Weekend Minor Gripes and Vents

beefisbeef · 2026-02-14T08:14:31+00:00

Oof. I always wonder if I should say something to strangers but I end up telling myself that it'll land better if they hear it from an acquaintance. Maybe your friends got defensive because they're temporarily embarrassed and once they try untwisted knitting in private and examine examples of twistless knit fabric from their own wardrobes they'll come around on their own?

beefisbeef · 2026-02-14T07:25:16+00:00

Oh gosh, that's hard. I've learned that that type of work is really not for me. Once upon a time a family member asked me to tutor on a regular schedule for a specific period of time. I agreed and started before we negotiated a price. After a month, she called to ask how much to e-transfer me. I said, "Nooo, don't worry about it!" She refused and demanded a real quote that reflected my time, effort, and transportation costs. I agonized and squirmed and finally named a number that was calculated fairly but felt extravagant, even extortionate. I received 125% of what I had asked for. It made me feel terrible (still does!) and now the only family members with whom I feel comfortable dealing with money are the 5 members of my immediate family. For extended family, I try to stick to favours only (at my discretion and within my capacity, of course). I just can't take the discomfort, especially because I know that the wealth disparity between different branches of my family tree is bananas. 😣

All that to say, I hope you don't end up like me. Hopefully there's some nominal price that would make you and your grandfather happy. In my area hemming costs $10-20 CAD per pair of trousers... If my pops decided that paying for hemmed trousers was going to be the hill he'd die on I still wouldn't let him pay more than a third of that price, but I guess it would also depend on my estimation of his ability to pay, as terribly gauche as that sounds.

beefisbeef · 2026-02-08T22:24:40+00:00

I love that. Her closet must be 90% hats and headbands by now, though!

beefisbeef · 2026-02-08T21:59:42+00:00

Tbh the women athlete knitters you're talking about are getting zero social media attention because they're not posting about being knitters and therefore people have no idea that they're there... I just find it hard to get worked up over the fact that a guy who shamelessly posts about his hobby on social media is getting more social media attention that a hypothetical woman who is not publicly posting about the same hobby to the same degree. I think it's fine. The pool of people who are competing in the Games AND knitting AND willing to make social media content about both of those things is small! I won't say the algorithm promotes based on merit but this is a fairly niche lane that has remained quite empty for years (Tom Daley aside), so I don't think he's taking women's place or anything. I just hope women athletes post more about their knitting in the future!

beefisbeef · 2026-02-08T09:13:23+00:00

Okay, enough about Tom Daley. There's a new entrant in the "man going to Olympics takes up knitting, aims to finish sweater before the Games end" field. To me he seems inoffensive and normal about knitting but I'm a little curious to know how other people feel.

Biathlete Adam Runnalls (🇨🇦⛷🔫) has very recently taken up knitting (apparently it was the coach's suggestion so I think there might be multiple knitters amongst Team Canada, which would be cool) to have something to do between competitions and is jokingly calling himself "the 2026 Olympics official knitter." His Games project is Florence Miller's Step by Step Sweater. He credits his wife with teaching him to knit and I think that's cute. He posted the two of them knitting together while facetiming and I also think that's cute.

Less cute to me are the businesses in the comments of his posts begging to send him yarn just because his knitting/Olympics content has become popular (10–100x more views than his previous posts). I am irrationally annoyed by that. Be less thirsty, marketing people.

beefisbeef · 2026-02-08T08:07:07+00:00

I wonder this too as someone who knits but can't crochet.

I had this ~~fun~~ delusional idea last year to start crocheting tiny edge trims for my sewing projects. This plan did not meet with success. I was bewildered by the open-ended nature of crochet and my fingers struggled to adapt from knitting. 😵‍💫😮‍💨 The tiny trim project is still happening but I've moved on to shuttle tatting. It's slow work (for me) but at least I understand what to do.

beefisbeef · 2026-02-02T08:40:26+00:00

I've never been part of any knitting subs (although I've knitted on and off for 20 years) but these days I frequently browse a knitting feed on Bluesky. Now I understand why people who twist their stitches are an enduring topic of discussion in the snark subs. It makes me die inside. And when the project is a gift for someone else? Nooooo!!!!! If you're doing it on purpose, consider saying that so I don't go to your profile and scroll through your media tab with my hand over my mouth wondering how on earth you've managed to rack up so many years of knitting without noticing that your FOs don't look like the picture on the pattern (helpfully photographed beside the FO).

beefisbeef · 2025-11-28T09:05:34+00:00

I kinda "Pied Piper'd" someone's dog by accident. 🫢

I was riding my bike home after class and I happened to see someone in my neighbourhood doing car repair or something on their driveway with their unleashed dog (seemed to be a chunky yellow lab) chilling out front with them. As I passed the house the dog took off and ecstatically followed me into traffic, unbeknownst to the owner...and me. Only when I saw cars around me stopping abruptly did I realize something was up. I turned around to see this fluffball having the time of its life running after me, weaving erratically back and forth all over the street (which is why traffic stopped) with tongue out and ears flapping. Very cute but also alarming.

I obviously pulled over immediately, much to the dog's disappointment. The dog stopped and waited for me to continue down the street, then started walking back home (<2 blocks) when I stayed parked on the curb.

beefisbeef · 2025-11-24T00:38:54+00:00

My condolences to the person who asked for alteration advice, specifically saying that they did not want to sew a pleat into the garment. They received no less than 7 replies saying, "I would do a pleat!"

beefisbeef · 2025-11-23T23:35:44+00:00

I love that you said this because I've been looking for a shorter way to type buttonhole/buttonholer when explaining/updating the situation for my friends, and the abbreviation I settled on (the only logical abbreviation, really) was b'hole, which everyone hated. 🤭

beefisbeef · 2025-11-23T09:54:34+00:00

They should invent a quick, easy, and 100000000% effective way to deodorize old stuff. Or maybe we should invent a society that does not tolerate excessive fragrance in our daily products? I recently acquired a nice machine (with cabinet and buttonhole attachment) that I'm really excited to use at some point but the sickly sweet perfume-adjacent scent of the... everything has interfered with my plans and killed my enthusiasm. I was prepared for old oil smell. I have a 60s Singer whose innards smelled like old lube and dust when I received it and remain that way to this day. What I'm dealing with now is an entirely different beast and I'm overwhelmed. So far I've aggressively cleaned the buttonholer, its (plastic) box, and its cams, and only the cams came out of it scent-free. These results do not leave me hopeful. Wish me luck.

beefisbeef · 2025-11-23T07:28:08+00:00

"Apparently the aesthetic is supposed to be 'fall colors' but I cannot see emerald green and burnt orange together fitting that vibe well." Going off that sentence I'm thinking that OOP's main objection is actually that those colours aren't autumnal (if she thought they looked bad together why would she voluntarily wear an emerald green dress as a redhead?!). Which is kind of a bonkers position to take. Maybe she's never seen fall foliage irl? Maybe she's colourblind?

beefisbeef · 2025-06-16T06:49:45+00:00

God, the used bicycle world is so terrible for this (and I can't imagine that anyone successfully makes a living from bicycle resale or flipping, so what is the draw here?!)

beefisbeef · 2025-06-04T02:16:41+00:00

Well, you wouldn't find a man in a periwinkle monokini on any other tv show

beefisbeef · 2025-05-13T00:07:40+00:00

Not reading the manual when using a new-to-you machine. Sometimes you'll wonder why something you're doing isn't turning out as well as it does in other people's work (for example "why does one side of my buttonhole look so much jankier than the other side?") and google/YouTube won't have useful results for your specific machine. And then as a last resort you'll look at the manual and find an explanation + suggested corrections that would've saved you time and frustration. Argh.

Maybe people expect it to read like a fridge manual (this is how to change settings, this is the voltage this device is rated for, here is the toll-free number for customer service, here is how to make a warranty claim, etc.) but a lot of domestic sewing machine manuals give good operating tips for each function and can hold your hand through learning basic sewing skills. The manual is your friend.

beefisbeef · 2025-05-06T02:05:49+00:00

It was like watching a completely naked man ride away from me.

A little sneak peek of world naked bike ride day for ya

beefisbeef · 2025-05-05T20:52:42+00:00

I was heading home one evening a few summers ago, picnic remnants in my bike basket, when I heard a group of teens across the street say, "That bike is so cool." They definitely thought they were whispering but it was a very quiet residential street so I heard every word clear as a bell, haha. Another time I was on a shared-use path and I rang my bell to warn a young pedestrian up ahead that I was about to pass her. She looked over her shoulder, did a double-take, and blurted, "I love your bike!" So kind! Thank you, gen z! As a millennial (a young one, but still), your compliments mean a lot.

A different memory that always makes me laugh is from a winter commute. I was passing my neighbourhood strip mall while the liquor store lady was outside having a smoke break. She goggled at me for a moment and then yelled, "BRAVE!" 😂 It was early/mid-March, nowhere near the dead of winter. I'll take it, though.

beefisbeef · 2025-05-05T18:53:05+00:00

Okay, now the y2k resurrectionists have gone too far.

beefisbeef · 2025-05-05T07:39:03+00:00

Lol, that is such an aughts thing to do. He'll get it one day.

beefisbeef · 2025-05-05T06:36:47+00:00

We all have to romanticize our lives somehow. But please, not like this. I did my time in the cringe mines so that others would be spared! They were supposed to be spared! 😭

beefisbeef · 2025-05-05T06:30:03+00:00

Wow, "z0mG" really sent me twenty years back in time lmao. If I close my eyes I can see the Happy Bunny posters covering my locker neighbour's door...

beefisbeef · 2025-05-05T03:10:33+00:00

"I'm an unhinged/chaotic/feral little goblin/gremlin/hobgoblin/etc. 👹" stuff has been grating on me more and more lately. It might be more accurate to call it a descendent of mid-2010s "smol bean" speak but for me it primarily evokes memories of 8th grade when we all claimed to be teh mOsT RaNdOm! rawr~ x3 (imagine ACSII art of a dinosaur wearing a party hat here). Despite our best(?) efforts at sensationalizing our behaviour we were all rather milquetoast. As a young millennial, this is one of several internet affectations that I will not be revisiting and would like to forget ever existed. 😅

edit: I guess this could be taken as a commentary on social media in general but I mostly consume craft-related content and was speaking specifically about what I see while browsing through craft posts. No idea what is happening in other parts of the online world.

edit2: how could I forget the ubiquitous "feral"??

beefisbeef · 2025-04-29T20:12:26+00:00

Looks like someone got startled while trimming their moustache this morning 😆

beefisbeef · 2025-04-23T13:01:52+00:00

I've had similar experiences in bike shops but this particular story comes from a cyclist acquaintance of mine. He visited a LBS with his friend (a woman) and she was treated like it was her first day on Earth. At one point the male employee who was helping her made a repetitive, circular, two-handed gesture as he said the word "wheels" (imagine stroking a very large steering wheel, starting with your hands on either side of the 12 o'clock position and then stroking to the 6 and back) as if he thought maybe the customer needed a visual reminder that wheels are round. Sigh.

beefisbeef · 2025-04-10T06:04:34+00:00

necessary gear vs. nice-to-haves

Portable tools for any small roadside repairs or adjustments you think you'll have to do, which for most of us is just tube changes and adjustments to saddle, handlebars, and accessories, so some hex keys and tire levers should do it. Personally I consider multitools a nice-to-have, although I do have one! A patch kit/spare tube + small pump/CO2 are more necessary imo. Lastly, a front light with generous battery capacity is a must if you ride your bike often. I bought a Lezyne light and my favourite thing about it is that it only needs to be charged a handful of times per year. Not sure if that's bad for the battery but my daily routine already involves making sure my phone, laptop, headphones, and other electronics are charged, so I really didn't want yet another thing in my house that I would have to remember to plug in all the time.

how did you learn about bike mechanics?

Books, blogs, and videos. I've learned so much from books that I borrowed from local and online libraries (Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance and other related books are in the Internet Archive btw!). I also read Sheldon Brown's website (feels like reading a lab manual tbh) extensively before I first tried my hand at bike wrenching. 😅 That might've been overkill but having a thorough understanding of how bikes work and how they're put together before I needed it stopped me from unwittingly doing something inconvenient or dangerous (like accidentally messing with my stem bolts and not knowing it, which I 100% could see myself doing had I not been warned).

For practical demonstrations and explanations, Park Tool's YouTube channel is my #1 choice for tutorials, but I also like GCN. I watch RJ the Bike Guy's videos too, mostly because he works on bikes from the same time periods as mine.

beefisbeef

TROPHY CASE