My main worry about CXC is how it holds up after being washed. I haven't used them so I can't vouch but I had no such issues with Ariadna and it was what I started with at first. A lot of the kits local designers assemble also use this brand, if you want them to make it cheaper, so it seems to have proven itself in Eastern Europe at least.
@MrJameGumb@lemmy.world I'm a big fan of Ariadna. Costs 0.50$ (0.35 from my local stores). It's cotton, holds up well and it's made in Poland. The colours wash well and I often mix it with DMC to reduce costs. To the trained eye there might be subtle differences but I don't see them. Their palette is similar to DMC but with a different numbering system. They have most colours DMC has to offer but they're not always a complete match so bw aware of it when you swap. I don't see any difference while working with it quality-wise.
A quick duckduckgo search led me to this store thst ships internationally
Also if you don't mind cheap Chinese retailers I'd reluctantly recommend CXC. You can read more a out it on Sirithre's blogpost about it
Don't get me wrong, Bucharest and Sofia are rather LGBT friendly as long as you know where you're safe. (I've only visited both for a couple of days on a number of occasions). I can't speak about other cities but the Orthodox Church is really strong in Romania. Bulgaria on the other hand has soccer extremists/fascists who are particularly dangerous and tend to mob on their targets so it's hard to even find the culprits by the authorities... Not that they even bother unless it's a murder.
In fact I had a mob of Bulgarian hooligans in Bucharest of all places yelling "Look dude Rapunzel!" pointing at me (I present masculine but have rather long hair). I felt realy threatened and uncomfortable but I realised they didn't know I spoke their language and I was in a crowded place so it all passed.
Bulgaria is an example. The LGBTQ+ community is discussed only during the annual pride parade. Sofia is rather liberal but the rest of the country is highly conservative. The people in power are likely in favour of marriage equality (or most don't care that much so they just vote with the flow) but it's a political suicide given the opinion of the most active voters. If you decided to run a country-wide poll, most people would be against gay marriage. The general attitude is "I don't mind gay people as long as they're not in my face". Except many have stronger opinions than that. Especially men.
Speaking of men, the Balkan macho culture created a fear of gay people (literal homophobia). On a regular basis I hear men speaking about being afraid of being raped by gay men in certain situations (think massage rooms, men's locker rooms, bars).
Football hooligan extremists are especially dangerous because they go on witch hunts for marginalized groups and would attack (and sometimes murder) anyone who looks gay, Turkish, ir has a darker skin colour just for sport. There are still partly unresolved murders of LGBT youth commited a decade ago.
In fact I'm surprised about Greece, they must be the first ortbodox christian country to legalize same sex marriage and they're very religious compared to us.
In most slavic languages it's also "Med" or a cognate.
Also meal prep for work. Healthier and saves money (5% of my net income per month in my case)
As an eastern European nearing their 30s in a situation much less extreme than yours - do not fall for "patriotism". I do not mean the "go and fight for your people" type. That takes guts and mentality I do not possess.
I mean the "doing X is unpatriotic" type. Usually comes from "patriotic" formations who follow a certain narrative and work for the interests of other countries. Look for buzzwords like traditional values, us vs them, targeting a group of people as a whole, claiming to get back "what is ours" (territory lost centuries ago, not currently occupied land). Big social media presence coupled with self-produced "reports" and "news articles" (bonus points if they have their own mass media channels) are also a giveaway.
Thank you but I won't let your aggressor, through puppet parties, dictate what about my attitude and views is patriotic and what isn't.
I see no mistakes here. This is adorable!
Lately when I'm looking for tutorials, my search results are overwhelmingly weird question and answer style "articles", akin to chatgpt prompts, some of which are barely related to what I'm looking for. I'm having a hard time looking for articles written by a human. In fact oftentimes I question whether or not the article is written by a machine or a person who sucks at writing.
I guess they popped up around the time I started putting up suet! I only recently started feeding mealworms. Best thing I got was a wild ferret but the other birds seem to love them! A couple of chaffinches seem to have become regulars. I saw a robin or two pop up but they don't seem to like my yard too much.
Yay! Science!