Check-In Post May 29th 2023

[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

Today's achievements

[wiseheart]

1. Textile book:
I sewed together the first panel completely, so that's one-third done. Then I started putting in the permanent stitches to all green surfaces (which I forgot to do before I'd start sewing the book together), and in the process I realized that there's an entire edge where the brown permanent stitches hadn't been put in, either! A good thing that I spotted the nice white stitches along the tree trunk just in time; but it was an unpleasant surprise. *sigh*

But all green and brown permanent stitches are now in place (or so I hope), and I even started taking out the temporary ones on the finished first panel, which is a painstaking task in itself. You'd think one simply has to yank the thread and it will come out, right? You'd be mistaken. When I learned to sew at upper primary, we used a specific thread for temporary stitches that really did that, but I don't have such thread now, and the simple sewing thread was being very redundant. I must be careful not to damage the actual panels when taking out the stitches. Just what I needed! *double sigh*

2. Baby book:
I've made one measly tag to the baby book, since the above mentioned process undermined my determination colossally. But the tag turned out quite nice, so that's good. One down, several dozen more to go. Fortunately, I have time till September, but aside from the tags I've got an awful lot of work to do on this book, so I'm trying to make a little progress every suitable day. (Tomorrow clearly won't count as suitable, by the looks of it.)

3. Writing:
Again, very little progress was made, but the couple of paragraphs I actually managed to write turned out to my satisfaction. One should count one's blessings.

Re: Today's achievements

[badly_knitted]

You've done a lot, even if most of it weas on one project, and bits that you'd missed. At least nowe hopefully all the temporary stitches have been replaced.

Re: Today's achievements

[wiseheart]

God, I hope so, too! If I discover another forgotten row of them I'll go mad!

Re: Today's achievements

[yarnofariadne]

You got so much done!

Re: Today's achievements

[wiseheart]

Only because today is a bank holiday, and on bank holidays all the TV programmes I like to watch get cancelled for the day. That leaves me all morning to do better things. *g*

Re: Today's achievements

[celli]

I feel your double sighs! You did SO much today, that's amazing.

Re: Today's achievements

[wiseheart]

It is an easy equation: no telly = more crafting. *g*

Re: Today's achievements

[spiralicious]

You've gotten so much done!

Re: Today's achievements

[wiseheart]

I'll be glad when it's over. This is the phase I positively hate in each project.

[badly_knitted]

It's been chilly today and I wasn't feeling great so I stayed indoors. I cut more yarn for spider legs, including 15 sets for (hopefully) the black spiders. Haven't cut the bodies out yet because the fabric is badly creased and needs flattening. I don't want to get the iron and ironing board out if I don't have to, so tomorrow I'll try soaking it in hot water and drying it flat. It that doesn't work...


I have also started making the legs! Unfortunately, pulling the knots tight has given me a nasty blister on a finger joint, so I'll have to find a better way of tightening the knots. Four pairs of legs per spider, a knot at each end for the spider feet, sop that's 8 knots per spider, and I think I made 7 sets of legs today. So many still to do!

[wiseheart]

Have you tried folding the fabric to a large rectangle and put it under the cushion of an armchair? That's how we "iron" all the bedlinens and pillow cases. I sit on them for a week or two, and they are completely smooth after that. Of course, the fact that I'm a heavy person helps. *g*

[badly_knitted]

I haven't, but I don't think it would work with this fabric, it's the wrong sort, not cotton and the creases are from years crammed into a bag. To be honest, I'm not sure even ironing would smooth it out. Also, I'm not very heavy. I'll just have to see what soaking it will do, if anything.

[yarnofariadne]

Oh no, I hope the blister heals quickly!

[badly_knitted]

It hasn't split so it should be okay as long as I'm careful.

[celli]

I don't even want to do the math on that, but it sounds like you're making really good progress!

[badly_knitted]

I thought so too, but it turns out I'm not. The legs are too fat, I should only be using one strand of yarn, which means I have enough yarn cut for twice as many spider legs as I have bodies for...

[spiralicious]

I have my fingers crossed for your fabric.

That is so many knots!

[badly_knitted]

It really is!

Fabric is soaking, we shall see if that does any good.

[yarnofariadne]

I'm up to six inches wide on the infinity scarf!

[wiseheart]

Nice progress!

[badly_knitted]

WHOOO! Nearly there!

[celli]

yay!!!!

[spiralicious]

Excellent!

[celli]

Today I did the larger, "official" version of my embroidery on a photograph project, and I really like how it came out! I started a second one, but I did something I didn't like, and on a photograph that's much harder to cover up. I think I'm going to have to restart. Frustrating.

[yarnofariadne]

Oh wow, that's such a cool project! Sorry you have to start the second one over, though, but hopefully the end result is worth it.

[spiralicious]

That is so cool!

Sorry you're possibly going to have to restart on the other one.

[badly_knitted]

That does look very effective! Do you decide what you're going to do and poke the holes first, or do you make it up as you go along?

So sorry the second one isn't going right =(

[spiralicious]

I was coloring and not paying attention to the time.

This morning I put a few more rows on the shawl.

The rest of the day, I poked at decorating more of my bullet journal off and on. The contact information page now has some spider webs and the calendar pages have unfinished stripe motifs.

As for the juvenile crow, I hope he has moved onto wherever he should be. When my mother left at 6:30 this morning, he was in the same place, but by the time I got up at 11:30, he was nowhere to be found and nothing looked disturbed in a way that would suggest any sort of a struggle. The adult crows were also much calmer today.

[badly_knitted]

Yay for colouring, shawl progress, and journal decorating. That's quite a variety!

Hopefully the young crow has figured its wings out and gone to join the flock.