Check-In Post January 6th 2024

[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.


This Week's Question: Do you have any crafting resolutions for 2024?


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 crafting again today. I want to knit, but I can't face battling the pattern I weas trying to do only to have to undo it yet again. Seriously considering setting it aside until the evenings are lighter, digging out some other yarn, and starting something else that's not so frustratingly uncooperative.

[wiseheart]

That is probably a good idea. You need a bit of success, so that you can pick up the frustrating project later again.

[badly_knitted]

It sucks because it's the glorious teal yarn and I was so looking forward to having a sweater made from it, but I don't want to mess it up, so I'll find something lighter in colour and have a go at a different pattern.

[althea_valara]

Yeah, I agree with wiseheart that setting the pattern aside for now is probably for the best. Have fun picking something else to work on!

[badly_knitted]

I'll rummage through my yarn when I can see what I'm doing.

[spiralicious]

It sounds like setting it aside to work on something else for awhile might be a good idea.

[badly_knitted]

Yeah, I've dug out some other yarn, now I just need a pattern to go with it.

[spiralicious]

*\o/*

[badly_knitted]

Motivating myself to LOOK for a pattern is harder than it should be.

[yarnofariadne]

Wove in the ends on the infinity scarf, and made two more wine cork magnets. I wanted to get started on a dice tray project but ran out of time, so that'll be tomorrow's project. I've got to order yarn for a baby blanket, but in the meantime I'll work on the beach cover-up again!

[wiseheart]

Just how many projects are you working on at the same time? *g*

[yarnofariadne]

Haha, the cork magnets are just whenever I have a cork I want to make into a magnet, and the dice tray's been sitting around since October waiting for me to acquire felt (which I did last week). No excuse for the beach cover-up, though 😅

[badly_knitted]

Well done finishing the scarf!

What will you be using to make your dice tray?

Good luck with the beach cover-up. How many rows are there still to do?

[yarnofariadne]

Thank you!

I bought a little wooden coffin from The Works at Halloween, so I'm going to paint it black and glue some red felt into the bottom :D

42 rows to go!

[badly_knitted]

That's going to make an awesome dice tray!

Not terribly far to go now then!

[spiralicious]

You were very busy!

[wiseheart]

I've finished stitching together the last page and the back cover of the songbook, so that's progress. I don't feel like overdoing all the crafting at the moment. I'm trying to get back to writing... with various degrees of success.

[yarnofariadne]

Congrats on your progress, and good luck with writing!

[wiseheart]

Thanks. I hope the muse wakes up... eventually.

[badly_knitted]

That's great progress! Hope the writing is going well.

[wiseheart]

Well, not particularly, TBH, but at least it does go forward... in very, very tiny steps. It's like pulling teeth, really. :(

[badly_knitted]

Forward progress is good, even in tiny steps.

[spiralicious]

Well done. Good luck with the writing.

[wiseheart]

Thank you. It's one less thing in my hair.

[spacedogfromspace]

Made some invisible bookends out of cardboard to keep my books from fallimg over all the time!

[badly_knitted]

Those things are so handy! There's not always room for regular bookends, they take up too much space.

(I don't need them though, my shelves are so crammed with books they can't fall over).

[spacedogfromspace]

They are very handy! I always need bookends but I hate traditional ones because they take up too much space and are usually tacky... but these ones can be made of cardstock and take up no space at all! And they can't be tacky if you can't see them!

[badly_knitted]

So true! I almost envy you needing bookends. I have WAY too many books.

[spacedogfromspace]

well, actually the bookends are so I can put books on top of my bookshelves so... same problem xD

[badly_knitted]

I already have, lol! There just isn't enough room for all of them so I have boxes of books in a cupboard and more boxes under my bed... I'm trying to thin out the collection though. It's slow going.

[spacedogfromspace]

lolll! well, I guess you can always get more shelves?

[badly_knitted]

No more room for them. I've squeezed them in everywhere possible, so now I'm focused on clearing out books I'll never read and the ones I'll never re-read, plus the ones I start reading and lose interest in.

[spacedogfromspace]

oh yeah that's fair. Downsizing is always a good strategy too!

[badly_knitted]

It just takes time. A lot of time.

[spiralicious]

Nice!

[althea_valara]

I have started the Christmas Stockings commission! My goal is 30 minutes a day, because it's a tight gauge that is a bit hard on my hands. I did my 30 minutes, which had me ending at the end of row 7. Huzzah!

I also detangled nephew's blanket from the pile of WIPs it was cuddling with. If time allows later, I'll settle down on actually work on it a bit. But I really need to catch up with my studying, so that first.

[badly_knitted]

Excellent stocking and untangling progress!

Hope the studying goes well.

[spiralicious]

Woohoo! Well done!


Good luck with the studying.

[wiseheart]

Yay for Christmas stockings! I hope there'll be pictures, later on. Just be careful with your hands; no need to damage them.

[celli]

I haven't posted it yet because I'm waiting for the recipient to look at it, but I finished my kpop piece last night! I'm at that stage where I only see mistakes, but my sister says it's good. :)

[spiralicious]

Nice!

[badly_knitted]

Congratulations on finishing it! I'm sure the recipient will be delighted.

[wiseheart]

We *always* see all the mistakes; it's a good thing that other people usually don't. I'm sure your piece is very pretty.

[spiralicious]

Today, I decorated another bullet journal layout. It was my "year in pixels/anxiety tracker." This year, I actually have washi tape to cover the date rows at the top of each page, but on this layout, I forgot to leave myself enough room to use it. Anyway, I drew little black cat heads over all the words on the date bit, like a whole bunch of shitty cover-up tattoos. The rest of the black space not used by the tracker, I covered in paw prints. The text of the tracker I covered with a green or purple midlinder to help them stand out.

I also knitted on the hat a bit. I need to remember to measure it and look up how long it's supposed to be before I start the next row.

[badly_knitted]

Sounds like the journal is coming along well.

This is a friendly reminder to measure your hat! (If you haven't already done so).

[spiralicious]

Thanks. So far, so good.

Yes! Must measure the hat! (I need to get that tattooed on my hand or something.)

[badly_knitted]

LOL!

[wiseheart]

That journal sure sounds like a complicated project, but you are creative. It will turn out gorgeous.

[spiralicious]

Thanks! I've done the hard bits already - actually setting up the trackers for the year. Now, it's just making things more aesthetically pleasing, which I am trying to keep relatively simple, because I have to hand draw everything. Also, at the rate things are going, it will probably last me through the end of 2025, if not 2026.