Check-In Post - February 8th 2025

[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: Have you ever made a Valentine gift or card?


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]

12 rows on the back of my Aran jacket! I'm at 4.5 pattern repeats.

[wiseheart]

Go you!

[badly_knitted]

Thank you!

[darkcedars]

wow, you are really moving!

[badly_knitted]

I'm at about 6 inches, so that makes me happy.

[yarnofariadne]

Amazing progress!

[badly_knitted]

Thank you!

[spiralicious]

You are zipping along!

[badly_knitted]

Thanks! I wouldn't say that, but I am progressing...

[spiralicious]

Progress is awesome

[nagi_schwarz]

Way to go!

[badly_knitted]

Thank you!

[wiseheart]

Worked a bit on Lola the elephant. Tried to find flower-shaped eyes, but the only ones that would stand out from the fabric would be dark red ones. So, Lola will either have dark red flower-shaped eyes (sewn on with black thread) or simple, round black ones. I'm still of two minds about it.

[badly_knitted]

Hard decision, but I'm sure you'll figure it out!

[darkcedars]

Good luck deciding.

[wiseheart]

I think I'll ask Mum. She has an excellent eye for details.

[badly_knitted]

I always used to ask my mum what looked best when I was crafting. =)

[yarnofariadne]

Good luck deciding!

[spiralicious]

That is a tough choice. I wish you luck.

[nagi_schwarz]

Hopefully you can find eyes you like soon!

[darkcedars]

I've just continued to work on dishcloths. Today I baked bread AND my miniature amaryllis opened a first bloom. I'm in love.

[badly_knitted]

It's beautiful! I love Amaryllis! (My aunt used to get in a twist saying their name, called them Amorous Lilies!)

Ooh, fresh baked bread! YUM!

[wiseheart]

Oh, that is lovely! :)

[yarnofariadne]

The amaryllis is beautiful!

[spiralicious]

Mmmm...bread. The amaryllis is lovely.

[nagi_schwarz]

Oooooh it’s lovely!

[althea_valara]

This Week's Question: Have you ever made a Valentine gift or card?

Definitely have as a kid. Don't recall making one as an adult, but I've made Valentine decorations as an adult, one of which was commandeered by mom and that I hope to reclaim eventually. It's a heart-shaped wreath made up of torn fabrics, very rustic but quite nice. It was a free kit from the library!

Yesterday I did a bit of work on the legwarmers, but (a) only a bit, (b) between naps. I had an outpatient procedure in the morning and was sleeping off the anesthesia (I'm fine! procedure went very well). Today I am taking it easy, and will nap if I feel like I need one but given how much I slept yesterday/last night, I think I should be okay? Anyway, I've done 30 minutes on a Valentine doily, a bit on the cardi, and about 50 minutes on the legwarmers. Then I spent some time editing graphics for a YouTube video I'm working on. It is not going to be BEST VIDEO EVER but it will be good enough, I think?

Have had an ice cream break, and now a short social media break, and then I might flop on bed, or might craft some more. I did want to finish the tail of the ESC today, at least. I've cancelled my scheduled stream for tonight due to yesterday's procedure, so worse case scenario I can work on the chicken after dinner.

[badly_knitted]

I think most of us did as kids, but not so much as adults unless we happened to have a partner at the time. The heart-shaped wreath sounds lovely.

Glad your procedure went well, anaesthetics do tend to take a day or two to recover from so it's good you're taking things easy on yourself. Even so, you've made good progress on several projects. Good luck with your video, and with work on your chicken if you do any.

[darkcedars]

I'm surprised you wanted to do anything after anesthesia! Glad it went well.

[yarnofariadne]

Very impressed you managed anything after anaesthesia!

[spiralicious]

Glad to hear your procedure went well!

[nagi_schwarz]

Sounds like a busy day for someone taking it easy. Hope recovery goes well!

[yarnofariadne]

Finished row 128 on the blanket!

[badly_knitted]

Wow, terrific progress! Well done!

[darkcedars]

Great!

[spiralicious]

Well done!

[nagi_schwarz]

Way to go!

[nagi_schwarz]

I finished the bunny! Got it all stuffed and sewn together. Need to make the outfit now.

Also I tried my first real Victorian puzzle purse (origami sorting aside). Learned a few things: will use lighter-colored paper next time. Definitely need to roll the pattern pens a bit before using them on the actual project, and there is a bit of a learning curve there, and it's probably better to flatten out the project before applying them because they work best on a flat surface, but I like the pens and they're cute! Also I went a bit crazy with my scrapbooking paper, but I have lots of it and it's here to be used, so that was fun! My puzzle purse does not look particularly Victorian (it's fandom-themed) but I do like it. Need to wait for it to dry and then fold it up and see how it looks for real (will post photos).

[spiralicious]

Excellent!

[badly_knitted]

Yay for finishing bunny! Even if it is currently nude bunny...

Very curious about the puzzle purse, and wanting to know more!

[spiralicious]

I wasn't expecting the 9th project for the sketchbook to come out so fast, but I was wrong. The video came out on YouTube today. It's something completely different. You cut out hearts out of tissue paper in different colors. Wet the page of the sketchbook you are using. Place the tissue hearts (with overlaps) on the wet page. (The water holds them down.) Then go over the whole thing with watered down white glue.

Given how my sketchbook paper reacts to being that wet, I was skeptical this was going to go well. It actually went well though. One heart got ripped in half because it was brushed a little too roughly, but otherwise it came out fine. It's not totally dry yet, so that could change. I also accidentally watered down the glue too much, but it should still work.

The tissue paper I used is leftover from a project years ago where I was lining the inside of envelopes to make my letters and cards a little fancier. It was darker and heavier duty than the tissue paper used in the example. It also has sparkly confetti bits in it. I was surprised that the black worked with the overlapping colors/let them show through as well as it did.

[badly_knitted]

That sounds very pretty, I'd love to see the finished result. The technique could work well for homemade valentines. Perhaps that's why the video came out so early, to give people time to make Valentines if the want to.

[spiralicious]

Thanks. That could be.