i redesigned the entire face. i redesigned the border (a lil). i made much better whiskers and handsewed each and every one on. also this is 98% cotton yarn it was SO EXPENSIVE i could cry but it's so soft you'd want to cry.

and now it's done.

or.

will be.

in one. more. whisker.

i had to re-make a fifth of the squares because of gauge changes. i made all the bows according to pattern, in the pattern colors, and then said no that's not right and completely redesigned them and now they are PERFECT, LOOK AT IT.

lol that's soooo baaaaaaad, but well done making a thing anyway! and the yarn is pretty!

yesss... but also instagram has primed us to want / feel we need to offer these highly stylized, aesthetic, artistic *photos*, as though the art we made with our hands wasn't enough. and i love that for the photographers among us! but the *expectation* of it encourages ai use, and then it backfires.

much as with star trek, i feel like (for obvious reasons) mainstream culture forgets just how radically anticapitalism It's a Wonderful Life is. our cultural memory only holds on to the schmaltz at the end, forgetting the two hours before it of GREEDY MEN WITH TOO MUCH MONEY RUIN EVERYTHING, y'know?

and the meaning! ugh I'mma get verklempt. reclaiming the piece from one soured symbol to make new art with it... AI COULD NEVER, IS ALL I'M SAYING

see what moves me about real art, like this, is it is BOTH aesthetics and experience, beauty and skill, image and product. and it's the combination of *how many* artists and craftspeople?? the yarn, the dye, the design, the knitting, the lighting, the posing, the photography...it's the work of many.

omg everything here is art. 💜💜💜💜💜💜

but not to the extent we have now. not at the cost of the fucking planet.

if i want to make an artfully displayed custom knit top, first i find a shepherd... and in idk two, three years i can work on the photography. but ai is fueling our ever-present urge for instant gratification, for appearance over substance, aesthetics over experience. all those are fine and good!

and less directly but no less seriously, i think ai is contributing to the acceleration of fast fashion and completely unrealistic ideas about what crafting is and what it costs. they can prompt a crochet top in thirty seconds and buy one in target for $19.99, why can't we make it now, for $10????

omg the number of people i see complaining about bad patterns they have PAID ACTUAL REAL DOLLARS FOR and then turns out it's just pure slop—! or, and this is almost worse, designers who are just starting out, use ai for images, and then people demand money back when the pattern doesn't match.

i mean, how else was he going to say "punch nazis" and "capitalism kills" in palatable ways?

damn.

I would feel different if people were actually connected to the resources and services they need in the process, as a formerly homeless Portlander mentioned in his testimony. But they aren’t.

We’re spending millions to move people from block to block without addressing the real issue — we don’t have enough affordable homes for everyone who needs one.