Check-In Post August 6th 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]

The greenhouse at the bottom of the garden got left alone today because I needed to sort out the one near the house where I store wood for the fire to I could put the bags of twigs I've gathered for kindling in there. They were blocking the door to the coalhouse, and I need to get that refilled before winter, so I have to get the way clear. I also brushed out the last of the plant pots I got out of the other greenhouse yesterday, so they're in the shed now.

Last night I knitted a tiny Halloween ghostie. I'm not entirely happy with the result, I don't like the way the arms look, and I tried to stitch eyes using black wool, which didn't work too well. The pattern says to glue on googly eyes, which looks cute, but as the ghosties are for kids I don't feel that's safe. Sew on googly eyes are hard to get, pricy, and I cant find any small enough so I'll either have to sew on beads for eyes, or use felt. I need to experiment a bit. I've knitted 2 more ghostie bodies this evening, and I'm going to try using twisted cords for the arms, see how that looks. Too sleepy to sew them up tonight though.

[wiseheart]

What about small black buttons? I use them sometimes as eyes.

[badly_knitted]

I have considered that, but it's a case of finding some in my stash that are suitable. I don't have many black ones and most of what I've found and either too big or too thick and heavy to the point that the weight would unbalance the ghosties.

[darkcedars]

I'd just look at any beads or buttons that were the right size. Any color that stands out against the yarn. I personally think orange sounds good. :D

[badly_knitted]

I don't mind the colour so much, as long as I can find two that match... In bad light, late at night, that's near impossible, even with lighter colours.

[yarnofariadne]

Oooh ghosties!!!

[badly_knitted]

Teeny tiny ghosties, only a couple of inches tall!

[celli]

yay ghosts!

[badly_knitted]

Tiny little 2 inch tall ghosts!

[wiseheart]

More sequin selecting today. This job has no end; and there are only so many hours when I can do it properly. The red and hot pink ones look almost the same, so I need very good light to spot the difference, and since we need to keep the blinds down most of the day or else we'd cook in our own hide, good like is a rarity in these days.

[yarnofariadne]

That does sound tricky. Best of luck!

[wiseheart]

Tricky... and boring as hell!

[badly_knitted]

I know what you mean. I was looking at beads last night and couldn't tell whether they were black, brown, dark blue, or dark green. Artificial light skews things.

[wiseheart]

And even with natural light, you need to hold the dratted sequins in a certain angle to see the true colours. My eyes were hurting after just half an hour like crazy!

[badly_knitted]

Have you tried shining a torch on them?

[darkcedars]

Definitely too hot to have the blinds open!

[wiseheart]

All our windows look to the north-east, so we get afternoon sunlight - basically from mid-day to 8pm!

[yarnofariadne]

A few more rows on the scarf done!

I've acquired a secondhand sewing machine with a view to eventually being able to make my own clothes, which I'm very excited about. I've never learned to use one though so it's all uphill from here; my husband's got a few shirts that need hemming, and he knows how to use a sewing machine so I figure those will be a good way to show me the ropes a bit. I've got piles of old sheets that the previous tenant left in this flat so I'm planning to practise on those a bit.

[wiseheart]

I loved my Grandma's old Singer machine; the one you had to operate manually... well, treating it with your foot. These new electric machines are too fast for me, and I live in holy fear of them. Even my 20cm by 20cm baby machine (called Louise) intimidates the living daylight out of me.

[yarnofariadne]

I've honestly always been terrified of electric sewing machines, too; my grandmother sewed all my clothes when I was little and I always gave her such a wide berth while she was working because I was convinced being within two feet of it would somehow get me a needle through the finger. Shame I didn't feel like learning when she was right there 😂

[badly_knitted]

Well done with the knitting, and good luck with learning to use the sewing machine! Practicing on the old sheets sounds like a good idea. My mum used to turn old sheets into pillow cases.

[darkcedars]

Good luck! And good job on more scarf progress.

[celli]

ooh, I used to be able to use a sewing machine (I worked in a costume shop in college) but have absolutely lost the knowledge. have fun learning!

[darkcedars]

Finally a photo of the heart coasters:


Today I started the sides of the crochet basket. Got VERY confused with the yarn -it's self striping and 3 strands are held together. Two skeins started with orange, so I pulled out on the 3rd until I got to orange. Then started matching up the lengths of orange, to be sure orange would end at the same time....and the 3rd skein had a different color after orange than the others!

After way too long and making a huge mess pulling yarn out to look at it, I realized skein #3 is simply *wound backwards* and I could use it from the outside. I have about 4 rows done now. Laughing at myself.

[badly_knitted]

The heart coasters are amazing, I love the swirly effect!

How confusing! Glad you managed to figure it out.

[celli]

aw, man, I'm glad it could be funny after being stressful. and I love the coasters. :)

[althea_valara]

Oh, I love those coasters! I've done a bunch of spiral coasters, but mine are just circular, not hearts. Might have to whip up a few of the hearts myself.

How frustrating with the yarn, but at least you can laugh about it now!

[yarnofariadne]

I love the heart coasters, they're adorable!

[wiseheart]

Oh, these are so lovely!

[celli]

more crochet practice - I think I know two of the things I'm doing wrong, and can fix one of them, so, again, progress not perfection. :) also some embroidery but nothing warranting a new pic, so just know I did it, heh.

[badly_knitted]

Well done, and cool that you've already figured out some of what you're not getting quite right. I can crochet a bit, enough to make the odd granny square and the ears for my meeces, but I've never tried crocheting rows...

[althea_valara]

I slowed down today. I think the high I've been on since finding out about the craft fair caught up with me. I did do stuff today, but I also napped, so.

I finished frogging another hat last night. This once was partially frogged already. so it was easy to finish. When I originally knit it I discovered a break in the yarn that had been knotted together. Knots come undone easily, so I undid it while knitting and left ends to weave in. This means that the yarn frogged into two balls - perfect for fingerless mitts!

I tried one pattern, but the designer was Russian and some of the English translation was a bit hard to understand. Also, my gauge was way off - the yarn is supposedly Aran but was knitting up at a bulky gauge. I did another search and found a bulky pattern, and have now successfully finished one mitt. Yay! Going to finish the other tomorrow, then turn it in for a Nerdopolis challenge. I also wanted to make these mitts for the craft fair, as they will match a shawl I previously made with the same yarn. Thought it would be nice to sell them as a set.

[badly_knitted]

Good idea to slow down a bit, you don't want to overdo it and exhaust yourself.

Yeah, knots in the middle of a row are not good. Well done on getting one mitt done, and I think it's a great idea to sell the shawl and mitts as a set!

[wiseheart]

Sometimes a great deal of creativity is required to get supposedly easy things done right. Slowing down and napping a bit is important, in order not to over-extend yourself.