Check-In Post May 9th 2022

[badly_knitted]

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.
Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.


Today's Question: No question today.


If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Comments

[badly_knitted]

No cross stitch today, but I dig get out in the garden, cutting back brambles and shrubs that were getting in the way.

[darkcedars]

Cutting back brambles is going to become your signature line, sounds like!

[badly_knitted]

That's because they keep growing back. I can't get all the roots out because they're in awkward places =[

[wiseheart]

A gardener's work is never done.

[badly_knitted]

So true!

[glossy_mat_finish]

Here it's blackberry vines. I love to eat the berries, but I don't want the thorny vines growing in my yard. They are very invasive and once they take hold it's almost impossible to get rid of them.

[badly_knitted]

Yes, same thing, different name. I'm in the UK so we call them brambles. I've got fewer than I did have, but still way more than I want. Some have their foots right up against shrubs so it's impossible to dig them out, and they grow back so fast.

[peaceful_sands]

Well done on your gardening achievements - brambles can be a real battle and just when you think you have them under control, you find them popping up somewhere else where they've gone underground.

[badly_knitted]

At the moment all I can do is keep cutting back whenever they sprout, hoping they'll get discouraged and give up =/

[smallhobbit]

Fly by posting to say I'm sorry I've not been around, but I've been away and am now trying to catch up, including finishing son's anniversary present for this Thursday....

[darkcedars]

Good luck getting the present done!

[smallhobbit]

Thank you!

[badly_knitted]

Hope you had an interesting time on your trip!

Good luck with getting the card finished in time!

[smallhobbit]

Trip was excellent. And thank you - there's not too much left, so I'm reasonably hopeful.

[badly_knitted]

Glad to hear it - on both counts!

[darkcedars]

Today I'm mostly working on seasonal switching (clean & reverse ceiling fans, washing coats to put away, summer sheets), though I am working a little on a million year afghan WIP. It's quite warm today which makes me feel better overall (93F/34C).

Yesterday I finally planted the daisy and marigold seeds down this first flower bed I'm making. When the city redid the sidewalks years ago, they left these little strips. Ours never seems to have had anything but weeds in it. It took a while to get it in planting shape. There's day lily and soapwort starts in here too. So it's done.

[badly_knitted]

In England, switching from winter to summer is pointless. It'll probably be warm for a couple of week then rain all summer =/

Yay for getting your sidewalk strip planted!

Have fun with your afghan! Making that in such hot temperatures would do me in. 93F is HOT! I'd be a melted puddle. Luckily it doesn't get that hot here!

[darkcedars]

We usually have more in-between time. Just a few days ago I had my heated mattress pad on high because I was cold. I'll also need to be extra careful to water all these little seedlings.

[badly_knitted]

Yes, you don't want them drying out!

Weather is so weird these days. April is usually showery here but this years it barely rained at all.

[peaceful_sands]

Well done on your achievements on the sidewalk, plus all the summer/winter transition tasks. I hope the afghan is coming along well.

[kneesntoess]

not technically a current project, but it does feel like the final conclusion of one, nonetheless! i crocheted a cardigan for a work friend's newborn in december, but I did my usual "i'll just size up a little, just in case..." and so he's only just grown into it! at four months old!

oops!

but it was still very lovely to hear from my friend and to see her little one in his cardigan, even if it took a while!

[badly_knitted]

Aw, so sweet! And it's good for babies to have clothes they can grow into. Maybe he'll get more wear out of it!

[kneesntoess]

Absolutely! Whenever I buy clothes for a new baby I always try and get a couple sizes up for exactly that reason.

[badly_knitted]

Always the best idea.

Becoming an Auntie was what got me knitting. I knew the basics and just threw myself into making baby clothes. That was 40+ years ago though. Sadly, these days no one seems to want the traditional baby clothes.

[kneesntoess]

oh that's interesting - the good news is I think the traditional styles are getting more popular! lots of people have asked me to make stuff for their little ones too, and especially blankets. I just make sure I use super soft and superwash yarn

[badly_knitted]

It would be good to get out my baby knitting patterns again. But I don't know anyone having babies, lol!

[kneesntoess]

Ahahahaha! Our local yarn store also sells handmade items and passes on the ££ so I usually give mine to them

[badly_knitted]

I used to make items for a baby shop, but it was badly run and closed down so I got everything back that hadn't already sold.

[kneesntoess]

Aww no ): well fingers crossed you find someone to love them!

[badly_knitted]

They've been hanging around here almost 20 years now. Maybe one day someone will want them.

[darkcedars]

When baby is the right size definitely counts as the project milestone!

[wiseheart]

You see? Just a bit of waiting... ;))

[kneesntoess]

Definitely feels like it! It was so lovely to see him in it

[peaceful_sands]

That looks lovely. I'm sure it was great to see him in it. From things friends with babies said over the years clothes that aren't designed for immediate wear are much appreciated - I remember one friend saying that the only clothes her baby hadn't grown out of in the first few months were the ones I'd gifted (I got her one outfit for when baby was 3 - 6 months and one for 6 - 9).

[kneesntoess]

Thank you so much! And yeah - I always buy clothes a couple of sizes up & and for something I'd put a lot of time into like this, I wanted to make sure he could wear it for as long as possible! My mum knitted my university friend's newborn a little cardigan, and in the end loved it so much she commissioned her to make the exact same cardigan but three sizes bigger

[wiseheart]

Just a tny bit of crafting today: i've cut out the seahorses and the jellyfish. Small steps'n all...

[badly_knitted]

They're small and fiddly, so that's delicate work!

[peaceful_sands]

Every little helps towards the whole.

[tielan]

I stitched one seam of my Restless Hands Of Sel millefiori quilt (design is Made By Restless Hands by Willyne Hammerstein). Just one seam. But if I did one seam a day, I'd probably finish it in a year without too much trouble.

Maybe I should just do that: One Seam A Day

[peaceful_sands]

Well done for making progress - it will gradually build.

[badly_knitted]

Every seam is progress, and one a day sounds like a good idea. This time next year you'd have a completed quilt!

[cathyw]

I faked myself out.
I measured the swatch. I wrote down that 19 stitches was 10.1 cm, and I'm like, drat, I needed that to be 17 stitches. I started swatching again on larger needles.
For some reason I re-measured the swatch. 19 stitches was *11.1* cm, not 10.1, which gives me 17.4 sts/4" on a target of 17.
I will take that.

[peaceful_sands]

Frustrating but a good result in the end.

[badly_knitted]

Does this mean you don't ned to do the second swatch? Excellent!

With everything, it's a good idea to measure twice before doing anything else, just to be certain.

[peaceful_sands]

Have been bad at checking in because I've just been too tired to craft and then falling asleep when I get to reading internet times. Still I've done more work in both gardens since I last posted so they are now both tidy and hopefully set up for the coming months. I've also repotted a bunch of indoor plants (some to give away but some just because they are currently healthy and growing - this is good going as it's not always guaranteed that I can keep my houseplants healthy).

For the last two days I've actually managed to do a bit of work on the Winnie the Pooh cross stitch - it might only be a length or two of thread a day but every little counts.

I've also continued transferring my sewing threads onto cards and working out which colours/shades I have and which I need - it resulted in me placing an order for more thread for the Christmas card designs I'm hoping to do.

[badly_knitted]

Check in whenever you feel like it. I know how it feels to be falling asleep over the computer.

Well done on the garden progress and the re-potting. That's something I never seem to get around to. It's a miracle any of my houseplants are still alive >.<

Gradual progress on the cross stitch is better than none, which is what I keep telling myself when I don't seem to be getting anywhere on a tiny little design.

It's always the way that when you pick out designs to stitch, you don't have all the colours needed. At least you were able to order some.