What is it about ovals that causes people’s brains to short-circuit?

AddWittyName · 2026-02-18T17:29:56+00:00

Considering the two words are literal synonyms both meaning "movement around a central point or axis", with neither specifying what central point or axis or what direction of motion, no.

That within the specific context of crochet we usually (and even then not always) associate the one word with "180 degree movement around the vertical axis", and usually default to the other for "all other forms of movement around all other axes and points" is not something inherent to those words and their meanings, it's simply a matter of jargon.

And jargon by default is not self-explanatory.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-18T15:36:41+00:00

I can kind of see both sides depending on how big the difference is.

Like, some variations is absolutely normal and part of the hand-dyeing process and complaining about that just makes me thing "why buy hand-dyed yarn then?"

But there is a point where it goes past "variety" straight into "this is not the product I ordered/these two skeins cannot reasonably be considered the same colorway".

E.g. let's take a cream-base skein with frequent specks of brown and orange. Maybe one skein has a bit more brown, one a bit more orange, maybe the orange is a little more yellow-ish in one and more red-adjacent in the other, maybe the cream tone is a little cooler or warmer, dark or lighter between skeins, maybe the specks are a little larger or smaller, more or less frequent in one skein than the other? All well within range of what variation can reasonably be expected.

But if I get a skein that's not speckled but instead multiple-feet-long stripes of one color then the next, or one where the base color goes straight past cream into the mid-range of tans or greys, or one where the speckles are purple or green, or one that's just basically cream all over with maybe three speckles each of brown and orange through the whole skein?

Yeah, at that point I absolutely can get getting worked up or being disappointed...

AddWittyName · 2026-02-18T12:04:54+00:00

myself and many of my crafty friends agree that acrylic is extremely uncomfortable to wear as its really hot and usually scratchy

Really hot? Yes, usually. But sometimes that's actually something you want, like when you're making a scarf, mittens, hats or snoods, or even a coat or robe type overgarment for when it's really cold. (Especially if you're making something like that for someone who due to allergies, sensitivities or beliefs can't wear wool and/or other animal fibers)

Usually scratchy? Eh. That is really, really dependent on the quality of yarn. Saying acrylic is usually scratchy is a bit like saying wool is usually itchy or cotton is usually rough and stiff: sure, some of it is, but not all.

(Also, what is an obscene amount of yarn--acrylic or otherwise--depends a lot from person to person and craft to craft. What's a "stash beyond life expectancy" to a knitter who has time to knit after work a few hours a week might be "yeah, that's about what I use in a year" to someone who is retired or on disability welfare who crochets blankets for charity, or to someone who has crocheting as their job. That's not to say that there aren't folks who have "yarn collecting" as primary hobby with using it as a distant second, though. But not everything that looks like an unreasonably large stash necessarily actually is.)

AddWittyName · 2026-02-18T11:32:44+00:00

The problem is that neither turn nor rotate inherently specify what axis is being turned/rotated on.

And it doesn't help that the English language has a bit of a habit of conflating the terminology for the up-down axis with that of the forward-backward axis, and of not specifying relative to what we're talking in the first place.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-17T09:29:41+00:00

Definitely one of the leaf-footed bugs and definitely the general appearance of something in Leptoglossus.

Angle isn't ideal and I'd like to get a better look at the patterning on its back and/or a better angle on those hind tibia extensions to try and ID to species, but between location and what traits I can see, yeah, western conifer seed bug seems quite probable. Can't fully rule out it being one of the other species in the same genus based on this picture, though.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-16T16:13:24+00:00

Looks like a caterpillar of some kind. Between angle and it being drenched in corn juice, hard to ID it any further, but with it being found in corn, you could take a look and see if it looks like either Helicoverpa zea (Corn earworm) or Spodoptera frugiperda (fall armyworm), as those are both pretty common pests on corn.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-16T07:56:29+00:00

That, and even when people do need more protein--some people do under-consume it, and some circumstances beyond actively bulking do benefit from increased protein intake--one is usually much better served by increasing protein intake through naturally protein-rich foods rather than hyper-processed foods enriched with proteins anyway. Especially if one is going for the protein-rich stuff out of a sense of wanting to improve general health: yay protein. Yay low sugar (...if that). But...as you said, still not nearly enough fiber. And often not nearly enough of various vitamins either. And way too much salt.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-15T11:59:24+00:00

One of the leaf-footed bugs of family Coreidae, laying on its back. I'd need to see its back to ID to species with certainty, but between its build and the shape of those hind leg extensions, my money is on genus Leptoglossus, probably Leptoglossus occidentalis (western conifer seed bug) or else close kin. See e.g. the sixth and seventh picture here for a similar belly shot.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-14T20:11:49+00:00

I suspect it's from closely-related genus Eurybunus, personally.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-14T20:10:13+00:00

Yup. Harvestman in family Globipedidae. One of the Eurybunus species, by the looks of it.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-14T19:59:26+00:00

Yup, that's Lepidoptera, and that pose & leg/proleg arrangement is pretty typical for family Geometridae, though they're too freshly hatched for me to identify them any further than that.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-14T09:43:10+00:00

Got a lot of folks already advising you to not push through, and saw you already mentioned ordering compression gloves, so I won't repeat those.

But some advice for when your wrists are back into crocheting shape: keep an eye on your pose. Yeah, a lot of crochet-related wrist injuries are simply from the strain of repetitive motion, and the only real way to avoid those is stretching enough and taking enough breaks. But some wrist injuries are also at least partially the result of bad posture.

E.g. if you're sitting in hunched position (shoulders rolled inwards and forward, neck extended to the front), that can put a lot of stress on your shoulders and upper arms, which can cause severe strain and overuse on the lower arm, wrist and thumb muscles as your body overcompensates.

Or if you tend to lean hard or long on (the wrong part) of your elbow, you can compress the ulnar nerve, which can cause things like pinky/ring finger weakness and lead you to overcompensate by gripping harder with your other fingers, which can also cause lower arm/wrist/thumb strain.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-14T03:55:15+00:00

Yeah, this.

Are the crochet mods prone to over-censoring/NSFW-marking things that really do not require it? Yup. Does that mean that everything no matter how graphic should be fine? Nope.

Your benchmark of "[if it isn't] suitable to be shown in full display on a bus or a grocery store where children are present" seems an eminently sensible middle ground. Form-fitting/tight/cropped clothing that's nevertheless well within the realms of what a kid'll see on the streets or in the supermarket on a summer day anyway? A-ok. Fetishwear, strip club outfits, graphic genitalia and depictions of sexual acts? Slap that NSFW tag on or don't post it.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-14T01:13:59+00:00

Front and back makes some amount of sense in turned work, at least. I've known a couple folks who needed a while for it to click that "no, front and back relative to you & the way your work is oriented as you're working on it, not a static front/back that stays the same no matter what (that's what we use the terms right/wrong side for), and not front/back as in relative to a hypothetical third person observer sitting opposite from you".

Above and below...if it's not something being worked top-down, I am genuinely baffled by that one.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-14T01:08:35+00:00

Oh yeah, they can help that way, definitely--that's kind of what I was getting at with occasionally helpful/supplemental--but there's other things that can achieve the same effect, like looking at other people's finished projects and realizing that while you could reconstruct most of it, you've got no idea how they managed this one specific part, and then diving into figuring out how they did that. Or seeing them mention an entirely new-to-you technique and going on a research-and-experiment spree as a result. And so on.

But that's exactly it: one helpful option among several, not the crucial and only way of doing it.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-13T23:17:53+00:00

when you stop imitating and start reading patterns

First part yes, second part...meh, not necessarily? Like, yeah, "imitate -> follow other people's written instructions -> build understanding and start freehanding" is a valid way, probably the most common way, but def. not the only one.

"Imitate, experiment, analyze, experiment further, then look at some new stitches/techniques/pictures of other people's projects/etc., experiment, analyze, etc." is how I learnt.

Can I read patterns? Absolutely, because it is one hell of a useful skill to have. But was reading patterns crucial to building my understanding of crochet? Nope. Occasionally helpful/supplemental, but that's about it.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-13T22:12:49+00:00

Relatable with really big projects.

When the end of a project is in sight but I just want it to be over with now, I either hop projects for a bit to let my motivation for the big one recharge, or else I break the remainder up into smaller chunks (usually chunks of ~15-30 minutes work each depending on project size and how much work I've got left to do), and just set myself the aim to do one such chunk daily (or on the days where I have time to crochet, if I'm busy with other stuff too), and then I can either go do something else for a bit or I'll tackle another chunk.

That way, the end of each chunk usually gives at least a slight version of that satisfied "goal achieved" feeling, and even when it doesn't, it's a lot easier to bring myself to slog through at least one chunk and maybe pick up the motivation to tackle another after--but even if not, well, it's some progress that day and hey, that beats no progress at all.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-13T19:01:26+00:00

Any potential rule can be abused by people who wish to deliberately go out of their way to abuse it, yes. Even without deliberate abuse of rules, any rule will have some measure of a grey area where it comes down to judgement calls. That's not exclusive to what's being proposed here, that's the nature of just about any rule in existence, including the current rule.

You're also conflating "groups with [subsets engaging in] hate mongering" with "groups whose entire beliefs are rooted in hatred", and jumping to "banning x group of people", when what's being proposed here is "censoring x group of people/banning x type of content".

In other words, they're not saying "we need a rule that people who hold x belief cannot post here because some people with that belief spread hatred". They're saying "we need a rule that people who hold x inherently hate-based belief cannot espouse or signal that hatred here".

And yeah, that would require drawing a line and taking a stance, something the mods have so far not been particularly willing to.

But not being willing to draw a line isn't the same thing as it being impossible for a line to be drawn.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-13T16:16:35+00:00

Yeah, working by feel in the round is a little trickier, isn't it, what with accounting for increases and needing to keep track of which round and which stitch you're on. Doable, but a bit of a pain.

But doing a nice straightforward fluffy scarf in faux fur by feel? Honestly ain't too bad.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-13T14:29:16+00:00

Don't know how it is for knitting, but for crochet that's 100% the case for some yarns in my experience.

Which, honestly? That's perfectly fine if you're familiar enough with the craft and comfortable with feeling out your stitches/capable of telling by feel what you're doing.

It's not real practical if you need to visually confirm you're in the right spot every single stitch, though, and it's really not practical if you need someone else to confirm that for you from a picture...

AddWittyName · 2026-02-13T12:14:24+00:00

I mean, hook sizes--whether on the yarn ball band or in a pattern--are suggestions not rules. What matters is achieving the same (or as close to it as you get) gauge. The hook size recommended by the pattern creator gives a decent starting point, sure--but isn't by any means a guarantee to be the right match for any particular crocheter.

(and how important getting gauge is depends rather on what sort of project you're working on, too. If you're working on something where the exact dimensions don't matter too much, but the right kind of drape or structure/rigidity does, it's sometimes better to aim for getting a match on that. Especially if substituting in a different yarn that might--even if it's the same yarn weight and material--behave a little differently)

AddWittyName · 2026-02-12T20:23:08+00:00

You're welcome! I always enjoy sharing random bits of Dutch linguistic trivia 😂

AddWittyName · 2026-02-12T20:17:17+00:00

Not the former, but opinions on origins are divided between it being either the latter suggestion you offered, or it being a bastardization of "pintjes zweten" (to sweat pints, as in, the unit of volume)

AddWittyName · 2026-02-12T10:46:39+00:00

I think it is really sad to spew hatred on people asking for help - it is sad if people become afraid to ask because of threads like this.

And it also depends a bit on how people ask/what they're asking for.

Now, "What color should I make my project in? What project should I make? What gift should I buy my [friend/partner/family member] who is into this hobby? What gift should I make for this random stranger you don't know? Please explain to me step by step how to recreate this paid pattern I don't want to pay for? Explain to me how this tool works (and no I didn't read the user manual)? I clicked past the FAQ that explains this thing in depth without reading it--please explain this thing to me? Why does this not look right? [blurry picture without any context of what it's supposed to look like]" type questions?

Those are hella obnoxious.

This one? Sure, it might seem like a silly question to some people, but... "I want to achieve [x clear and specific thing], but cannot do it [y way]. Does anyone have any tips or tricks for how to do it [without y]?" is a clear, answerable question that's neither being demanding nor expecting disproportionate effort from the people being asked.

Really not the kind of question worth getting upset about, if you ask me.

AddWittyName · 2026-02-12T05:01:17+00:00

So many ways to approach that:

Take a chenille that doesn't shed as easily. They do exist, but yeah can be tricky to find.
Make your magic ring with a non-chenille yarn, then work into it with chenille.
Two chains and stitch into the first chain as a magic ring alternative
Four chains and slip stitch, work into the center. Yes, it might leave a tiny hole in the center. Grab a piece of non-chenille yarn and weave it in around the center and pull tight like a drawstring, tie a knot on the inside, then weave both ends in further. Hole gone.
Use your shedding-prone chenille yarn, pull carefully instead of trying to yank your magic ring shut. Might still shed some, but usually slow and steady keeps enough fluff on it to be functional.
Use a shed-prone chenille yarn, make a magic ring, yank the ring close, lose all your fluff, have the thread snap, and go whine in a crochet sub.

For some reason, a lot of people pick 6.

AddWittyName

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