I, too, have a Kenmore (can't remember the model and I'm traveling at the moment but it's 20 years old) and encounter the same problem. 9 times out of 10 it is because the top thread has slipped from the #3 position (in my machine, this means the thread has slipped from the loop). Otherwise, the other 1 out of 10 that rethreading the top thread doesn't work, rethread the bottom thread, change the stitch type then change it back to the original stitch type, and that seems to reset whatever is going on. Super annoying when it happens, but one of out of two of those methods have always worked for me to fix the problem.

It’s so freeing once you realize you’ve been brainwashed your whole life towards it! I’ve reduced my closet by half the last 2 years and I’m working towards another half by the end of this year. It’s liberating. 

My treat myself mentality is to build in time for reading or knitting or writing....taking a walk...swimming. Basically things that benefit my mind or body

I started doing this for health reasons. My health was deteriorating and cutting out junk has really helped me so far. The chemicals they put in this stuff....ugh....no thank you. What I've heard others say actually is true, once you cut this out, you don't crave it as much. I now make my own corn tortilla chips fresh from corn flour when I have a craving. Still processed but at least it's only corn flour, water, and salt. And the tortilla press is fun!!!

I mean yeah the solidarity is great but it has to translate to meaningful action. How do we counter a nuclear power that wants territory? How do we not go down the same road as WW2 with appeasement? I don’t know but I want Ukraine to exist and Russia to stop. Short of waving a magic wand, I don’t know how we do that unless Europe is willing to funnel more weapons. I have family in Poland. They know what’s up. 

Yeah I just checked my bill for this month. I’m suddenly paying significantly more. It’s annoying. I will be canceling as well. 

I don't know what it's going to take for the truth to break through. Given that a majority of white women voted for Trump in all 3 elections that he ran in, it stands to reason that it will be difficult to move them. And that is the cold, hard truth.

Unfortunately, I think it's going to take broad based coalition to claw back our rights. Maybe we can chip off some more white, single women voters now that Trump is going after our educational opportunities? Maybe we can get some more Hispanic support. I am not sure but it's really frustrating.

This article has some interesting points in it: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/11/white-women-gop/576586/

This is great. Boycotts can work 100%. I’m going to be doing this all year long though. For me, it’s not just political. I’m tired of the ads, the spending, the influencing. Why do I feel compelled to spend money on things I don’t need? And stuff is so low quality too. Even dresses you get these days from higher end shops are poorly made with synthetics. I’d rather go to my local fabric store (I’m lucky to have one still) and make my own (thankfully still have my sewing machine from 2004 that’s running like a dream).

I’m also so tired of the waste. It’s all too much. I see people in my craft circles stashing up on fabrics and yarn without a specific plan for the product. Then it sits one their shelves for years. Or, it doesn’t work for what they want because it’s the wrong type of yarn or fabric because they didn’t do the homework to find what they actually needed but bought because it was “on sale” Why are we doing this to ourselves??????

This is so stupid. I've saved a huge amount of money by not spending this year and it made me realize that I don't need the stuff I've been buying at all. Like, at all. My quality of life has not gone down one bit. In fact, I've saved enough money to put more into savings AND fund a fun vacation in Europe this coming August. Much better than wasting on shit that I never needed. Honestly, if you are wondering about how much you can save just try it for a couple of months even if you aren't doing it for political reasons. You will be SHOCKED at how much you can put away. It's also made me much more aware of my consumption habits, which is a plus for the environment.

Speaking of pinking shears, question about sharpening them? I inherited a used pair from my aunt and they are pretty sharp but I wonder is it possible to sharpen? They are old, from the early 90s.

I’ve stopped buying anything essential since the new year and I won’t stop until I’m satisfied that things are changing. Not only am I angry at this admin and the billionaires but I’m angry at the system. I’ve saved a lot of money too! Boycotting had helped me realize how much money I was wasting. 

Oooh, that’s interesting, thanks for that. I thought you always had to catch.

Hi, that’s a lovely looking start :). Here is a video I used for my first colorwork: https://youtu.be/-8t8s5Fwups?si=OtqcXW220bB7RXb1

He talks about color dominance. Also, from the images you have shared, it doesn’t look like you are catching the floats? You should be catching every 3 or 4 stitches or so. But you might be following a different set of instructions so I am not sure.

I only knit from patterns as I’m still a beginner. Each pattern will tell you how much to buy based on sizing. Sometimes I throw in an extra skein because if I run out, I want to make sure I get the same dye lot. 

For me it’s a few reasons. I cut down to the bare essentials to save as much as possible, I also don’t want to buy anything I don’t need and this election was a wake up call to me about how controlled by the consumption mindset I was, and im boycotting. 

Aaaaaand now I'm subscribing to Reuters.

Agree. I have this problem too. Besides the low humidity, the issue for me was drinking something cold but there's only so much tea I can drink. I switched to hot water with some freshely squeezed lemon. I learned to drink this when I was in Shanghai in the winter for a couple of weeks. It really did the trick for me.

No one is coming to wake us up from the simulation. And I said this in another comment on another subreddit. The worst of what this country is capable of has already been done, it just hasn't been done to well-off White people for the most part (I include working class Whites who lost their lives fighting for labor rights in the horrible-shit-America-has-done category). Just look at our history:

1. Slavery.

2. The insanity that occurred during the early labor rights movements. How many lives were lost in pursuit of labor rights?

3. The entirety of civil rights for Blacks

4. All the crazy shit we've done abroad in the name of liberty that are questionable at best. I exclude the good things that we've done, because there are lots of those examples, too.

5. Japanese American internment camps

6. McCarthyism

7. I could go on, but this list pretty much captures a lot of the worst

We have literally done it all and then some. And you might say to me that it was at least done under the pretense of the rule of law. And maybe there is something to be said about committing massive civil rights violations under the guise of the law because everyone at least is abiding by the law even if they are committing immoral and sometimes heinous acts (I personally do not agree with this argument). At least with Trump we will go down in history in showing clearly that not only will this president's actions be immoral, but they will also be illegal. I do think there is something to that. At least we knew that we knew better than this and tried to hold a despot accountable.

But, the laws will not save us and the courts will not save us. Think of every single time a country went from a dictatorship to a democracy. Was any court involved in that? No. It was the people. Because the people are sovereign.

However, when approximately 36% of the voting-eligible population does not vote and an additional 31.6% of that population votes for a despot, democracy cannot be saved by the remaining 30.7% that did their duty in voting for the candidate who would uphold the rule of law. It's up to the people to protect their country and the people failed.

We have been failing for a long time. We have allowed the wealthy to grift and corrupt the system so badly that that a billionaire can buy the presidency for a fraction of his wealth. We have allowed the wealthy to divide us so badly that when those of our fellow citizens are disenfranchised from voting, we barely care rather than becoming apoplectic with rage that they would dare take our power away. We have allowed the wealthy to steal our resources to the point of gluttony. I understand that some of you here hold deeply conservative views on taxation, but this is the natural end when income inequality gets out of control. People end up desperate and become susceptible to snake oil salesmen who peddle easy solutions for complex problems.

Maybe tomorrow we will wake up and start the protracted and likely painful fight to get our country back. Plenty of countries have gone through democracy-dictatorship-democracy cycles. We thought we were different and it turns out that maybe that won't be the case. But that's the price to pay for liberty. I didn't ask for this, I didn't vote for it, I tried to warn everyone I could about it. I was called alarmist and told "never in America." Here we are. This is the moment that our country is asking what we will do for it. Be prepared to have your answer ready.

You've literally captured my experience as a European who came over from Poland in the 80s to resettle here in the states. I grew up with my grandmother having to sit at ground level every time a thunderstorm rolled by because they reminded her of the bombs and she needed to be able to escape. I grew up hearing about how the Germans arrested my great grandfather and murdered him in a camp. So, now as an American citizen with what I see going on, I am very worried about fascism because a lot of what I learned from early childhood was that it did happen and it could happen again. Because of the stories, I would have nightmares as a kid of Nazis bursting into my bedroom. In suburban America... so I get what you mean about inheriting generational trauma. It frightens me about what we are seeing. The worst part is you don't know how bad it could get but given this country's history of slavery and state-sanctioned killing of anyone who wasn't the right kind of white....well....it's hard not to worry. The worst of what this country is capable of has already been carried out against Blacks, Native Americans, Japanese, working whites who fought for labor rights, etc..... i guess what I mean to say is, more of us will suffer until we throw off our divisions and band together against white nationalism.

I read a lot of books when i was in my teens and 20s about spirituality. It was great information and it hung around in my brain. But it wasn't until I had my STE that I knew it. I think reading and studying it is very helpful. At least when I awakened my brain had an organized place to put this stuff. Still completely upended my entire life and sense of self. i'm still processing.

I don't really know if your post was looking for advice, but I don't even have any to offer. My STE was extremely simple. I just sat down one day on the couch and remembered that we were immortal beings having a phsyical experience. There were no fireworks or anything like that and it came out of nowhere. And I was not relgious at all so kind of crazy. Since then, I have had intense experiences. Again, still processing...

I lived in NYC between 2010 and 2013 then again between 2015 to the present. I only ever had one bad encounter, a dude masturbating in front of me (his penis was hidden in his jacket but I could see it still because he had the jacket partially open). I just got up and moved to the other end of the car and the guy left the train at the next stop. But other than that, I've never encountered issues. Some stations are worse than others for sure. So I would say I feel pretty safe, about a 9.