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TJ Crochets

@tj-crochets / tj-crochets.tumblr.com

Cute crochet and the misadventures of babysitting a toddler who specializes in "technically not wrong". The ufo music box pattern is not mine, but the pattern and a kit are both available for sale on Lalylala's Etsy! Message me about commissions or suggestions of things to crochet! If you appreciate my crochet and the free patterns I post, you can support me at ko-fi.com/tjcrochets
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Hi! I’m TJ, and I make plushies. I started out crocheting, learned knitting, and now I mostly sew. I’m always taking suggestions for plushies to make, but there’s no guarantee I’ll make the plushie you suggest. I’m putting the rest of my FAQ below the read more

#I forgot pinned posts were a thing#so I'm making a FAQ/about me post to pin!#let me know if I left out any info you think I should include#I think I got most of it? and most of the tags I use just so people can blacklist them#I have no idea which of my tags are useful to people who aren't me lol#or which parts of my tumblr people might want to be warned about before they follow me
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I felt like braiding something and had no projects currently on the docket that involve braiding, so I started making a braided rag rug! So far, it’s about a foot by about three inches

#I’ve never made a rag rug before#well. I kind of have one half finished?#made of jelly roll strips and batting and sewing#so I guess it’s more accurate to say I’ve never braided a rug before#I have no specific plans for this rug I just felt like making one#I mean. it’s probably going to end up rainbow because it’s me#but I’m really liking the blue and purple so far
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tj-crochets

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh look at this face! This yarn was such a good decision

I love this owl and I’m so glad I asked for suggestions and that owl was a suggestion

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tj-crochets

I have more of this faux fur yarn, I should make another owl! Or another dog? Maybe both!

#crochet#amigurumi#owl#plushie#handmade#sometimes I forget how cute the things I crocheted were#it's been years but I think crochet is working its way back into my crafting cycle#I have a crocheted baby blanket about a third done at the moment?#it's a good 'keep my hands busy while reading or watching something I can't look away from much' project#because it's a C2C pattern so I really only have to look at it when I'm turning the rows#other than that I can crochet without looking
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tj-crochets

Hey y'all! Weird question time again! I will be having my first MRI in a few weeks (specifically, an MRI of my brain) and I know nothing about it except No Metal Allowed. I will not be getting the contrast dye on account of I kicked up a fuss about potential anaphylaxis* and the doctor was kind of like "fine but if we find anything and need a clearer picture you'll have to get another one" Do you have any advice/suggestions/things I should know about MRIs? *if, as several doctors have suspected, my weird allergies are MCAS there is a good chance I am severely allergic to the dye. Also I am a bit paranoid about injections in general because my allergic reactions to injections are waaaaaay worse than my reactions to food, pills, or environmental allergies

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tj-crochets

Okay follow up they said the MRI will only take 30 minutes. Is that not how long they normally take?

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tj-crochets

Two more MRI questions! 1. the lady I spoke to said I could wear my own clothes as long as there's no metal. I don't think I have any pants that don't have metal except pajama pants; is it okay to wear pajamas? 2. if they are only MRI-ing my head and I can crochet entirely without looking at it, do you think they'd let me bring crochet and a wooden or plastic hook to keep my hands busy? wait no okay third question: if they are only MRI-ing my brain is my whole body in the loud machine or just my head?

#the person behind the yarn#I am not looking forward to this in the slightest! I'll do it but oh my gosh it does not sound like a good time#I am not good at sitting still#well. I mean I usually take my evening dose of my steroids sometime between 5-6pm#and my appointment is scheduled for 5 and to last a half hour#so if I hold off on taking my evening dose until after I might be able to be still?#but that might be a bad idea#most of the time it's fine if I push back the dose until 6ish but if I get too stressed in the late afternoon#I'll be shaky and dizzy until I take the evening dose. my theory is that that's the point where I am running out of the hormone#that the steroid is replacing/supplementing. hm.#okay maybe not on the taking the dose late. I'll talk to my doctor about that one#I really should stop having my train of thought entirely in the tags#or at least I should start doing it on purpose lol
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tj-crochets

Thinking about my neurology appointment again, I have another weird question for y'all! My neurologist was surprised and said it was weird I was right handed, which I am assuming is because of the reflex and grip tests she did, not because I give off a left-handed kind of vibe Wait I was going to ask if it was weird that I, a non-ambidextrous person, hit and kick evenly with both right and left sides, open doorknobs with whichever hand is closer, and use the foot pedal for the sewing machine with whichever foot it ends up nearer but can't write with my left hand But I just tried it and I can write with my left hand??? Like, not as neatly or as quickly as with my right, but it's clearly legible and not difficult to do. Have I been ambidextrous this entire time??

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tj-crochets

Follow up question: When you are doing something that requires tools like a screwdriver, drill, or wrench (I'm thinking specifically of assembling or disassembling furniture) do you stick to using the tool in your writing hand or do you use the tool in whichever hand has a better angle on the thing you are trying to use the tool on?

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tj-crochets

Thanks everybody! I texted my mom about this and she was like "Yeah, I'm not surprised you're ambidextrous, I am and at least one of your siblings is too" so it turns out like at least half of my family is ambidextrous and that's probably why I thought that everybody could do all those things

#the person behind the yarn#my mom did not say which sibling it was#but I immediately responded 'it's [clown sister] right? if she was not naturally ambidextrous she'd have trained herself to be'#my siblings and I were (almost) all super competitive as children#and that combined with all her hand balancing/trapeze/aerial silks/puppet/mime skills#means I fully believe she'd train herself to be ambidextrous to have more options for her arts#but also: most of my family plays multiple instruments#and my mom was a personal trainer for part of my childhood and taught me to do a roundhouse kick when I was like four#(side note: absolutely not a power I should have been given at that age lol)#and she emphasized practicing with both legs so I could do it with either leg#so like. Idk if I am naturally ambidextrous or learned it?#it really doesn't matter but I am curious lol#I also had my left hand/wrist in a cast when I was at the 'practicing writing a lot in school' age (either kindergarten or 1st grade)#so I might've been ambidextrous before then and forgot??? idk#my dad is not naturally ambidextrous but taught himself to do things left handed#both as a quarterback and as a mechanic#because it was just more practical that way lol
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tj-crochets

Thinking about my neurology appointment again, I have another weird question for y'all! My neurologist was surprised and said it was weird I was right handed, which I am assuming is because of the reflex and grip tests she did, not because I give off a left-handed kind of vibe Wait I was going to ask if it was weird that I, a non-ambidextrous person, hit and kick evenly with both right and left sides, open doorknobs with whichever hand is closer, and use the foot pedal for the sewing machine with whichever foot it ends up nearer but can't write with my left hand But I just tried it and I can write with my left hand??? Like, not as neatly or as quickly as with my right, but it's clearly legible and not difficult to do. Have I been ambidextrous this entire time??

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tj-crochets

Follow up question: When you are doing something that requires tools like a screwdriver, drill, or wrench (I'm thinking specifically of assembling or disassembling furniture) do you stick to using the tool in your writing hand or do you use the tool in whichever hand has a better angle on the thing you are trying to use the tool on?

#the person behind the yarn#everyone just uses whichever hand is closer to the thing they are using the tool on right???#and like if your hand gets tired with the drill you switch hands????
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tj-crochets

Hey y'all! Weird question time again! I will be having my first MRI in a few weeks (specifically, an MRI of my brain) and I know nothing about it except No Metal Allowed. I will not be getting the contrast dye on account of I kicked up a fuss about potential anaphylaxis* and the doctor was kind of like "fine but if we find anything and need a clearer picture you'll have to get another one" Do you have any advice/suggestions/things I should know about MRIs? *if, as several doctors have suspected, my weird allergies are MCAS there is a good chance I am severely allergic to the dye. Also I am a bit paranoid about injections in general because my allergic reactions to injections are waaaaaay worse than my reactions to food, pills, or environmental allergies

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tj-crochets

Okay follow up they said the MRI will only take 30 minutes. Is that not how long they normally take?

#the person behind the yarn#I just had to play appointment jenga#...that's not the game I'm thinking of what game am I thinking of???#I can't remember the name#I just had to call a bunch of doctors to reschedule stuff#because they scheduled my MRI for the one time in the next two months I absolutely cannot do#which is the same time as the hematology appointment that's taken like four months to get#and then I accidentally rescheduled the MRI for the same time as my allergy appointment and had to reschedule that#but everything is scheduled now! MRI and follow up appointment and hematology#okay the referral to an ENT has not gone through but I'm not really concerned about that one
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Thinking about my neurology appointment again, I have another weird question for y'all! My neurologist was surprised and said it was weird I was right handed, which I am assuming is because of the reflex and grip tests she did, not because I give off a left-handed kind of vibe Wait I was going to ask if it was weird that I, a non-ambidextrous person, hit and kick evenly with both right and left sides, open doorknobs with whichever hand is closer, and use the foot pedal for the sewing machine with whichever foot it ends up nearer but can't write with my left hand But I just tried it and I can write with my left hand??? Like, not as neatly or as quickly as with my right, but it's clearly legible and not difficult to do. Have I been ambidextrous this entire time??

#the person behind the yarn#this post went off the rails in the middle#but I genuinely thought everybody could do that#like. I knew it threw people a bit when I was in martial arts and sparring#because I actually prefer to kick from my left side a bit but use whichever leg makes more sense#and also because I could change my stance for which leg was forward very easily and that was difficult for this one guy to do#but I thought it was just a that one guy problem!#I did not think I was potentially the odd one out#wait do you guys open doors with your off hand?#people who sew use both hands so they have one hand one each side of the cloth#and just use the hand on the far side of the cloth to push the needle back up. right?#I worded that poorly but I'm hoping it still makes sense
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Hey y'all! Weird question time again! I will be having my first MRI in a few weeks (specifically, an MRI of my brain) and I know nothing about it except No Metal Allowed. I will not be getting the contrast dye on account of I kicked up a fuss about potential anaphylaxis* and the doctor was kind of like "fine but if we find anything and need a clearer picture you'll have to get another one" Do you have any advice/suggestions/things I should know about MRIs? *if, as several doctors have suspected, my weird allergies are MCAS there is a good chance I am severely allergic to the dye. Also I am a bit paranoid about injections in general because my allergic reactions to injections are waaaaaay worse than my reactions to food, pills, or environmental allergies

#the person behind the yarn#I just had to play appointment jenga#...that's not the game I'm thinking of what game am I thinking of???#I can't remember the name#I just had to call a bunch of doctors to reschedule stuff#because they scheduled my MRI for the one time in the next two months I absolutely cannot do#which is the same time as the hematology appointment that's taken like four months to get#and then I accidentally rescheduled the MRI for the same time as my allergy appointment and had to reschedule that#but everything is scheduled now! MRI and follow up appointment and hematology#okay the referral to an ENT has not gone through but I'm not really concerned about that one
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tj-crochets

So my neighborhood is getting re-paved (or whatever the word is for fixing the roads) sometime this week, and I don't know for sure that it will aggravate my asthma, but also like...I strongly suspect it won't help my asthma? I've moved my work set up into my bedroom, as far from the street as possible, and will have both my air purifiers in that room, but my sewing machine is harder to move so I may or may not be able to sew at all this week. Wish me luck lol

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tj-crochets

An update! They paved the road directly in front of my house today and I was totally fine! No asthma flare up at all, but it turned out to be a good thing I'd moved my work setup into my room because apparently the machine was hot enough it was causing like mirage-ish heat distortion that made for very flickery light, which is my nemesis (flickering lights are extremely disorienting to me) Well. I was fine, but then my brother and his family stopped by so I went outside with them to say hi and see my nieces and it turns out that fresh asphalt is, indeed, an asthma trigger for me, but that my new meds work super great! I didn't progress to wheezing but I did have a bad enough coughing fit I used my inhaler. It probably would have eventually resolved without the inhaler but it was painful enough I wanted to stop it sooner than that

#it was great to see my family! my nieces are adorable#they both love cats and there's a very friendly neighborhood cat#I did have to stop my younger niece from throwing rocks at the cat#because she wanted him to come closer so she pretended the rocks were cat food and threw them towards him#but like. functionally that is just throwing rocks at a cat and it did not make him want to come closer#don't worry she did not hit him! and also she is three#she was not maliciously throwing rocks at a cat she just thought if she pretended they were food he would too#you and I can see the flaw in this logic but she cannot yet
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tj-crochets

So I have had a ridiculous amount of fun this last week plushifying art and throwing my usual crafting rules out the window as I did so*, and I think I want to make plushifying art a more regular thing? I'm not sure how best to do that, though. Should I make a post that's like "reblog this if you want your art turned into plushies", or "reblog this with links to art you want turned into plushies" or suggest a tag that people can add to art they want plushified, and then I go through the tag when I want to make some plushies? *no paper patterns, just drawing directly on the fabric so each plushie is one of a kind

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tj-crochets

Evening reblog! I'm still not sure how best to go about doing this, or if it's something people even want?

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tj-crochets

So far the only people who have commented/reblogged have said use a tag, so tag it is! I'm not sure what the tag should be, though? Like, should it be something generic like "Plushify this" or should it be a more specific tag like "TJs plushifying project"? But idk if it should have my name in it, I think the tag should probably be more general in the hopes that people other than me also want to plushify art

#I think it would be very cool if it became a common design challenge#like the month-specific art challenges or mystery knit/crochet alongs#but its like a challenge of a tag you can go in if you want to plushify art?#it's a very fun challenge#and it's really cool to be able to make someone's dreams a reality#like. not every time plushifying art is it the artist's dream#but sometimes you get lucky and the art you plushify is like The Thing that they made that's lingered in their head for a long time#like their own blorbo of their own work#and it's like when you compliment someone and accidentally hit on the thing they are super proud/excited/happy about#but more tangible? idk if any of that made sense#but it's a definite bonus of plushifying art
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1monstereveryday

Monster 3.12

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tj-crochets

Plushified!!

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1monstereveryday

dude I can't get over this. The costume box worm monster? Just out there in the world? And the way you preserved and managed the like... lines of the creature is really cool. This is so so so cool.

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tj-crochets

I'm so glad you like it!! The lines on the worms are topstitching, and it's hard to see in the photos (because faux fur does not cooperate with photos lol) but there is a seam down the middle of the front, like in your art, and the shape of the wings under all the fluff is as close to the original as I could make it

#I just could not get the wings to cooperate as I tried to take a picture lol#the whole plushie is also super cuddly!#the wings are made of my softest long pile faux fur and the body is faux sherpa#the heads are minky while is also pretty nice#admittedly the worm monster miiiiight be cuddlier? but if so not by much#the wire inside the worm monster might even it out lol
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wrecxks

Just finished maybe the coolest art trade of all time with @tj-crochets. This is my half, and for their half, they've been posting @1monstereveryday plushies on their blog and honestly you just have to see it for yourself.

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tj-crochets

This is definitely one of my favorite art trades ever! I got to plushify some art, and got to see my quilts art-ified Thank you so much! That process video is so cool, I don't really know the right words for art but I really love everything about it, you took my very plain photo of a stack of quilts and reference images of each quilt and turned it into a waaaaay better way to show off each quilt

#I think the word is composition? maybe?#you are extremely good at that! and the patterns you managed on the fabrics just blew me away#beyond my wildest dreams of what my vague idea of 'art of my quilts on a chair' could be#also I really like your monsters and had a blast turning them into plushies#I didn't end up making the little inky cap mushroom creature into a plushie#but I do have a pattern for that because I have made an inky cap mushroom creature before?#I just thought it was cool when I saw it like different mediums but we both thought of little mushroom creatures#and they look reaaaally similar
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tj-crochets

So I have had a ridiculous amount of fun this last week plushifying art and throwing my usual crafting rules out the window as I did so*, and I think I want to make plushifying art a more regular thing? I'm not sure how best to do that, though. Should I make a post that's like "reblog this if you want your art turned into plushies", or "reblog this with links to art you want turned into plushies" or suggest a tag that people can add to art they want plushified, and then I go through the tag when I want to make some plushies? *no paper patterns, just drawing directly on the fabric so each plushie is one of a kind

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tj-crochets

Evening reblog! I'm still not sure how best to go about doing this, or if it's something people even want?

#the person behind the yarn#I love plushifying art!#it's like making other people's ideas into a real physical object#it feels like a really fun collaboration#like a human connection across time and space#okay not that much time and not thaaat much space (so far the farthest I've sent plushified art is the UK)#but still! I think it's cool. I love that the internet makes it possible
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So my neighborhood is getting re-paved (or whatever the word is for fixing the roads) sometime this week, and I don't know for sure that it will aggravate my asthma, but also like...I strongly suspect it won't help my asthma? I've moved my work set up into my bedroom, as far from the street as possible, and will have both my air purifiers in that room, but my sewing machine is harder to move so I may or may not be able to sew at all this week. Wish me luck lol

#the person behind the yarn#hopefully I am just overpreparing#and it will be quick and easy and the wind will blow away from my house#but just in case! I am preparing#because it would really suck to try to move my whole desk setup while wheezing
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So I have had a ridiculous amount of fun this last week plushifying art and throwing my usual crafting rules out the window as I did so*, and I think I want to make plushifying art a more regular thing? I'm not sure how best to do that, though. Should I make a post that's like "reblog this if you want your art turned into plushies", or "reblog this with links to art you want turned into plushies" or suggest a tag that people can add to art they want plushified, and then I go through the tag when I want to make some plushies? *no paper patterns, just drawing directly on the fabric so each plushie is one of a kind

#the person behind the yarn#I can't guarantee I'll make all of them#some things are harder to plushify than others#whether for skill level concerns or 3D object concerns or just don't have that fabric concerns#(for the life of me I haven't been able to find purple faux fur)#also when I plushify art the artist always gets first dibs on the plushie#and I am almost always more than happy to send the artist the plushies#either in exchange for an art trade#or if no trade I usually just ask if they are willing to cover the cost of shipping?#if it's got some bought-for-that-project supplies I miiiight ask if they're willing to cover that specific cost#but that would be like. if I had to buy beads and used them all up making the thing#and maybe for more labor intensive plushies??? idk how detailed some of these might be#most of the time it's either art trades or the cost of shipping
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