Check-In Post - October 4th 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 piece of advice would you give someone interested in trying your favourite craft?


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]

Another craftless day, but my burst blister is gradually healing so that's good.


Now I have the fire to clean out twice a day, that's cutting into my time for crafting or whatever, which is annoying. I did get some writing done, which is an everyday thing, and I got outside in the sunshine this afternoon and swept the path. Also spotted some docks coming up in my dug over patches of ground. I knew I must have missed quite a few when I was digging so it wasn't surprising and after a quick poke with the garden fork I managed to pull four up, so yay! I did try to use the hoe to deal with all the grass that's coming up, but that wasn't so successful. The soil is mostly clay and quite wet, and wielding a hoe mostly one-handed isn't easy. Rain is due back on Sunday.

[wiseheart]

Poor you, that must be frustrating!

[badly_knitted]

It is. I just have to deal with all the trials.

[darkcedars]

I'm going to imagine that you are lurking around the edge of the house with a garden fork, ready to pour on any docks daring to show their leaves in the cleared zone!

[darkcedars]

I just finished the main part of the 2nd trivet, so only 3 rows of surface crocheted petals to add on top.

Also, today I finished installing the sink, so the bathroom is completely back to functioning. Everything left is cosmetic (edging).

In weird news, someone stole my yarn delivery in the *maybe* two minutes between FedEx dropping it at my door and me walking to the door. The doorbell camera saw him, sent his photo to the police. Sigh.

[badly_knitted]

*snicker* I'm not quite doing that, but I am keeping a close eye. Four today, two others last week... On the plus side, the dug ground is so wet now that the roots have pulled out easily even through most have been close to a foot long. If I get them out when I see them, there will be fewer causing problems come spring. Of course, then there will no doubt be a bunch of seedling docks.

[badly_knitted]

Great trivet progress, and yay for functional bathroom.

That is insane! These doorstep thieves are getting bolder, I hope the police can find him. Will you still get your yarn somehow? Or will you have to re-order? I hope the thief will be disappointed with his haul.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Sorry about the fire cleaning. What are docks? I'm sorry. Google isn't helping.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Oh, congrats on the trivet progress. And wow! You installed a sink! Holy cow. That's amazing.
But damn about the thief. WHAT? That's awful. I had to just get a refund from a etsy seller because something never showed up but that was the postal service, not bandits. And on a FedEx delivery, too. I am so sorry.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

October is my favorite month of the year. A Halloween card I made for a friend.

[badly_knitted]

That's brilliant!


I hate October's weather, but I love Halloween!

[badly_knitted]

A pernicious weed, the dock leaf plant is deep-rooted and seeds freely. They're everywhere!

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/solve-problems/dock-leaf/

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! I knew it wasn't an autocorrect of 'ducks.' :)

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you!!

[badly_knitted]

LMAO! Ducks I could live with.

[darkcedars]

That was my thought - at least he got something he wouldn't want!

I'm going to need more kitchen cotton for dishcloths, but I've decided to sort my stash and make the baby gift basket in broad stripes of different colors.

[darkcedars]

It was pretty crazy. The police were all "why would he steal yarn" and my husband said "he doesn't know what is in the package, he just grabbed it."

[darkcedars]

I also love Halloween. It looks great!

[readera]

I finished mending one of my favorite pairs of around the house socks that was wearing thin in several spots. I ended up doing 2 darned patches on one sock & 3 on the other. I am glad with how they came out & that I can wear them again!

I realized how many clothes are in the mending pile so I'm hoping to work on those soon. I'm going to try one of my tank tops first so that if it looks bad its not a big deal.

[spiralicious]

I'm actually awake enough to check in! Remember the place I was housesitting at in February with the very spoiled dog & the chickens? I'm back there and they now have double the chickens. The only creative thing I've done today was arranging the straw in the chicken coop after I cleaned it out.

While I've been here though, I've done a few rows on the eclectic cable scarf while half asleep and I put together a cardboard bank kit meant for ages 4+.

The bank box thing is described by it's packaging as "build and color your own velvet money box." Basically, it comes with a flocked coloring page and 6 markers. You color it and fold it up into a box. It makes a little monster that flaps it arms when you put a coin in. It's cute. I liked that it didn't require glue. It was considered a back to school craft, why I don't known, and I got it from the mark downs. The markers were of surprisingly good quality. It is also apparently a product of Canada, which explains a few things about the packaging, but does not explain why they decided to put the various warnings on the back in 27 languages, but included zero instructions. I did figure it out. Also, I am highly amused by the fact that all the English is labeled "Great Britain English," but it's the American spellings of everything.

[spiralicious]

Glad to hear your blister is healing.

You show those docks who's boss!

[spiralicious]

Congrats on the trivet progress!

Also congratulations on the functioning bathroom! Way to go you, installing a sink. That is impressive.

That is a very bold and very fast porch pirate. I hope he got a very unfortunate cramp as well as disappointment at his haul.

[spiralicious]

Love this!

[spiralicious]

Well done!

Good luck with your mending pile!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you!

[badly_knitted]

Good that you have a back-up plan until you can get more yarn. Hope the thief chokes on your yarn.

[badly_knitted]

Doorstep thieves will take anything that isn't nailed down, hoping they can profit from it I guess.

[badly_knitted]

Well done for saving your socks!

Good luck with the darning and mending!

[badly_knitted]

The packaging for the kit sounds VERY bizarre. And NO instructions? How helpful.

Sounds like the chickens are rather spoiled as well as the dog. Do you get to eat the eggs?

Yay for scarf progress!

[badly_knitted]

Turns out you should not put dock roots on the compost heap. I spent half the morning getting a load of them, which are starting to grow, off the compost heap to go in the garden waste bin.

[fred_mouse]

Yesterday and today have been bad pain days, so I've been doing tiny tiny steps on craft, reading, and resting. What that has added up to is finishing trimming the lap quilt (or that might have been two days ago?), cutting and assembling the binding, and then attaching the binding. It has been ironed, and pinned, ready for hand sewing when my hands will put up with it. And, because I spent an hour and change voice chatting with Youngest, the crochet blanket is now on either the last or the second last row (there was going to be another colour, but this one looks so good; I'm deciding whether it needs a frilly edge or not).

[badly_knitted]

Well done managing to continue with crafting in small steps despite the pain. You've achieved so much, I'm impressed. Just be careful not to overdo things.

[wiseheart]

It looks fantastic!

[wiseheart]

The other sad aspect is that when they can not, all that pretty yarn will be thrown onto the rubbish heap. :(

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you!!

[badly_knitted]

True, anything they can't use or make a profit from will just get tossed.

[spiralicious]

Oh no! Determined things, aren't they?

[spiralicious]

It was! The no instructions at all was so weird. I figured it out with mild trial & error, but it was labeled 4+. I'm not sure how this would have played out with a small child. I'm also not sure why it was a back to school craft. I mean once assembled the bank is technically a little monster and has a backpack of school supplies, but it feels like a stretch just the same.

The chickens are definitely on the spoiled side. Yup, any eggs they laid while I was there was part of the deal, which meant an average of 5 a day for a week. I'm not sure what I would have done if all 9 were laying each day as they usually do.

Thanks!

[badly_knitted]

Indeed they are. The seeds can survive in the soil for 60 years, so basically I'm never getting rid of them...

[badly_knitted]

Maybe that's why it was cheap, a whole batch with no instructions.

That's... a lot of eggs. Omelettes every day, and lots of baking?

[spiralicious]

It would make the most sense.

It is a lot of eggs. Normally, it would be baking, but the egg sizes very so wildly (4 of the chickens lay extra small eggs and one chicken lays absolutely giant eggs), it would require more math than I want to do to covert the number of eggs for a recipe. I've sent them along to my mother as she will find more uses for them.

[spiralicious]

Wow

[badly_knitted]

I never considered egg size... But then, I don't bake, and size doesn't matter when I hard boil them.

[badly_knitted]

I know. It's mind-boggling!

[spiralicious]

LOL. Somethings it matters more than others and if these were not so drastically different in size, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. We hardboil eggs more than anything else as well.

[badly_knitted]

Hardboiled eggs are so convenient.

[spiralicious]

Yes! They saved my day today.

[badly_knitted]

I just hardboiled my last 3.