Dani Vaughn Bea
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danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Dani Vaughn Bea
@danivaughnbea.bsky.social
940 followers 330 following 2.1K posts
I foster kittens, play video games, sometimes draw, sometimes bake, sometimes go adventuring. The resident animals are 2 dogs (Zadie and Coco) and 2 cats (Mabel and Dipper).
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danivaughnbea.bsky.social
I don't super subscribe to astrology but I do exhibit many stereotypical Virgo traits. For instance overplanning, list making, and perfectionism 😅

One of my (now) five note pages for these blankets. The girls picked their colors so I'm trying to plan everything out. Nothing left to chance!
Lined notebook paper covered in my chicken scratch writing. I drew squares with each color my nieces wanted in their blankets, and wrote down every color combination. Then I whittled down the list so there were five color combinations each. There's a note that says there are five variants, so I need 12 of each combination for a total of 60 color panels per blanket, plus 60 solid panels. It's bananas I'm doing this much work.
December 3, 2025 at 2:52 AM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Two more test squares to make sure that one good one wasn't a fluke. (Younger Niece helped me with blocking. 💜)

Some numbers:
3 pages of notes so far
2 blankets x 117 panels per blanket x 3 hours per panel = 702 hours not including blocking/joining
1 nervous auntie
Two pieces of cardboard with two crochet squares pinned to them. The yarn colors are light blue, medium blue and brown. Zadie, a tan min pin chihuahua mix can be seen at the bottom of the screen sniffing the cardboard
December 3, 2025 at 1:43 AM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
I DID IT! Look at this decent square. Took me a week of YouTube videos and learning and practicing real crochet stitches and failure and more failure but I finally made a decent concept square to base the girl's blankets off of. 👍

Now to figure out how to disappear that string end lol
A blue crochet granny square surrounded by a red double crochet border and a purple single crochet outline. It's actually pretty decent! Below the square are Dipper's white cat legs all stretched out.
December 2, 2025 at 3:42 AM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Me: I might be about to make my first adequate test square for the girls blankets!

The final corner (upper left): HAHAHA YA BIFFED IT!

So close 😭

Bonus pics: Dipper and Coco "helping"
A beautiful red crochet granny square inside a blue border. It's nearly perfect unless you look at the upper left which is wonky and flat and bizarre. No idea how I did it. Action shot of Dipper, a white cat, attacking my working yarn Coco, a chocolate lab dachshund mix, lying on top of a pile of multicolored yarn. Zadie, a tan min pin chihuahua mix wearing a pink and gray sweater, is lying on the background
December 1, 2025 at 10:55 PM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Organizing the yarn of my niece's deceased grandmother is, honestly, extremely weird. I only met her a couple of times but she seemed like a lovely lady. I hope my noob attempts at making blankets for her granddaughters would make her happy.
Plastic bags of various yarn skeins on the bed, with multi colored yarn balls in the foreground
December 1, 2025 at 4:12 PM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
She knows who she is and what she's done.
Screenshot of a post by o dash lascaux dash o. Text reads, "When you hear the THUD of a cat landing on the floor that shouldn't have been on the counter in the first place." Below is a picture of Tommy Lee Jones holding a newspaper and looking over the top of his glasses with mild disapproval.
December 1, 2025 at 3:11 AM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
The video, my attempt to follow along.

The guy she tells you not to worry about, you, etc 😂
A beautiful, perfect, symmetrical, even blue crocheted grant square. A bunch of yarn that looks like someone who had never heard of yarn was forced to crochet in a dark room with two broken wrists
November 30, 2025 at 2:01 AM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Me trying to figure out real actual crochet techniques lol
A screenshot of a YouTube video by Secret Yarnery called Super Easy Granny Square for Beginners. Underneath is a comment circled in red that reads, "My brain isn't braining bruh."
November 30, 2025 at 1:05 AM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Ex SIL is off work this year so she's cooking most of Thanksgiving dinner. Brooke decided she wanted to try and recreate a cranberry sauce recipe from her work. I've just been sitting here watching Stranger Things, crocheting, taste-testing their efforts and offering encouragement. 😂
Blurry green, brown, and pink crochet squares in the foreground. Steve from Stranger Things in the background.
November 27, 2025 at 7:06 PM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
I call this piece "Mabel Discovers Yarn Exists". Look at those pupils 😂

Hope your day is full of similarly delightful delights 💜
Mabel, a white cat with one blue eye and one yellow eye aka heterochromia. You can't really tell though because her pupils are so enormous. Her front paws are on my pink hoodie and a string of brown yarn. Her head is pulled back into her neck and she's looking at the camera like she's asking if this is real Same shot but now Mabel is staring into the middle distance like she's dissociating from joy
November 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
The Thing I Made: French onion soup rolls. Brooke sent me a recipe so I gave it a shot. Caramelized onions, gruyere, parmigiano reggiano, mozzarella in my roll dough. Note to self: 3 pounds of onions was not enough onions lol
A dozen golden rolls filled with tasty goodness
November 26, 2025 at 2:25 AM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Caramelized (?) onions and my first granny square. Hello, old age. 😂
I dunno, maybe they're caramelized? A rainbow crochet blob
November 26, 2025 at 1:15 AM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
In the meantime, here's me trying to remember how to crochet. You can tell which end was me going "WTF IS HAPPENING" and which end was after the muscle memory kicked in 😂
Two ends of a crochet scarf. The yarn is pink, white, green, and brown. The left end is misshapen and sad. The right end is perfectly even.
November 25, 2025 at 11:27 PM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Carmelizing onions for the first time lol wish me luck
Non caramelized onions in a silver pot
November 25, 2025 at 10:43 PM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Tried to get a cute picture of the twins but ended up getting a Mabel reaction image instead lol
Mabel and Dipper, two white cats. Mabel is lounging in the basket of a little gray cat tree. Dipper is underneath, motion blurred. Mabel is looking straight at the camera, starting to yawn which makes her look like she's faking a surprised reaction Close up of Mabel's surprised face
November 24, 2025 at 11:18 PM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Look at how little and cute the twins used to be, all snuggled up on Coco's butt like that.
Mabel and Dipper, two white kittens maybe three months old art the time. Mabel is face down on Coco's brown tail. Dipper has his arm draped over his sister, face snuggled against her back.
November 24, 2025 at 6:07 PM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Coco when it's time for our walk but we aren't going on a walk because my vertebrae have turned feral and are attacking my nerves.

Did you know the medical term for a pinched nerve is radiculopathy? I thought my ARNP was joking. Haha, yeah, it is ridiculous right? Oh you're serious.
Coco, a chocolate lab dachshund mix, lying on a blue blanket. She's staring at the camera, psychically willing me to get off my incredibly achy butt and take her on a walk
November 22, 2025 at 4:38 PM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
At two years and four months old, my wobbly goblin child has finally learned how to get up on the kitchen counters. I walked into the kitchen and found her sitting smugly in the sink. Now she jumps on the counter just to show off. Good job Mabel. Now get down, you're not allowed up there. 😂
Mabel, a white cat with one blue eye and one yellow eye, lying on a blue blanket. She's staring wild-eyed at absolutely nothing.
November 21, 2025 at 6:29 PM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Talking to strangers can be good, actually.

Met a guy from Ukraine today. We talked about how pretty this area is and how cool dogs are and Ukraine and Venezuela and politics. It was nice.

Related: the dogs after I get home from going anywhere, no matter how long I was gone
Zadie, a tan min pin chihuahua mix wearing an orange and black candy corn shirt. She's got one paw on my leg and looks relieved I'm home Coco, a chocolate lab dachshund mix, also has a paw on my other leg. She's got her head on the bed, also relieved I'm back where she can get her paws on me
November 18, 2025 at 11:18 PM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
I appreciate that the animals want to cuddle when I'm hurting, but it's hard to shift into a comfortable position when Coco is stretched from sternum to shins and Dipper is on my ankles on one side, and Zadie is tucked behind my knees and Mabel is leaning on my back on the other 😅
The four sweet but inconvenient pets, all lying on a green blanket. Zadie, a tan min pin chihuahua mix wearing a red and white knit sweater, is in the foreground. Mabel, a white cat, is in the far back curled up asleep. Dipper, Mabel's twin, is on his back looking at Coco. Coco, a chocolate lab dachshund mix, has her head on her paws, looking back at Dipper.
November 18, 2025 at 5:06 PM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Oh no. I made a mistake. I didn't understand how much polyfil I was buying. Oh no.
A giant five pound box of fiber fill. To put it in perspective, I wanted enough to fill four throw pillows. This is enough for, I don't know, like twenty throw pillows.
November 16, 2025 at 1:40 AM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Um, actually
A picture of three inflatable frogs in Portland with the text, "Exodus 8 2 through 6. But if you refuse to let them go I will plague your whole country with frogs. The frogs shall come upon you and your people and on all your officials."
November 15, 2025 at 12:56 AM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Zadie is old and crabby and she's never particularly liked other animals. The only one who can cuddle her is Dipper, and only when she's in the mood. It's very sweet, the two anxious kids bonding in their own way.
Zadie, a 16 year old tan min pin chihuahua mix wearing a red and white knit sweater, sleeping on a light green blanket. Dipper, a white cat, is curled up against her side even though he's much much bigger than her
November 15, 2025 at 12:21 AM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Morning snuggle squad
All four of my animals lying on a light green blanket. Zadie, a tan min pin chihuahua mix wearing a red and white knit sweater, it's in the foreground snuggled against my leg. Mabel, a white cat, is curled up on a cushion at the end of the bed. Mabel's twin, Dipper, is on his back, limbs akimbo, sniffing Coco. Coco, a chocolate lab dachshund mix and biggest of the animals, is lying with her head on the bed, looking at Dipper.
November 14, 2025 at 2:59 PM
danivaughnbea.bsky.social
Pids holding together an unfinished Christmas present? ❌️

Pins for Mabel to steal and run off with, causing a panicky chase through the house with me shrieking at her to drop it even though she's deaf? ✅️

Making stuff is impossible with 4 animals in the house.
Mabel, a white cat, standing on a square of red and black brocade fabric pinned together for hand sewing. She's starting fixedly at the pins, knowing she's not allowed to steal them, while her goblin brain whispers "steal them"
November 14, 2025 at 3:04 AM