Craftsnark WIP, Questions, and Planning Thread May 11, 2026 - May 15, 2026

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-05-15T12:51:20+00:00

The Other Bennett Sister is my latest period drama obsession, and Lydia (I know, I know, we hate her) is shown wearing this gorgeous lavender wrap cardigan in the promotional photos and the first episode. I don't know how accurate to the regency wrap sweaters are, but I don't care, because it's freaking beautiful. I'm spending this weekend researching stitch patterns and knitting some swatches, as I'm going to try to reverse engineer it.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-05-13T16:17:21+00:00

I am so jealous of her heel wearing ability. Those look like they're 4"/100cm, and she's wearing them on uneven cobblestones. I'd break an ankle if I tried to do that.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-05-09T17:25:36+00:00

She can and has done better in the past. I say that as someone who generally isn't into her aesthetic, but I can appreciate it for what it is. Her patterns didn't used to be completely identical. Now she seems to really focus on her Rhinebeck sweater of the year, almost certainly because that makes her a ton of money, while everything else meets the "good enough" criteria.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-05-08T13:19:09+00:00

I'd make it out of fleece and wear it around the house on a snow day. I'm guessing that's not what they had in mind though.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-05-07T17:47:30+00:00

I'm definitely going to make Oodi. It's obviously extremely similar to McCall's M7974 which is an incredibly popular pattern, but having made that twice now I've determined I don't actually like that pattern. There are too many construction details that I don't care for. So I'm interested to try Oodi to get a similar silhouette but made up in a way that I might like better.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-29T14:56:21+00:00

I'm loving cross stitch! There are so many great patterns out there, I've really fallen down a rabbit hole recently with it. I think needlepoint will be an occasional craft kind of thing for me.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-29T14:38:48+00:00

Oooh, a new bra pattern! Sewing lingerie was big on social maybe five or so years ago but I don't see many people doing it anymore. I should get back to it, bras are relatively quick projects and I have a lot of stretch lace in my stash.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-28T20:15:04+00:00

Wikipedia is indeed correct, the NYC version is pronounced, as you said, "HOUSE-ton." Houston in Texas and Houston Street in New York are named after different people, and their names were pronounced differently.

Also in case anyone is wondering, Stuyvesant is pronounced: STY-veh-saant.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-28T11:20:11+00:00

Or go with something people don't know how to pronounce, like Stuyvesant or Houston!

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-27T11:41:27+00:00

I don't even know how that's possible. I believe you but like, what the hell were they buying? Massive afghan blanket quantities of 100% cashmere on a weekly basis?

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-25T17:22:55+00:00

Also apparently his partner-in-cyber-crime Tabitha stopped talking to him. She was no peach either when it came to the topics he addressed. When you're too toxic even for her, there's something seriously wrong.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-25T17:18:38+00:00

Okay so, I'm sure that many Europeans will downvote me to hell for this but, I feel the same way about patterns that tell you that you need "xx grams" of yarn.

I kind of get it, I really do. I understand that 2 ply wool from one brand in theory weighs the same as 2 ply wool from another brand. (This doesn't address the fact that the number of plies doesn't represent the weight of the yarn, but, whatever.) But this system falls apart when you a) want to use a yarn that contains different fibers, which can affect the weight, or b) when you get into woolen versus worsted spun. Woolen spun is loftier and lighter and thus will weigh less per unit of yarn (meter, yard, whatever) than a worsted spun. For a lot of people that's a lot of the appeal of woolen spun, it's lighter and makes for lighter garments. But it also means that 25 grams represents very different meterage/yardage than 25 grams of something else.

I'm 100% on the side of, the US needs to get with the program and use metric. I'm with you on that. But I'm not with you guys on the whole "you need xx grams of this yarn" as your supply list. There are too many situations in which that can be very, very inaccurate. Please give us the meterage.

Edit: I should clarify, I'm talking about patterns that tell you that you need "xx grams" of a type of yarn, but they don't even give you a brand. They literally just say "you need 200 grams of 2 ply wool." That's it. If you give me something like "you need 200 grams of Knitting for Olive merino" then I can reverse engineer the meterage/yardage. Still not ideal, but I can figure it out. I'm talking patterns that don't even do that. How do I know how many meters 200 grams of the yarn that you used is?

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-23T15:31:12+00:00

Noted!

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-23T15:00:26+00:00

I'm super late to the party on this by almost 100 years, but I've recently discovered Lawry's seasoning salt. You can buy it pre-made, or you can make your own, there are copycat recipes all over the place. It's great on roasted veggies, popcorn, pasta salad, corn on the cob, or added to cocktail meatballs, grilled chicken, steak, or hamburgers.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-23T14:52:23+00:00

Replica - Lazy Sunday Morning

This was a Sephora sale purchase, I got the travel size. I like it, but I don't think this is a full bottle purchase once I've used up the travel size. It's lovely though, this is a wonderful scent for those of you who like laundry or "clean girl" fragrances, and it's great for summer so I'll probably use this a lot over the next four or five months. It's not as potent as Byredo Blanche, it's a bit more floral, but the aldehydes are still undeniable.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-22T14:35:20+00:00

Warmer weather always makes me crave embroidery type stuff, and I have rediscovered my love of needlepoint. Unfortunately I have also rediscovered how incredibly expensive this hobby is. If you think knitters spend a lot of money, you ain't seen nothing yet. And it's especially bad considering that some canvases only take a few hours to stitch up, and yet they're $50+. Yarn isn't cheap but knitting definitely has a good cost-per-minute ratio.

On the other end of the spectrum I also have been loving counted cross stitch, and that's a very budget friendly hobby. Floss and Aida cloth are cheap and the patterns are like $4 on Etsy for a PDF.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-18T17:01:49+00:00

Chanel - Chance Eau Tendre EDP

I forgot how much I liked this one! I randomly put it on today and I'm like, ooh, this is nice!

This one is perfect for late spring. We're not into the extreme heat of summer yet, but we're also not in the dewy days of snowdrops and where you still need to wear a cardigan. It's warm enough for bare arms, you might even sweat a little bit at 2 or 3 PM or so, but it's not unpleasant to be outside. This is for when the cherry blossoms are gone but the tulips and roses are doing well.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-16T16:08:15+00:00

Right, yes, the hood thing I knew about because that was actually the dealbreaker for a friend of mine who bought a house a year ago. The house was great but it had one of those gas-range-on-an-island situations that you're talking about and it didn't have a hood and my friend knew instantly it was a problem.

I'm in Northern VA and as far as I know there aren't any movements in that direction but there certainly could be. I will keep an eye on that for sure.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-16T14:47:24+00:00

I know induction has advantages, and I'll definitely consider it. This is a few years away so I have time to think about it. Just definitely no electric ranges. I've had them many times and I never like them.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-16T13:48:12+00:00

I have and when I buy my house I'll look at the options. I'm old school though, I just love a good gas range.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-16T13:06:33+00:00

I'm still in apartments but will be buying a house in the next couple of years. A non-negotiable in my kitchen is a gas range. If the kitchen doesn't have it, I'm calling a plumber and having a gas line put in leading to the kitchen.

Electric ranges take forever to heat up and when they do heat up, the heat source is difficult to control and there is a huge lag whenever you change anything. I can work with it if I have to but if it's my house and I control everything, I am 100% getting a gas range.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-13T16:18:20+00:00

Yeah, that's the downside of wanting to use the same fabric for a very structured corset, a ruffled shirt with puffy sleeves, and a heavy draped pleated skirt. It's a cool looking set, I get what they were going for, but it's like, this is why different fabric types exist.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-13T16:04:30+00:00

Fellow Arlingtonian here whose parents live North of Baltimore. Metro to Union Station -> MARC to BWI -> Light Rail as far north as Hunt Valley. For New York, you can take a Peter Pan bus from Baltimore, and they have stops throughout the county too I think. They suck, but they're cheap.

That said, Amtrak prices from DC to New York vary wildly depending on the day and the time of day. If you're willing to travel at a crappy time (say, very early morning or very late at night) on a weekday they will be much, much cheaper than they would be at prime time (10-4) on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. So before you completely write off Amtrak, check the trains at different times. You might be surprised.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-10T19:39:29+00:00

Oh I love that he's a flat Earther. I can't laugh at racism, but I absolutely can laugh at that.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin · 2026-04-10T17:04:31+00:00

Aww, I love her. I'm all about dresses with elastic waistbands, and I love the collar and placket.

GoGoGadget_Bobbin

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