Check-In Post April 27th 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: We all make mistakes - what's your most memorable crafting disaster?


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]

I've completed the border on the next Delft tile design. I had hoped to get further, but I switched to a smaller needle, which is a lot better than the one I was using, but I lost it twice. The first time I found it pretty fast, second time I couldn't find it at all so I had to go looking for another needle, couldn't find my small ones, ended us using the only medium sized one I could find, and the eye was bent. >.< It worked well enough though, and after I finished the border I started looking for the lost needle again. Eventually found it by chance, dug right into the carpet where even my magnet had failed to locate it. I'll have to be careful in future, the needle is only an inch long, very easy to lose.

[malurette]

OK so forget my very first scarf or the minor fuckups I did on more recent scarves, my biggest crafting mistake happened just earlier tonight: I'm at my parents for the holidays, I picked up that top-down jumper where I'd left it last time, took the stitches from the thingie they were waiting on and went my merry way on to knitting that second sleeve. I don't know what I did wrong. My mother doesn't know what I did wrong. But two rows in I had to carefully tink everything because the stocking stitch was happening wrong side up. Obviously I must have somehow taken my knitting wrong side on or something but how exactly, anyone's guess' as good as mine!
(Also, I totally forgot to pack that additional #5 double-pointed needle I have at home so I'll have to do that second sleeve same as the first one: cramming everything on my mother's four needles and trying not to drop stitches every now and then when everything fatally slips along the points.)

[yarnofariadne]

Life got insane again, but I've picked the baby blanket back up. Row 12/119 done!

[yarnofariadne]

Oh no! I'm glad you found it in the end.

[wiseheart]

Oh dear, what a hassle! But a really good needle is a treasure indeed. I once bought two packages of short but thick needles with a large eye, for the use of my students. Of the 20 needles only some 6 or 8 are left, which I've rescued and took home - a good thing as they are best suited for my felt work. I never found this sort of needles again, no matter in how many places I've looked.

[wiseheart]

That must have been maddening!

[wiseheart]

Yay for progress!

[wiseheart]

Today was fairly crafty. I've seamed the spine/outer binding of the felt songbook with blanket stitch while watching TV. That was quick and easy work, but I decided to give my fingers a break before starting on the actual book-binding, which is a painful thing to do. Instead, I've made another page for the (paper) baby book; this time just improvised, without any template, but I think it turned out rather pretty.

Take a look:



The background was actually the cover of the "Shabby chic" paper pad one of my friends gifted upon me at least six or so years ago, but it fit the general theme of the book fairly well, so I used it. Being a hoarder does have its advantages... occasionally.

[jupiter2932]

I'm resting my hands this weekend because of a flare-up (brought on, ironically, from running all over a couple of cities to get a medical excuse for jury duty sorted out xD), so no crafting, but I'm making a mixed berry cobbler tonight--my first time using matzoh meal to bake so a friend of mine can have some, which I'm excited to learn to bake with :D

[badly_knitted]

Oof, that would be a nightmare if you don't want to go for a new look! Glad you caught it quickly!

[badly_knitted]

Life does that sometimes. Yay for progress!

[badly_knitted]

Never waste anything if you can avoid it. It looks very pretty!

Well done with the binding progress!

[badly_knitted]

Ugh, just what you didn't need, I hope you got it sorted.

That cobbler sounds so delicious!

[badly_knitted]

I do have more of these needles, they're actually gold plated, although it wears off over use (makes them slide through more smoothly), but I couldn't find them when I was stitching, looked again afterwards, found them, then found the lost one. Typical.

Large eyed needles are useful to have for felt work.

[badly_knitted]

So am I. I wouldn't want to step on it!

[wiseheart]

They are indeed; the problem is it's near impossible to find short ones. Most of them are at least 5 or 6 cm long (sorry, no idea what it is in inches), and that way one wastes a lot of thread because can't sew it to the end.

[wiseheart]

Sorry to hear it about your hands. Resting them is probably the best at the moment.
And now I'll have to look up what matzoh meal is - never heard of it before, but being an obsessive baker, I just *need* to know. ;))

Googled a bit; yeah, should have known. Only that in Hungarian these things sound totally different. *headdesk*

[illariy]

Yay, some lovely progress! Sorry to hear the better needle was trying to run away from its job. Happy to hear you found it again the second time, though!

[illariy]

Wow, that is some awesome mistake! Especially intriguing that both you and your mother don't know what you did wrong. Huh. I haven't done much knitting at all, only scarves and one simple jumper and all that decades ago but the mistakes intrigues me. Let us know if it ever occurs to you what happened, please!

Very annoying, in any case. I hope tomorrow's crafting goes better. :-)

[illariy]

Yay, some rows added! \o/

[illariy]

Wow, that is really pretty! I love that style so much. Very cool that you were able to incorporate the cover of a paper pad, too.

[illariy]

Yeah, that is indeed a huge irony. Sorry to hear that all that stress resulted in a flare-up. I hope your rest from crafting and the berry cobbler both go well :-)

[badly_knitted]

Long needles are a pain.

[badly_knitted]

Thanks! I think the border looks good, and it was quite fun to stitch until the last bit.

Short needles are way easier to lose than their larger counterparts, unfortunately, and my eyesight isn't that great so finding something tiny on the floor is so hard!

[althea_valara]

Oh no! I'm glad you caught it and fixed it.

I can think of a reason why this might have happened. I explain below; feel free to skip if you're not in the mood to read why.

Were you using circular needles or DPNs? Either way, imagine your knitting is a tea cup. Most people knit with the front side facing them, so their needles are on the close side of the tea cup -- the spot you sip from. However, it's entirely possible to knit while holding the needles so that the work is in between you and the needle tips - aka, knitting off the FAR side of the tea cup. Often when people have the problem of stockinette on the wrong side, that's what they're doing.