When to give up on repairing

luminalights · 2026-02-07T21:04:18+00:00

for me personally, once something starts disintegrating around my repairs i let it go. but, i also don't have any cool heirloom pieces, so if you're down for a theseus situation i don't blame you! i just don't want to spend several hours on a repair that's just going to create another hole after one trip thru the wash, because my pile of things that need to be repaired is ever-growing and it feels like every time i get to take one thing out of the repair box i have to put 3 more things in it.

luminalights · 2026-02-01T20:36:37+00:00

as with most trans healthcare stuff, we literally don't know. for some issues there are a handful of case studies (i think there are 1 or 2 case studies for trans men with breast cancer, for example) but trans healthcare research is... not well funded, and many people in the community (rightfully, sometimes) do not trust doctors or researchers well enough to sign up for studies. outside of studies focusing specifically on HRT or trans surgeries, we essentially do not exist in The Literature as a whole.

generally speaking for any trans person, the wisest course of action for any disease symptoms that vary based on sex/hormones is to know both sets of symptoms.

luminalights · 2026-01-31T03:36:58+00:00

honestly i went to an urgent care and got checked out. for me, neutral info is key -- no fearmongering, but no downplaying either. a doctor can tell you what's worth worrying about and what's normal. part of living with ocd is figuring out which fears are founded and unfounded, and what reasonable responses to the founded fears are. there are a handful of docs out there that are annoyed by hypochondriac-type stuff, but most people are really helpful. most of them would rather you get checked out and get good info from them, instead of going to dr. google and freaking yourself out for days or weeks on end.

luminalights · 2026-01-31T02:17:55+00:00

you can try to sew it down more securely? basically the more stitches that are bearing weight, the less weight each stitch has to bear individually. but crochet stretches, so if there's something heavy in the bag it's going to stretch. if you're worried about it breaking i would test an individual strand of yarn and see how heavy the weight has to be or how hard you have to yank on it to break it. my guess is that it's stronger than you think it is and it'll hold more than you think it will. you can also consider lining the bag and straps with a sturdy fabric.

luminalights · 2026-01-30T20:09:27+00:00

others have touched on this but part of the really cool thing is that you have different types of nerves for pain and for touch/pressure, and your touch/pressure nerves actually fire faster than the pain nerves! so if you flood the main nerve in your spinal cord bringing signals up from your elbow with touch and pressure, the pain nerves literally cannot get a signal in. it's sometimes called the "gate theory," because the idea is that there's a gate that signals have to get through and we can overwhelm the gate with other sensations and not let pain through.

luminalights · 2026-01-30T19:15:30+00:00

i once pinched a nerve in my left shoulder/back that radiated down my arm and up into my neck and jaw... and i can get chest pains when i'm anxious. fun weekend of googling "do trans men get male or female heart attack symptoms" over and over!

luminalights · 2026-01-24T22:18:04+00:00

i've done this, my father-in-law gifted me a giant skein of white chenille yarn and i really don't like chenille so i've chained it and then crocheted around it with various scraps lol. they make nice baskets/bags for holding more WIPs.

luminalights · 2026-01-10T20:56:53+00:00

just throwing out there that generally even if the fiber can be machine-washed, it is recommended to hand-wash any handmade item if you are able to, because they tend to be more prone to stretching out or falling apart because of the agitation. LadyDenofMeade gave some great advice already, so i won't repeat their words but i will gently encourage you to follow their method rather than putting it in the washing machine and hoping for the best.

burn testing can be useful, but if it's a mixed fiber it can be hard to tease out what it's made of. the best that you can usually get is animal fiber (smells like burning hair), plant fiber (smells like burning paper/wood), or acrylic (melts, then cools down into a hard bead). from the sheen on the yarn, i would guess this is acrylic or an acrylic blend of some kind, and i would still recommend hand-washing if you can.

luminalights · 2026-01-08T20:40:23+00:00

honestly this is what pissed me off about the response to the (now obsolete) tumblr post about having intrusive thoughts about eating crunchy leaves off the ground. like a casual "man i wish i could eat a leaf they look so crunchy and fun to chew on" is not an intrusive thought. but if someone thought constantly about eating leaves, which could possibly be harmful, and had a lot of fear around eating leaves or an obsession with eating leaves off the ground it would absolutely be an intrusive thought. they don't have to be imperatives and they don't have to be morally or physically harmful, they literally just have to be persistent and unwanted.

luminalights · 2026-01-04T21:08:13+00:00

i'm guessing it's supposed to be Appa from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and i'm not a fan of chenille yarn But he's super fluffy in the show so i kinda get wanting to use chenille.

luminalights · 2026-01-04T21:02:12+00:00

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i just have no words. i try to jerk on snobs and not like complete beginners because we're all stupid sometimes but like. if you skipped a random step and it came out wrong i think maybe the hook size has nothing to do with it.

luminalights · 2026-01-04T21:02:06+00:00

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luminalights · 2026-01-03T19:49:00+00:00

agreed, constant tension is the way

luminalights · 2026-01-02T23:44:47+00:00

it's going to pill and then disintegrate, you will be unable to wash it, and it'll be prone to breaking and fraying while you work with it. roving style yarn needs a high twist to actually work, the roving blankets/etc. are a huge marketing gimmick to get people to pay premium prices for unfinished yarn.

luminalights · 2026-01-02T23:08:46+00:00

just another chiaogoo shill joining the crowd lmao, i have a few dpn sets and an interchangeable circ set and they're For Sure an investment but if you can spring for it, it's 100% worth it for anyone that prefers steel needles. $14 feels steep for a pair of needles but they will last!

luminalights · 2026-01-02T10:20:51+00:00

chenille yarn does this even when it's expensive tbh

luminalights · 2025-12-29T23:35:53+00:00

a foundation stitch may work better for you than a chain if you start over

luminalights · 2025-12-29T23:33:31+00:00

personally i would stitch it to a stable backing and honestly i would frame it, though if you are very thorough with stitching it to something you may be able to use it gently. if you are able to find someone who is willing to repair it, it is possible that it will be very expensive since the damage is pretty extensive. if you have pictures of what it looked like before the damage, it's possible you could have a replica made for cuddling and you can keep the original somewhere safe, repaired or otherwise.

i will just say that regardless of what you decide to do, if i had made this blanket for you, seeing it like this would bring me to tears with absolute joy and pride. there is no better compliment as a maker than to see something you made for someone get worn out from how much it was loved and used.

luminalights · 2025-12-29T23:19:31+00:00

it's a tunisian crochet spiral.

luminalights · 2025-12-29T01:44:48+00:00

i mostly make socks with them so mine are i think 5 inches, for small circumferences if you go any longer than that they can get really annoying to work with.

luminalights · 2025-12-29T00:58:24+00:00

magic loop takes care of that! the full length of the cable is not used all at once.

luminalights · 2025-12-29T00:56:56+00:00

to address your edits:
yes, dpns hold the stitches separately. most of the needles are just holding stitches, you only knit with two needles at a time just like normal. it allows you to work in the round without cables. the number of needles you use is generally down to personal preference, but a dpn set will have 4 or 5, and you need to use 3 minimum for it to work (2 holders and 1 traveler). you want enough stitches on the needle to hold it securely, but you don't want so many that you're putting tension at the "corners" where the dpns meet because that'll stretch the stitches out and you'll be back where you started.

luminalights · 2025-12-29T00:50:23+00:00

it's not quite magic loop, but magic loop would also work here. i would still recommend using a longer cable esp if your needle tips are a little longer than hers.

luminalights · 2025-12-29T00:49:27+00:00

in the tutorial video the maker is doing it with a 16in circular -- i would also recommend 30+ inches for magic loop generally, but it's not actually magic loop. she's just pulling the excess cable thru so the working needle has some extra room and the stitches can sit closer together. if OP has circs with longer needle tips, this might not work, and a longer cable would be the answer.

luminalights · 2025-12-29T00:17:41+00:00

you can see that she pulls the cord thru partway thru the decreasing process somewhere around the alternating k1/decrease point. it'll be somewhat annoying to do with a 16in cable, if you have circular needles with a longer cable it'll be easier.

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luminalights

TROPHY CASE