iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Last night, I finished knitting this wonderful pattern - "Snow Fooling" from Meg Swanson. 10/10, highly recommend. I may give it eyes and a mouth, I may leave it as-is. The spirit of Halloween will decide 🎃✨️

A person in a goblin pose wearing a brightly striped hand knit face covering mask with a pointed nose and cone shaped top. A print on the wall behind them says "Be Safe, Have Fun"

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Today, my youngest did some light auto repair, then drove us out to the next town over for a practice run. It's amazing how differently my kids feel about driving. I'm glad this one is enjoying the process of learning. It will be so nice to have another driver in the family next year!

A teenager using a towel to buff and clean a foggy headlight in the shade of a tree.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

My latest dress is Arachne approved 🕷 This little jumping spider was helping me pin knife pleats at work today.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Starting Entropy Economics by Galbraith and Chen tonight. It starts out with a banger, so I'm hopeful it's an insightful read.

A copy of Entropy Economics by Galbraith and Chen, held at the bottom left corner and resting on a fuzzy gray blanket.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Almost finished with the hair net! What should I make with the last of the yellow? A scissors pouch?

Saffron yellow crochet motifs connected with brown netting to form a victorian-inspired hairnet.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Heading to MI for a wedding, listening to the Sew What podcast, and feeling like I've finally found people who see the invisible hands 📊🧶🖖🏻

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Resting up for one final day of travel during the kids' birthday week. I got to spend the day crocheting and learning about Mexican silversmiths. The pieces in the book were beautifully crafted. I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for similar work the next time I travel!

A gold crochet lace square rests on the black and silver cover of "Silver Masters of Mexico" by Penny C. Morrill.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I made this parasol last week for an upcoming trip to Busch Gardens. I'm so happy with how it turned out, and think this is probably the first of many. Materials: Unbleached cotton thread over a wood and aluminum umbrella frame.

A cream colored crochet lace parasol sits on a black stage in front of a red curtain.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I finished the mockup of my 1840s day dress! I've paired the recycled bedsheet dress with a shawl that was woven on a pin loom during public demos and an apron made from a hand embroidered table cloth. Now that I have a wearable mockup, I can make another for the winter season!

Front view of an 1840's workwear dress made from a yellow and pink floral striped bedsheet. The dress is styled with a woven cream and pink shoulder shawl and a white apron made from a hand embroidered table cloth.

Back view of an 1840's workwear dress made from a yellow and pink floral striped bedsheet. The dress is styled with a woven cream and pink triangar shawl and a white apron made from a hand embroidered table cloth.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

I installed my celtic valkyrie at the Birmingham Public Library today! Check it out in Birmingham, AL through August 🖖🏻 #artist #crochet #handmade #exhibition #sewing

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

I'm making an 1840s Morning Dress for my job as a historic interpreter. Follow for progress photos! This week, I'm drafting the mockup with a thrifted bedsheet in a cotton/linen blend. 🖖🏻

A thrifted sheet made of cotton and linen, printed with yellow stripes, pink roses, and yellow dots. A pair of closed spring-loaded shears rests on top.

A 1990s Bernina computerized sewing machine sits on top of a 1910s Singer treadle sewing table. A piece of yellow and pink striped fabric rests on the throat plate of the Bernina.

An 1840s style dress made of yellow and pink fabric is draped on a dress form in a green and white sewing studio with dark wood floors.

A tattooed woman with pale skin and auburn hair is wearing a black short athleisure suit under the in-progress bodice of an 1840s Morning dress. Sewing equipment and fabric is all around the room, which is painted green and white.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

I learned a skill from the world's leading expert and then made a thing of beauty. The ends will get woven in tomorrow, lol

An interpretation of the traditional Wild Irish Rose pattern in Clones lace, worked in light pink, rose pink, forest green, and spring green. It is not quite finished, with several stray ends trailing along the edges.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Up too early again this week for the first session of SouthArts' fieldwork training program! I can't wait to start documenting Irish crochet in the US 🤩

A collection of accessory bags sit behind a notebook and training manual on a desk

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

What. A. Glorious. Day. I took a class at the Lacis Museum in Berkeley, thanks to the South Arts Emerging Artist Program, and it has already been the learning experience of a lifetime 🤩

A grey, overcast sky provides morning light for a thin, twisted, and bare tree surrounded by lush ferns and weathered wood decking with flagstone pavers.

A library room filled floor to ceiling with textile books and lace-making looms.

A brown goat sculpture wearing a daisy crown with yellow ribbons and carrying a pail of colorful flowers is standing on a rolling platform in a room at a museum.

White and cream colored linens embroidered with colorful designs, presented in a museum display of a ~1920s era washroom.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

A few pics from my introduction to the SF Bay area ✨️

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Celebrating 38 trips around the sun with a poster session 🤓📚

A business woman with auburn hair and light skin standing in front of an academic poster located in a conference center.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Today is for 16 year old me 🎓

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

My view from today's #NoKings rally in Huntsville, AL. 🖖🏻

A crowd of people gathered to protest the American government in Huntsville, AL.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

My solo show 'String Theory' opens at the Gadsden Museum of Art on Friday! If you're in North Alabama, I'd love to see you there 🖖🏻

An art gallery filled with colorful knit and crochet sculptures.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Permanent sticker acquired! This is the desktop icon from Civilization 2 - the game that got me interested in global trade 🌎🖖🏻

A white woman with brown hair presenting her new forearm tattoo. The tattoo is a pixelated pyramid sitting in front of the Earth from the 1996 video game Civilization Two.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Time for some tattoo therapy ✒️

A padded black armrest covered with transparent blue tape sitting on a wood and tile floor.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Lies and partisan rhetoric from my senator this morning Vote them out ✊🏻🔥🧊

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Took a day trip to Florence, AL to stop by the Rosenbaum house, the first Usonian home built by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1939. I can understand why the family stayed there for 60 years. It's cool to have such an amazing example of design history so close to home!

A wood-paneled study with built-in shelves, corner desk facing floor to ceiling windows, and a yellow arm chair with ottoman.

A wood paneled room with a built in desk featuring hand-woven textiles and skeins of yarn.

Front view of a wood and brick Usonian home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

A side view of a wood and brick Usonian home built by Frank Lloyd Wright.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Ice Melt Bog Jacket 🧊🔥🧥 Made from a discarded quilt and cotton thread. Guaranteed to keep you warm on long revolutionary nights 🖖🏻

Front view of a long coat made from a recycled red, white, and blue quilt.

Back view of a long coat made from a discarded red, white, and blue quilt. It is embroidered with early American cars and features the words, "domestic terrorist" in unbleached cotton at mid-back.

Detail of a red white and blue quilted jacket embroidered with the words, "domestic terrorist" in unbleached cotton on a red strip.

Detail of a white quilt square pocket on the interior of a long coat embroidered in red with the words, "Made for you with love by a fucking bitch"

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Reached row 92 before the weather got the best of me this weekend! It's moving at a brisk pace of 5 rows per hour. The fabric is beautiful, and I can't wait to see how it drapes when finished.

The sleeve and back side portion of an in-progress crochet sweater made to look like a butterfly wing in light blue, yellow with small multicolored spots along the bottom border.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Putting the work to bed for the night with 62 rows complete 🧶 I'm making slow and steady progress, and it's starting to look much more like a butterfly wing. I have to take lots of brain breaks though. Each row is divided across three pages and the stitch count in each spot also changes each row 🫠🙃

The sleeve portion of an in-progress crochet sweater made in the style of a butterfly wing with a light blue background, large golden yellow spots throughout the fabric, and colorful spots along the lower border.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

In bed with the flu today, watching lectures and crocheting a sweater for my oldest 🤒🫖🧶 This crochet pattern is The Monarch Butterfly by Byabimi on Ravelry. I can't recommend it in good faith (unless you have some serious technical chops). I'm about 50 rows in, working three colors at a time 🖖🏻

A piece of crochet cloth rests on top of a sleeping tortoiseshell cat who is sleeping on fuzzy black and white blankets.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

I got to see the magic of NYC today ✨️ The levels of passion and talent in this community are endlessly inspirational.

A 5-story Christmas tree is simply decorated with many white lights and topped with a lighted blue star. It sits on a blue tiled platform next to the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

The view from my room this morning 😍

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Baby's first visit to NYC 🖖🏻

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Celebrating the end of finals week by staying up WAY too late doing sweater math. The yarn is Inka from Mirasol - a viscose/alpaca blend - worked at a gauge of 4sts/inch. It's incredible. Making the pattern as I go, loosely based on one of Jane Kaczmarek's tops from Malcom in the Middle!

Green knitted fabric with a gold shimmer undertone sits in a pile on a grey blanket. Rosewood and gold knitting needles rest in the fabric.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Accidentally matched my project to tonight's family movie selection. Guess what we watched 😂

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Y'all cross all your fingers for me please 🙏🏻😭📚

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Year 3 of Roundtop folk festival is in the books! I'm so happy that this 7ft snowflake could spread out, get some love, and inspire my community to get creative.

A 7ft diameter crochet snowflake stretched between wooden supports in a 200-year-old cabin.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Really proud of my city today after seeing such a massive demonstration of solidarity. My family and I made crochet crowns to mark the moment, sharing more than 20 in the hour we were present. It was an honor and a privilege to carry on the tradition of subversive stitching!

A three-pronged crown motif crocheted with butter yellow cotton yarn rests on a black background.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

It's finals week for the most difficult term of my Master's program (so far), which means prepping my study space for virtual proctored exams. Time to say goodbye to this board doodle from the kid 😢

A whiteboard doodle in red ink of flowers and a mushroom growing from a cross-hatched pattern cup.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Closing up shop for the night, thankful for the artistic spirit of my community ~

Two shelves with handmade trinkets, ceramics, artwork, and small notebooks.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

I need 364 more days in this city.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Visited the National Memorial for Peace and Justice today on my way home from an art deinstall. @eji.org is doing good work 📚

Steel boxes hanging down from a structure in rows.

Steel boxes inscribed with the names of lynching victims.

A wall with a poem dedicated to lynching victims.

Steel boxes laid along a track stretching into the distance.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Three new works on display with @alwca.bsky.social at Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment 🖖🏻

Three tassels made of cotton yarn and found objects.

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Today, during a hike, my friend and I were talking about Fire Pink, an endangered native plant. Five minutes later, we stumbled across a healthy population on the trail.

An endangered native plant in its natural habitat

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Amanda Banks @bubzilla.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Closed two (very different) exhibitions tonight. I'm exhausted but thankful to be part of a community that celebrates creative expression in all of its forms.