Lev Mirov
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thelionmachine.bsky.social
Lev Mirov
@thelionmachine.bsky.social
2.7K followers 460 following 13K posts
poet, novelist, graduate student, time traveler. in my sock knitting era. Jewish genderfluid bone wizard writing queer trans speclit in hell. Medievalist inexplicably writing a dissertation about Anna Akhmatova's queerness. no English pronouns, thanks.
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thelionmachine.bsky.social
This has been replaced with a non seasonal fake offer for a "free meat box" from Costco. THIS IS NOT REAL. It is a scam! Do not click the links in this email! Do not fill out any forms! Warn your friends and loved ones and tbh warn strangers, too!
Screencap of a very unprofessional phishing email pretending to be Costco. Text reads: "congratulations! you've been selected! Answer and win!" Phising email pretending to be from Costco continued: "unlock a gourmet deal on premium steaks -- reveal the meat box deal!" Screenshot of a phishing email From Costco-Promotions with a VERY long fake email masking code
November 29, 2025 at 2:16 AM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Weird things I have used a needle gauge for:

Measuring my 2mm kidney stone that I was passing while trying on sale trousers at a store

So much for the "we don't see anything interesting in your kidneys, are you SURE you have stones" test this past week
An extreme close up of a wooden knitting needle gauge, with holes for measuring needles. Between the first two sizes, 2.00mm and 2.25mm, there is a small, irregularly shaped pale brown rock, slightly larger than the 2mm hole.
November 29, 2025 at 1:32 AM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Hey so bad news, there's a phishing email going around pretending to pay for free Thanksgiving dinners at Costco. Please tell your leas internet savvy friends this is a horrible, heartless scam and they SHOULD NOT CLICK ANYTHING
Gmail preview of a phishing email pretending to be Costco. I have included the titles exactly as they appeared. Title: You've won a Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner from Costco [myemail] [thu, 20 Nov 2025 10:09:21 +0000] red emoji exclamation point From: Costco - Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner etdenix@iszgxhz.aaq.missouri.uk.com To: me@aol.com (not my actual email) A preview of the email, colored letters on a brown background, with some words highlighted in red. "COSTCO - FREE - THANKSGIVING - DINNER - Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner" etc. It does not look like a professionally designed email or use modern advertising copy. Same email with a brown background, a partially cropped picture of a turkey dinner, a large blue Claim It Now button, a weird turkey themed red and yellow banner, and the claim "© Costco Program. All Rights Reserved" with a phising unsubscribe button underneath.
November 20, 2025 at 10:57 PM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
I forgot that when re-charting a bottom up pattern to work top down, you have to read from left to right 🤣

I'm not mad, it's hilarious to me. I'm also going to adapt this pattern to have a Sixth House skull as well.
A top down handknit sock being worked on DPNS in black and white, held in knitting position. Just after the black ribbing, there's a big white arched shape that reads "IX". It's going to be a Ninth House skull from The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir. A top down hand-knit sock being worked on DPNS in black and white, turned right side up so the cuff is at the top. Just after the black ribbing, there's a big white arched shape that reads "XI". It's supposed to be a Ninth House skull from The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir, which does not have an 11th house.
October 24, 2025 at 12:10 AM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
This is the thing I have been #knitting since August. Self drafted tank top in Knitting For Olive's cotton merino. The design is from the Astraeus cowl by Bad Wolf Girl Studios. When I joined in the round I added sts until I had a number divisible by 20 & followed the chart until it hit my ribcage.
A dramatically lit photo of a stormy gray-blue knit tank top with a large gray-white band of colorwork design in the torso. White stars and clouds swirl above a band of moons, pennants, and two rows of big stars. The bottom is a band of blue and white striping. Lev's hand is in the corner holding the edge because the bottom is curling up. It looks weird and shadowy because it's nighttime.
October 21, 2025 at 7:28 AM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
I would try making your legs flatter and see if it helps? Still support your knees if you need to but a lower angle might help? This was the position that I discovered I can actually fall asleep in, but I have sleep apnea so it also helps my breathing.
A photo of a white person on top of a teal reclining chair in a painfully white room, stretched out so their head is only a little bit higher than their feet. Their head and knees are supported by the chair so it looks reasonably comfortable.
September 10, 2025 at 1:08 AM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Finished my sock for #SockWeek2025 . Thought I would finish an entire pair but I've been kinda sick and sleeping a lot. The colorway is Knitted Wit Sock in the color Akata Witch, the blue contrast is Knitpicks Gloss in Captain. 🧶🧦
A handknit striped sock with a yellow and orange and dark blue variegated stripey pattern with solid blue heel and toe. It has a strong heel, and there are stitch markers up and down the sock counting rows.
July 27, 2025 at 7:53 AM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Jellybean is trying to take care of me, yeah.
Picture of Jellybean, a beautiful sleek black cat with huge white whiskers and golden eyes. She is curled up in a C shape on a blanketed lap but her head is up and expression alert.
June 18, 2025 at 8:00 PM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Freehanding this colorwork sock for charity and realizing I need a bunch of solid or lightly speckled base yarns like this cream. No idea what the blue yarn is bc it came in an unlabeled lot, but it looked cool.
A cream and blue-green sock leg on bamboo DPNs. The cuff is speckled cream, which goes across the body of the leg in diagonal stripes over a sea of variegated blues and teals.
May 30, 2025 at 5:09 AM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Apparently it's the time of night where I cry about how much I love Jellybean whenever she gently licks my fingers while she's curled up into me for her routine of cuddling with me until I am forced to actually go to bed and sleep. She loves me like I have never been loved by another animal.
Close up photo of the best cat in the world, Jellybean, a small black cat with luminous white whiskers and golden eyes, curled up on a blanket, looking past the camera as if she can see through time and it's not very impressive
April 21, 2025 at 8:14 AM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Decided to make another version of a mosaic pattern I threw together last year when I knew nothing and now I'm trying to figure out what to do on the foot of the sock because while I enjoy the waffle slip stitch, I'm not sure I love the variegated yarn knit up, even though I like all the colors. 🧶🧦
The cuff and part of the leg of a handknit top down sock on bamboo double pointed needles, which is a speckled creamy waffle texture, and each of the waffle squares are variegated blues and rusts and greens
April 6, 2025 at 6:55 PM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
She wanted me to know I don't feel good
Jellybean, a dainty black cat with big yellow eyes and long white whiskers, sits primly on a messy bed staring directly into the camera. She looks serious, and also extremely glamorous.
April 3, 2025 at 11:46 PM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
This is a gauge swatch for the Otra cardigan, and so consequently I have learned a LOT about steeking and colorwork on circular needles. I ended up whip stitching the steeked ends to the inside, which I don't think I'll do quite the same way to the person sized garment. #knitting
A photo of a doll sized army green and butter yellow colorwork cardigan. The body is dark green with a yellow colorwork chart that normally would only be in the yoke. The cardigan has been cut open and you can see many ends of yarn.
April 2, 2025 at 8:07 AM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Merino-nylon blends, I use a 7-8st gauge. These two socks are on the same base, with an identical st count and the same needles (52sts on 2.25cm), but one has been worn for a week. All my socks end up looking like the purple one after I wear them.
Two hand knits, one is a stripey purple sock that looks huge and stretched out, the other is a green striped sock cuff and leg still on the needles. The stitches are the same size but extremely and unflatteringly stretched out on the purple sock.
March 19, 2025 at 6:52 AM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Jellybean is convinced the cure to my emotional exhaustion is to never ever ever leave the bed for any reason because my legs are her bedding
A black cat curled, impossibly, around herself like a prawn, deeply asleep in the hollows of a blue paisley blanket, her chin tucked down and nestled against her own back legs, which are sticking out dramatically to the left, her front legs crossed, one front paw thrown out towards the camera. Her feet are flexed and you can see her long white claws, her long white whiskers against the smoky sheen of her fur. Nothing has ever slept this intensely in the history of the world.
February 25, 2025 at 10:04 PM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Rules lawyer Weency says "you can't be mad at me, I'm not sitting on the table"
A brown and black mackerel tabby is sitting primly on a notebook sitting open on a table. The table is up against a white window ledge and crowded with books and papers and yarn. Her expression is slightly offended.
February 19, 2025 at 9:20 PM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
This profile image was stolen from the Tumblr user www.tumblr.com/safaakhatib who is fundraising for her mom Amira, they have a GoFundMe campaign. The PayPal link is fraud. This account is fraud. Please report this account.
User @ayienzie.bsky.social or "Jude Liam" whose profile has a stolen picture of a light skinned woman in a beige hijab, the profile "she/her 29 diabetic patient" and a reply post about needing medication to avoid their lungs collapsing with a link to a masked PayPal account. The image is stolen from the Tumblr profile of Palestinian user Safaa Khateeb, whose fundraiser is not linked anywhere on this account.
February 15, 2025 at 6:57 PM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
My escapism today is mainlining a 9 hour nonfiction audiobook in ~4 hours before it's returned to the library tomorrow, and casting on a new pair of socks since I finished these vanilla socks 🧦🧶 #knitting
Two handmade tonal stormy dark blue stockinette socks on a gray background. They are variegated and have a sort of faint stripey effect.
February 14, 2025 at 3:57 AM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Finished my next hexagon for the Persian Dreams blanket. I'm thinking about doing the whole thing in greens and blues, but I also desperately want to use this yarn for some socks #knitting
A silvery grey and dark tealy blue knit hexagon still on the double pointed needles. The pattern is a checkerboard pattern throughout the bulk of the body with blue flowers at the top. Each needle is a triangle shape that all together make a star shaped "seam" in the shape of the hexagon.
February 8, 2025 at 7:15 PM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Somehow there were three Allen wrenches in these two pieces of flatpack furniture and I KNOW there's at least two more in the old apartment on the counter.

What do you DO with "disposable" Allen wrenches anyway?
Three small allen wrenches for hex screws, two silver and one black, next to two upright spare black screws. They're sitting on a wood tabletop.
February 3, 2025 at 10:59 PM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
I haven't blocked it, but this is my self drafted sweater! I followed the instructions for a contiguous set-in sleeve based on my gauge. I first tried to make a sweater with this yarn a year ago, frogged it THREE times, and finally got here.🧶 #knitting
A variegated blue-gray hand knit sweater lying flat on a bed with the arms folded over. The color is like a blue stormcloud drifting over a pale winter sky, and the cuff and hem have a chunky rib.
February 3, 2025 at 7:24 PM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Cat tax! We are mid moving and it's very expensive and exhausting, if you'd like to help us buy a cat tree the one that we've found is about $99, or help us eat when we're exhausted, $40 can buy us a GF meal with actual vegetables

PayPal.me/thelionmachine
Two cats on a mattress on the floor looking at an open door. Jellybean is a small, slinky black cat curled up on some blankets in the foreground and Weency is a brown and black tabby on the opposite end of the mattress. The room is bright and sunny, with white walls and a blond wood floor, and there is a stack of toast sitting on the bed because I took this during breakfast.
February 1, 2025 at 7:33 PM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Unrepentant tuber wizard seconds before she tried to steal a butter knife with cheese residue
Weency, a mackerel tabby, loafed up and sleepy, her whiskers spread wide and her eyes almost shut, her head lulling. She tucked her front feet under her like she's cold.
January 24, 2025 at 8:35 PM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
@sjgochenour.bsky.social today embracing "be potato", Weency smells strongly and mysteriously of tater tots.
Close up of the face and upper body of Weency, a fawn colored and black striped mackerel tabby, who is making a silly face like she's sleepy but surprised about it. She has speckly brindled fur with a fluffy undercoat and her white whiskers are pointing several different directions like she's not quite sure how they work.
January 24, 2025 at 8:04 PM
thelionmachine.bsky.social
Please report this account, which is leaving graphic death threats in my friend's replies, and posting whacked out misogyny and incoherent racisms in general
Profile of @jetiz.bsky.social, display name Jason Renner. The only thing in the profile is "fuck this" and a line drawing icon of a dude with a goatee
January 6, 2025 at 9:36 PM