Check-In Post - April 27th 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: Do you change crafts with the season or stick to the same crafts year round?


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]

Washed my winter coats and a couple of jackets today and had them drying on the line in the sunshine while I worked in the garden. It weas good drying weather.


I battled brambles again, then got to the dead evergreen shrub and started chopping bits off that. I made good progress, but cutting through wood that's dead, but not brittle and breakable yet is really hard on the hands. I could feel blisters starting to develop so I had to stop work sooner than I would have liked.. Still, I think I demolished getting on towards half the dead shrub. Never really like it, it's very prickly, but mum bought and planted it, it was a spreading, low growing one and she liked it, so I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it while it was living, but I'm not sorry it died. It was a nuisance, and will continue to be one until I get the rest of it cut up and binned. It's been there for over 30 years.


In other news, I have some berries coming on my gooseberry bushes, and no gooseberry sawfly caterpillars eating the leaves so far *touches wood*

[wiseheart]

Go you, battling the dead shrub! And good luck with the gooseberries. *fingers crossed*

[badly_knitted]

I'm hoping to get enough to eat.

The dead shrub is fighting back, my hands still hurt, but I will defeat it!

[peaceful_sands]

Well done on your work on the dead shrub.

What are gooseberry sawfly caterpillars? What do I need to look out for? (For the first year ever, I've got a gooseberry bush in a pot).

[badly_knitted]

If the leaves of your gooseberries start being eaten, you'll know. Just pick the little caterpillars off and kill them. They can be hard to see though, they make like the edge of the leaf, and when they're really small they're easy to miss. Good luck!

[darkcedars]

I washed the winter gear and put it away this week as well.

Cutting that wood...ugh

[badly_knitted]

I might need my winter coat again, but at least it's clean, and so is the spare I picked up at a charity shop, and the red denim jacket I like for early summer.

Ugh is the word. Kept getting prickly bits inside the cuff of my gardening gloves, tiny little sharp needle fragments. Still a lot of it to cut though, when my fingers have recovered.

[nagi_schwarz]

Fingers crossed for your berries! Yay for good drying weather.

[badly_knitted]

Killed my first gooseberry sawfly caterpillar this morning, guess I spoke too soon.

[viskozni_varhanik]

don't know what got to me (initially meant to do other creative projects, but somehow crossstitch wouldn't let me go this weekend), but I managed to blitz through white and lighter yellow on the first sprite. it's starting ti come together and it's getting me excited. just a darker yellow (or some shade of orange, I'll have to decide tomorrow) and I'll be ready to make an attempt at sewing the two sides together. I'll have to restock on white floss. while I won floss chicken with this one, the remaining two still need a lot of it and my spool is basically naked.

still thinking over the pride keychains.. my plastic canvas is fairly low count, so either the design will have to be very small stitch-wise, or I'll have order something higher density. I'm starting to feel a bit silly going to the same specialty shop every week to pick up an order of materials because I never seem to find out I need it at once, ahah.

[badly_knitted]

Great sprite progress!, sounds like it's coming along well, and congratulations for winning floss chicken! It's annoying to run out with only a couple of stitches to go. I've been there too many times.

Good luck on getting more white floss and suitable plastic canvas! You're giving me ideas on using some stiff 11 count Aida I've got to make keychains with simple designs on both sides... That might require some thought...

[peaceful_sands]

Sounds like you are making good progress. I'm sure the shop won't mind a repeat visitor making purchases - they'll be glad for your custom :)

[darkcedars]

Congrats on winning yarn chicken. Hope you figure out the keychain ideas so you can get started!

[nagi_schwarz]

Way to go on your sprite progress! I figure enjoy going to your specialty shop.

Done!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I planted the notch in the prairie garden. I put in 25 daffodils plus seed mixes for part shade, monarch butterflies, and a handful of extra zinnia seeds.

Re: Done!

[peaceful_sands]

Well done - something to look forward to later in the year.

Re: Done!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yep. One of the key rules in permaculture is "Obtain a yield." Most people think first of fruit, which I do have, but anything you value can be a yield. I just saw a red-headed woodpecker for the first time in many years! :D 3q3q3q!!! For me, wildlife is a yield. Flowers can be craft materials and photography subjects. Wood from trees can be tools, craft supplies, firewood, building materials, etc. Plus edibles of course.

Re: Done!

[viskozni_varhanik]

Oh, that's so cool! Hope your work attracts many critters :)

Re: Done!

[darkcedars]

Good job, it was too cold and muddy here to do much more than picking up trash today.

Re: Done!

[badly_knitted]

That's going to be a beautiful display.

Re: Done!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I can hardly wait to see it. Last year it was really pretty. :D

Re: Done!

[badly_knitted]

Shame that it takes time for everything to grow and flower.

Re: Done!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Buying potted plants gives instant flowers. I do that with my barrel garden and some other pots. Planting seeds, bulbs, or bare roots makes for fun surprises later. I like both.

Re: Done!

[badly_knitted]

I used to grow a lot from seed, but the state the garden is in, I'm just going to buy some bedding plants to give flowers for the bees this time.

Re: Done!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Check to make sure they haven't been treated to kill everything that touches them. It's disturbingly common and sometimes happens even with things sold as pollinator plants.

Re: Done!

[badly_knitted]

I'm in the UK, so hopefully that won't be an issue here, but I'll check anyway. It's so idiotic, there's been a lot of campaigning over here to ban bee killing pesticides, and we're hopefully winning...

Re: Done!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Lucky you. I hope you can find good bedding plants.

Here, some nurseries advertise pesticide-free things that I can order online, but at stores -- the only place to get a lot of things -- it's a lot harder to tell what's safe or not. :/

Re: Done!

[badly_knitted]

I'm glad you have places you can order safe things from.

Re: Done!

[nagi_schwarz]

Your garden sounds like it's coming along beautifully!

Re: Done!

[ysabetwordsmith]

So far, so good! We really got a lot done today.

[peaceful_sands]

Not sure when I last posted as it's been a couple of weeks I think. Earlier this week I finished the latch hook cushion cover of Stitch - I'll post a photo in the next couple of days all being well. I'm now working on a second cover of multicoloured hearts on a white background - I'm disappointed in this kit by comparison to the other one - the canvas is less well fitted to the outside edge and back of the cover so that rows grow and vanish as I move along/down the edges rather than it being straight and also in the pictures that I ordered it from showed the background as more of a mottled light grey, rather than the stark white it's actually come down as. I shall refrain on my final opinion until I finish the project and work out the final effect of both the uneven edges and the background. I am on track for this to be finished with the first one in time for my niece's birthday.

[darkcedars]

Oh, that's so annoying when a kit isn't the way you expect.

[badly_knitted]

Well done on finishing the first cushion, and good luck with the second. It does sound rather poorly made compared to the first kit, but hopefully it will still turn out well.

[nagi_schwarz]

Sorry the kit isn't turning out as expected but I bet your niece will love it!

[darkcedars]

This afternoon I decided no chores - took time "off" for crafts. So I:

-wove in ends and tacked trouble spots, then felted two flower trivets in the washer,

-finished the last two rounds on the blue doily.

[badly_knitted]

Yay! Well done for finishing the trivets and the doily!

[althea_valara]

Well done! The flower trivets sound lovely.

[nagi_schwarz]

Glad you could take time off for crafts! Excellent progress!

[althea_valara]

Worked on the purse some, but it's in timeout as I realized the pattern would not fall where I wanted it to. Will probably rip back and start again so the larger part of the pattern is centered on the front/back. There's no way I'm getting this done before end of month, but that's okay.

Did a row on the mosaic cardi, whee!

Also poked at converting a text file to HTML for my Neocities site. Progress!

[nagi_schwarz]

Sorry the purse pattern isn't working out for reals. Yay for progress on the cardigan!

[badly_knitted]

That's annoying about the purse. Sounds like the designer didn't test their pattern.

Yay for cardi progress!

I only know the most basic HTML, any thing more advanced sends me cross-eyed. Good luck with that!

[fadingfootsteps]

started working on cranes and did like .5 of a sushi.

Kind of dead center on deciding what to do with a bunch of yarn I have, that is far far too much to call scrap. Three different colors; red, orange, black. Open to suggestions, rn I wonder if this cushion would look decent in red with orange edges.

[nagi_schwarz]

Yay for cranes and progress on the sushi!

I bet that cushion would look super cute in red and orange.

[badly_knitted]

Yay for cranes and sushi!

That's such a fun cushion! And why not? You can make it in whatever colours you like.

[nagi_schwarz]

Managed to work on my circle shawl while listening to an audiobook. Have had a bit of a migraine all day and been super tired, so I didn't have the brainpower for anything more complicated...

[badly_knitted]

Well done with shawl progress despite lacking energy and brain power. Hope you get a good night.