Check-In Post December 30th 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]

Wasn't in a very knitty mood today, so only 20 rows. I dropped stitches twice, two at the end of one row that I managed to hook back onto the needle, and one in the middle of a row that started to unravel before I managed to stop it. Rainbow wool makes it hard to see the stitches to catch them.

[wiseheart]

Poor you, that sounds really frustrating!

[badly_knitted]

I was paying too much attention to the strong men on the TV and not enough to my knitting. At least I only dropped stitches - one of Britain's contenders dropped a massive anvil on his foot during warm-ups for the first. He made it through two events before having to withdraw. Neither of the two British guys in this heat made it through to the final =(

[darkcedars]

Dropping stitches would definitely set you out of the mood.

[badly_knitted]

I think I caught some bad luck from some of the strong man contestants. =/

[yarnofariadne]

What a rough day. That sounds frustrating.

[badly_knitted]

It was fiddly, poor light and a multitude of colours, but there are only 20 more rows to do on this arm warmer.

[wiseheart]

I worked a bit on Dani's quiet book again. It was a really laborious task, because my cheeky little septopus (it only has 7 appendages, so I can't call it an octopus, right?) insisted on having some spark in its life, so the metallic threads had to come out again. Arrrgh! I've made that one motif, about 4cmx4cm small, and it took me over two hours!

[darkcedars]

Oh goodness, that's tiny.

[wiseheart]

With seven thin little tentacles, each of which required three rows of stitches - two of them with metallic yarn. I think I aged a decade in those two hours.

[badly_knitted]

Sparkly septopus, heee! Maybe it IS an octopus but it's hiding one tentacle out of sight You're a glutton for punishment though. If it's not Velcro work, it's metallic thread!

[wiseheart]

I know. *insert rueful grin* But Septie looked at me with those big, soulful eyes beseechingly, begging for some sparkle, since the stupid coral had it, too, that I was unable to resist. Fortunately, the seahorse that's next can be served with a single seashell-shaped piece of sequin in the sparkle department.

[badly_knitted]

Yes, you couldn't leave poor Septie without sparkle, that would have ben unkind.

Sequins are handy sometimes!

[wiseheart]

Yes, you couldn't leave poor Septie without sparkle, that would have ben unkind.

Exactly!

[darkcedars]

Made one and a half hats for dad so far. Orange and blues, because that's the first thing I grabbed. Might look at the larger leftover balls and make some with a lot of stripes.

[wiseheart]

Orange and blues look good together!

[badly_knitted]

One and a half... How many heads does your dad have? *grins* Seriously though, I'm sure he'll be pleased

[yarnofariadne]

I did the decrease rows on the slipper and was delighted to find decreases are much easier than increases, though I've still put myself on hard mode by knitting with black yarn. Before I seamed it up, I thought it looked a bit too small, so I wrapped it around my foot to test it and found it about half an inch too small. When I was reading the pattern and watching the accompanying video, I thought knitting the body to two inches fewer than the length of my foot seemed like asking a lot of the toes, but I'm still new at this and I figured I should just trust the expert. Once again, mistrusting my instincts doesn't pay off. I didn't think my toes were especially long but I guess they're longer than the person who made this pattern, at any rate. I un-did the decrease rows and went back to add a few more rows in the body and all seemed to be going well, until I started on the decreases again and found I'd somehow lost five stitches. Unravelling it all again, I lost track of how many rows I'd taken out, and I just figured it's better to start again from scratch at this point. Silver lining is that my first stab at increases went very poorly and I'd been looking at the heel thinking I really ought to re-do it, and now I get the chance to. I'd also been knitting a bit too tight so I'm glad to be able to do it right this time.

[wiseheart]

Oh dear, this wasn't your day, was it? Let's hope the second attempt will be easier.

[yarnofariadne]

It was not :( Here's hoping!

[badly_knitted]

The first try was a practice run. Now you've ironed out the kinks you can have another go feeling more confident *nods*

There's more than one way to do increases, so I'd recommend a bit of research to see if there's a method that's easier for you than the one used in the pattern.

Don't forget to keep track of rows this time. ;)

[yarnofariadne]

That's the attitude I'm trying to keep :)

I'll look into other ways to do increases, thanks for the tip!

[badly_knitted]

You're welcome, good luck!

[readera]

I haven't done much knitting today. I'm off from work so I'm doing some cleaning. I did use my new colored pencils and finished a mandala coloring page.

[yarnofariadne]

I bet the colouring page was a nice thing to work on.

[readera]

It was nice! I used to color more but I picked it up again after getting new pencils. I started a new page today too.

[badly_knitted]

I like mandalas, so pretty! Colouring is fun and relaxing.

The knitting will wait.

[readera]

Yes the mandala coloring book is lovely. The knitting will keep.

[badly_knitted]

New colouring pencils are very inspiring.

[althea_valara]

Finished weaving in the ends on the motifs! I also started seaming. I have chosen to do a slip stitch seam on the back (so, holding right sides together) as I feel crocheted seams are much more sturdy than sewn seams on something as heavy as a blanket (why yes, I did have a sewn seam on a previous blanket come apart, why do you ask?)

Anyway: two rows of large motifs joined, and 6 small motifs (five in between rows 1 and 2, and then a start on the next row of small motifs). I decided then that I was DONE for the night, because my brain had had enough of the mental gymnastics trying to figure out which motif joined to which.

I had really hoped to finish by midnight UTC tomorrow, so I could use it for Nerdopolis, but then I realized that for Summit Seekers projects I don't need to finish it by then - I will still get credit for work done, and then can get additional credit in February for finishing it up in January. I'm still going to try to get a bunch done tomorrow, but I won't push myself.

[yarnofariadne]

I'm still going to try to get a bunch done tomorrow, but I won't push myself.
Good plan!

[badly_knitted]

Excellent progress! You'll be able to use your pretty new blanket in the new year!

I agree, for something as heavy as a blanket sewing the pieces together isn't ideal. The crocheted seam should hold much better.

Good luck for progress today!