Fiddling with my clothes/hair/anything within reach. For the big “fancy” idle animations that trigger after like 5 minutes of inactivity, I’d bust out my knitting/crochet or a book.

Waistline was exactly what I was looking for! Thank you!!

Sadly I was never able to perfectly recreate that cashmere sweater, though I came close. Getting perfect gauge is really hard to do on fitted garments for knitting. Mom had wanted me to learn to knit since I was really little but it never caught my interest until I was an adult. Through the pandemic we did work together to knit a modular blanket and sewed it together once we could meet up in person again! https://imgur.com/a/u4M4ynb

So in her defense (and another aspect of why she didn’t murder me I’m sure.) Is that she’d forgotten entirely that she even wore that sweater. Apparently it always sits on the edge of her hamper so she visually sees it and removes it to her special wash bag for extremely fancy clothes. But she’d left town in a bit of a hurry for family matters and I’d even volunteered to do laundry. I didn’t realize that sweater was extra special on my own.

That “on the side of the hamper” method is what I use for my extremely delicate stuff now, and so far I haven’t shrunk anything. yet

I didn’t break something expensive in terms of dollar amount, but my Mom knits. In high school she asked me to do the laundry for her while she was out of town. I knew sweaters went in the delicate cycle, but what I DIDN’T know is even the delicate cycle was too much for her very nice, hand knit, cashmere sweater that fit her perfectly.

It came out felted and 2 sizes smaller. And I felt HORRIBLE then. Now, I’m all grown up and I’ve learned how to knit myself. Now I think back on that and marvel that I’m still alive and she didn’t come home and just bury me in the backyard. That’s how I know she loves me. <3

I like to tell my Republican father we’d both be classified legally blind and on the welfare he hates so much if optometry wasn’t around. Helps put it in perspective for him how some people just “lose” the life lotto and need help to live in the same world as able-bodied folks.

I’d bring my Split ergonomic keyboards I’ve built/am working on.

I’d love to get others into the hobby or crowd source help in coding QMK from those who are already in it. Online forums are a great resource but for some there’s no replacing an in-person teacher.

I’ll hopefully come back and edit this post when I get home to share a picture.