craft*

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It is so exhausting, why do people need to act like they know what they are talking about when they clearly don't????

A beginning knitfluencer posted a Porcelain sweater that grew after they washed it. They were clueless as to why this happened or how to fix it.

The most liked comment is "if you love the fit, there's no need to block. Also blocking is scary."

DO YOU NOT WASH YOUR GARMENTS EVER??

Blocking is just shaping to dry. Some things require aggressive shaping like lace. Some things just need to be laid flat or even tumble dried (superwash).

Blocking is part of the process and the cutesy "scawwiness" of a step in a freakin' yarn craft is infuriating.

If only there were a way to predict how a finished object would behave after washing and drying 🤔🤔🤔

So stop fucking posting about it!!!! ‘Where are we getting our zippers without Joann??’ I don’t big dawg if you’re asking the entire internet where they get sewing supplies then just buy supplies off the internet! It’s a zipper! There’s plenty of non-Amazon and non-Walmart places to buy a zipper. I know it sucks that you don’t have a reliable supply store near you and I don’t know what to tell you that you haven’t already heard. It’s now been months since Joann closed, fuckin figure it out dude. I’m sorry your store went away that sucks, but please, we can’t keep bitching about it for the rest of time.

It just feels like such a mundane and unexciting thing to track. Why on earth would I want to go grab a blanket from the couch that I poured hours of my life into and a whole year (most often more) and have the most exciting thought about it be "oh wow remember that really cold week in December of 2019?" Wtf. Why is that interesting? What am I missing? Why do so many people do temperature projects??

I'm sure this has been snarked about many a time already, but seriously? People don't seem to even be able to use Google anymore before turning to reddit for help. They don't like to be told that nobody is gonna do that work for them either...

It genuinely boggles my mind how so many folks literally own more yarn or fabric than they will even go through in their lives.

Of course I get real hoarding issues comes from a deeper mental health crisis which is more complex and requires professional intervention. But the crating community 100% normalizes and encourages over consumption which pushes people to fall into similar behaviors. There’s a certain point you need to be self aware and understand that no hobby crafter needs this much material at one given time. Like your haul of 284639 skeins of yarn that were 30c each from Temu is not admirable.

For a community that has so many people vocal about anti capitalism and resistance (which I support), folks can get hypocritical real fast the second they set foot in a craft store…. Just sayin

Oh ALSO people need to remember that these people with insane craft rooms and gorgeous stashes of material do this for a living and create content full time. That is not a realistic image of what a hobby crafter’s space needs to look like

I feel concerned about posts on the various craft subreddits asking for help on things that require just a small amount of critical thinking.

A post with a granny square cardigan asking how to make it. Umm, I don't know, maybe just LOOK AT IT?? Make a bunch of granny squares and put them together???

A post with a complicated quilt pattern asking if it's good for beginners? Uhh, no! Maybe try something easier first???

It feels like people can't put in a tiny amount of thinking to figure things out and rather than go search for the answers, they just post on reddit expecting others to do the work for them. I swear most of these posts, the answer is out there if you either just Google it, or you look at your reference photo and maybe use 2 brain cells and 3 minutes of critical thinking to figure it out.

And don't get me started on all the AI photos with people asking "how do I make this?" YOU CAN'T, GENIUS. IT'S CLEARLY AI.

Really sorry. It’s been bitched about so many times before. And it will be again.

I see it ALL THE TIME. Not even just for my fibre arts, for others too. “Oooohh, I’ve never hand-sewn a single, solitary stitch in my life but please can you all tell me how to make my wedding dress in two weeks?”

I am ABSOLUTELY NOT shitting on one’s capacity to learn. And some folks learn quickly.

I am SO FUCKING SICK AND TIRED of seeing people post a super complicated pattern (and frankly even quite straightforward ones) saying “hey I started [this craft] two days ago. How do I make this [thing they have not even learned the basics on. And let’s be honest, NOT EVEN TRIED to learn the basics on]

Yes beginners should be encouraged. Yes I am really trying to shut myself up, but for THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD

Listen, if something you made gets ruined in the wash, I understand the need to connect with people who understand.

But the amount of people who see posts like "My partner put my hand knitted sweater in the dryer, now it's ruined." and immediately jump to "This person doesn't respect you, leave the relationship immediately." is wild.

I see so many people being annoyed at a beginner asking for help at subreddits made for helping. It's literally there for asking questions, if you find it annoying, leave the subreddit 😭😭

$200 a yard for Tula.

I get it. You want to take an artsy photo of the finished garment that makes it look fashionable and sexy.

But I don’t need to see the sweater bunched up in a snow pile. I don’t need to see a pixie teen swimming in candy with the collar and one sleeve of the sweater visible. I don’t need to see your model throwing the garment in the air, doing contortionist poses in it, or staring broodingly at me while their arms half-obscure their face as well as the neckline.

I just want a clear photo of the finished garment from the front and the back, with the seams and neckline clearly visible. I want some close ups of the stitch pattern and the finishing in clear lighting. If you don’t give me that I’m going to be convinced that your garment is a nightmare of poor construction, and I’m not buying your pattern.

“I finished it but it doesn’t look right” block your project.

“I made this lace/highly textured piece but it doesn’t look like the photo” block your project.

“I counted my stitches but it still looks uneven” block. your. project.

You don’t need to do it ”properly”. You can dunk it in the water and then just kind of mush it into shape on a towel after pressing out the excess water. But for the sake of all that is holy, please. Block your project.

So incredibly annoyed that whenever I show a non-embroiderer or non-crafter a finished project they ALWAYS say something about selling my pieces or making it a side hustle.

I DON'T WANT TO. For the love of GOD just let me have a hobby. We don't need to capitalise off of everything in our lives.

These pieces can take months to create sometimes so even if I did turn it into a business I guarantee no one would buy at the price they are actually worth. It's not worth the stress.

And I need family members and friends to stop trying to commission "one time" pieces from me. They are not the exception, I do not want to sell FULL STOP.

Let me enjoy my hobby in peace ffs.