Check-In Post May 19th 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: What's the most complicated project you've ever tackled?


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 cross stitch on the first fairy design is completed and I've started the backstitch. I could have done more, but the weather is set to turn bad from Tuesday, so I wanted to at least do something in the garden. I pulled weeds and cut down more brambles, not that it shows much in the wilderness =/

[wiseheart]

Still, you made some headway in your never-ending battle against the jungle, so that's a victory. :)

[badly_knitted]

It all helps! Trouble is, when the rains return it'll all grow back.

[darkcedars]

Well, at least you told us you did yi, even if there does not appear to be a visual record of the bramble battling.

[badly_knitted]

True, it's down in writing as proof *nods*

[illariy]

Yaaay, you go the cross stitch on the first fairy done and even started the backstitch! And also got something done in the garden. Sounds like a good day. Much cheering!

[badly_knitted]

It was a lot more productive than I weas expecting since I wasn't feeling great, but now I'm nodding off over my keyboard...

[spiralicious]

Well done!

All bramble battling helps, even if it doesn't show.

[badly_knitted]

Thanks. There's just so much, and it's not just one place. It's everywhere! *sigh*

[spiralicious]

*hug*

[badly_knitted]

Thanks *hugs back*

[wiseheart]

Now that my fingers have recovered, I attacked the next page of the felt songbook. It was surprisingly easy to sew in Page 3 - until the last 2 centimetres. Those were poor agony, so I'm taking a break from the book again in favour of paper work, that is the baby book that should be done within the month. Let's hope the break won't take another two or three weeks.

[badly_knitted]

Congratulations! But your poor fingers =(

I think the mistake you made last time was only giving your fingers a day or two to recover between pages. Hopefully, if you give them a few extra days you might be able to get the next page done in a week or less.

[wiseheart]

You are probably right. :)

[darkcedars]

Glad you got back to it by not the agony at the end!

[wiseheart]

Ah, well, at least it was not agony all along like the previous time.

[illariy]

Ooooh, felt songbook progress, yay! Your poor fingers, though. I hope you can get some recovery for your poor fingers and in time for the baby book, too.

[wiseheart]

I'll just give the fingers time to recover. It isn't so as if I hadn't enough paper crafts to do in the meantime.

[spiralicious]

Yay for progress, but your poor fingers.

[wiseheart]

Poor fingers get abused regularly. There's a reason why the Christmas quiet book has been unfinished for two years! Only the binding is left with that, too, but what a hassle!

[darkcedars]

I finished the mending today!

I also did a little mowing (by the driveway and in the dog's fenced area).

[illariy]

Yaaay, the mending is done! My to-mend pile is growing larger and larger. Perhaps next lecture-free time I can tackle some of it. XD So major kudos to you for not only progressing but even finishing yours. :D

And yay, garden work done, too. What a lovely Sunday.

[wiseheart]

Congratulations! That was no small feat!

[badly_knitted]

Well done! Now you can start the baby YipYip!

[spiralicious]

Excellent work!

[illariy]

At first, I went on a planned walk with my flatmate and we got Italian gelato on the way. It was delicious.

After that, I found out that the friend who I thought was coming next week from Berlin was coming this weekend and leaving early tomorrow morning. So we met up in my flatshare's kitchen spontaneously. We hadn't seen each other for years but it was as if he had never left the city. So good.

After that, I felt properly recharged and wrote a letter to a beloved penpal, yay! Also started another one but had to pause for dinner. I had dinner with that same flatmate as usual and she suggested watching a film together. We settled on "Mary & Max", a film from the 2000s, on an 8 year old Australian girl who starts a penfriendship with a middle-aged US-American guy. A thoroughly weird yet lovely film. I recommend it if you like weird people or penpalling or stop motion films.

Now I am catching up on DW, ordering some stuff for my new phone online and hoping to finish that second letter I started earlier today. All in all, a very relaxing Sunday. Tomorrow is a holiday here in Germany so I don't need to retire early, double yay.

[badly_knitted]

That sounds like a lovely day! So wonderful to catch up with old friends. And you can have a late night without having to get up in the morning!

Hope you get your second letter finished!

[darkcedars]

Sounds like a great weekend. :)

[spiralicious]

Sounds like a wonderful day :D

[wiseheart]

Long weekends are good for the soul!

[kesbeacon]

Well, probably the corset https://kesbeacon.tumblr.com/post/750468300578881536/at-long-last-the-corset-photoshoot-pattern I made, which had a lot of different steps and was quite fiddly, but it took a comparatively short amount of time; there were, however, three different sections in this jumper https://kesbeacon.tumblr.com/post/742764266499817472/time-to-start-showing-yall-all-the-knitting-ive where I questioned all my life choices: the place where the colours change on the front panel, which needed intarsia, some stranded colourwork, knit/purl stitch patterns, *and* cabling, on the same small handful of rows; and then the two intarsia motifs on the shoulders.

[spiralicious]

Wow. Both of those are amazing. (And definitely complicated.)

[badly_knitted]

The corset is very cool, but the sweater is awesome, and looks amazing on you!

I'm impressed with how many different techniques you threw in there, and the level of complexity. I've never mastered intarsia work myself, I swiss darn any motifs on afterwards, but you've done a great job with yours. I'd love to know your secret for keeping the stitches even and gap free. My one attempt at intarsia knitting, some of the stitches around the edges of the design ended up looking bigger than the rest, and there were some small holes. In my defence, that was 40 plus years ago and was one of the first jumpers I made. *grins*

[kesbeacon]

It was semi by accident lmao, for those rows in the middle - I came up with a lovely design in my chart spreadsheet, started knitting, got there, and went Oh No What Have I Done. But I had a vision, and it was only about four rows of hell. These days I'd try to be more parsimonious with what I let myself in for haha.

Re. intarsia, mine also looked kind of crap when first knitted - the trick is actually the weaving in ends. When you weave in the ends you can sew the holes shut and adjust the tension, and usually it comes out all right when blocked and worn for a while (which this sweater has been haha!)

[badly_knitted]

The best laid plans end up being a lot harder that they looked on paper... It was worth the effort, kudos for not giving up!

Thanks, I'll have to remember that. As knitters, I don't think we ever stop learning. The same with all crafts, really. There are always new techniques to learn and new ideas to try out, even if they don't always work.

Are you working on anything at present?

[illariy]

Wow, they both look beautiful! But complicated to make. The heraldic jumper is my favourite. It looks magnificent and also cosy at the same time.

[kesbeacon]

It's so cosy - all in a wool/alpaca blend that's SO soft

[spiralicious]

No crafting today. I'd planned on doing the last stitch-n-scream movie & cutting some extra paper for card making at Lynne's tomorrow, but I had a sinus headache that took me out most of the day.

[badly_knitted]

Gah! Headaches are a literal pain, but migraines and sinus headaches are the worst. So sorry =(

[spiralicious]

Thanks. Today was better.

[badly_knitted]

Glad to hear it.

[illariy]

Uh-oh, your poor head! I hope you had a restful day instead and hope you feel better soon. Headaches suck.

[spiralicious]

Thanks. Today was better.

[wiseheart]

Awww, dear, I hope you'll get better, soon!

[spiralicious]

Thanks! Today was much better. I hope it holds for tomorrow as I have to do some computer work at the library for my mom.

[malurette]

I mended a second pair of pants--one easy to do. A third one I had started on had to be un-sewn and will have to be redone--or maybe binned if it turns out too complicated to tackle on just yet. We'll see!

[badly_knitted]

Excellent work on the completed repairs, and good luck on the one you had to un-sew. May it go right at the next attempt!

[illariy]

Yay, a mended pair of pants! :D

Pity on the one that had to be un-sewn. I hope it turns out well on the second attempt. I have one pair of pants to mend, too, plus a cardigan and a jumper.