Check-In Post - May 7th 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]

Had about an hour in the front garden today, cutting back fuchsia and that stupid grass so I can get to the path at the other side of the house. Because of the gooseberry bushes and my buddleia globosa, I can't easily get to the forsythia I want to get rid of between my garden and my new neighbour's. The best route is to go right around the house and down the other side, so that's what I'm attempting, although I'll need to cut the hedge a bit on my way.


The rest of the afternoon weas spent on cross stitch, and it's slow progress. This part of the design is all greens, four different shades. What I didn't mention yesterday is that I'm stitching on 20 hpi aida with one strand of thread, so it's a lot of careful, delicate work.


Caterpillar count for the day: 55.

[fadingfootsteps]

Careful and delicate can be rewarding, but make sure to take breaks!

With the caterpillars, are we calling it good or bad there's less of them now? I know that first day you got close to 100 some!

[badly_knitted]

I think I'm winning with the caterpillars, so that's good for now, but the flies can have up to 4 generations a year, or at least lay eggs 4 times, so I need to keep on top of this.

My preference is for working on the higher count fabrics, but this is the largest design I've done on 20 count. I did a smaller on on 22 count once, the Holly Fairy, which I made into a Christmas card for my mum, but this design is at least twice the size and every stitch is stitched. 15,680 of them. Really should have started this back in March. I'll never get it finished in time for my friend's visit.

[darkcedars]

Oh my goodness that is a lot of tiny cross stitch.

The rose slugs (aka sawflies) are only once a year at least.

[badly_knitted]

It is, but it should look lovely once it's done.

That's something at least. Sawflies are awful things.

[nagi_schwarz]

Congrats on your battle in the garden! You’re doing awesome! Also that fine of stitch work sounds very intimidating. I am impressed!

[badly_knitted]

Thank you. It's not that difficult. I use magnifying lenses over my glasses.

[fadingfootsteps]

Seam ripper has NOT manifested, and still need to run tot he store. Work hours impending, so unlikely to get done soon either

Dumb idea #1 out of 2 is underway. I'm Making another scale pattern dice bag, but this time out of weight #10 thread. Specific reason it's dumb; the tedium involved. There's gonna be so many stitches and rows of scales to achieve a width and height worth a damn.

[badly_knitted]

I hope you can get a seam ripper soon.

Oh, but it sounds like the dice bag will be really pretty!

[darkcedars]

Scale stitch in thread will be so neat but take forever! Good luck.

[nagi_schwarz]

The scale dice bag sounds like it’ll look so cool! But scale stitches can be super tedious it’s true. Hope the seam ripper manifests soon!

[viskozni_varhanik]

oh goodness, good luck and patience with that dice bag! scale stitch is gorgeous if it turns out it's going to be helluva cool dice bag :)

[althea_valara]

One row on the cardi, and about 20 minutes on Alphi so far. It's only 3pm here so I might work on Alphi some more today.

[badly_knitted]

Well done with continuing the bigger project. Hope you're enjoying working on your doll!

[darkcedars]

Good luck making more progress on that.

[nagi_schwarz]

Oooh, tell me more about Alphi! And kudos for progress on the cardigan!

[althea_valara]

Gonna be a doll of Alphinaud Leveilleur from Final Fantasy XIV, probably in his Endwalker / Sage outfit. I've made his identical twin sister Alisaie a few years back; it was before Endwalker was even announced so she's in her Shadowbringers outfit:





Her hair is not quite right but TBH, it looks pretty damned good considering hair is HARD TO DO. Definitely gets the feel of her haircut down!

Not worried about making the doll itself; this is my own pattern and I've knit it a dozen times, at least. His clothing is going to be another story. I'll do the best I can, though I'm sure I will have to leave out details. Still, it's going to be really fun to work on this, and I found some blue fingering acrylic in my stash that's gonna work perfectly for his coat.

[nagi_schwarz]

That doll is adorable! And yes hair is so hard 😭

Kudos to you for designing your own patterns! I’m not nearly good enough at knitting for that. I look forward to seeing the finished Alphi!

[althea_valara]

I've been knitting and crocheting since 2007, so I've been exposed to a lot of techniques. Here's a secret: my doll pattern is just a Frankenstein of things I learned from other patterns. The crown of the head is from a hat pattern. Shoulders/arms are a basic raglan. Feet are basic cuff-down socks, just on a smaller amount of stitches. True, I did have to figure out how to put all these pieces together, but it wasn't too difficult. I'm also not opposed to looking up free patterns for inspiration/techniques - another doll I made wears a pleated tunic that's made bottom up, and I had never done a bottom-up raglan before so I had to read up on it. Pretty sure I used a DROPS pattern as a guide.

[nagi_schwarz]

That's really cool! I'm good enough at crocheting to engineer stuff on my own, but not at knitting, not yet...

[darkcedars]

It's been dark all day but only now started to rain.

I am slowly working on the mantle runner scarf thing for my brother. It's a good monotonous project.

[badly_knitted]

I hate days like that. So dreary and dismal, and you just end up waiting for the rain.

Well done on the mantle runner progress.

[nagi_schwarz]

Sorry for the dreary weather. Yay for the nice repetitive project to work on though!

[viskozni_varhanik]

it's been a day for sure. we've been to the vet today (because one of our cats started marking things), and as a last act of retaliation for it the kitty cat decided to mark the envelope I had prepared for the bad canvas to return it. I think the combined smell of valerian (calming collar for him, apparently) and cat piss will be burning through my nose for several days. hit the last bits of my good plastic canvas as well, the lil bastard (though I say that with the utmost affection). we came to the conclusion he's gotten angry at me for getting a job and not being at home all the time. since I can't change that, all sensitive craft has been moved into a cat-free room for the time being, hah.

found out nobody here carries a plastic Aida higher than 14, so I ordered some from an embroidery specialty shop. ... couldn't help myself and picked up a kit while I was at it. it has lot of back stitch and I'm not used to working with actual coded colors (it's an Anchor kit), so it'll be a fun challenge for sure! once I finish all my current projects. I will be so strong and not start it sooner. definitely. I will be SO strong.

did some more stitching on the midtone of my current sprite. getting closer to moving onto the darks! also properly put away carabiners and other components, which was quick and simple, but it's satisfying to look at an organizer that is actually organized.

[badly_knitted]

Oh dear, not good! Cats register displeasure in ways that are often impossible to ignore. Hopefully the plastic canvas can be washed clean.

Ooh, what is the kit picture? The great thing about kits is that they contain all the materials. Anchor kits are usually good quality. It will tempt you though...

Good luck with finishing your sprite! I envy you your organised organizer. Mine are SO disorganised!

[viskozni_varhanik]

thankfully, yes I only had to put it under running water to wash it. I'm lucky the WIP underneath wasn't on cotton.

slight bad wording on my part - it's not an Anchor kit, but with Anchor floss. it's Tea Lovers from Andriana, four tea cups with bees and a dragonfly. I'm really mesmerized by how it uses backstitch for the delicate critters and details on the cups!!

Hahaha, I've only been making anything else than patches for about the last year of so, so my organizer is still easy to organize.

[badly_knitted]

That's good.

Oh, that's really pretty!

I'm so disorganised I barely know where anything is, except for my threads and my aida stash.

[nagi_schwarz]

So sorry about the cat vengeance! Hopefully the canvas can wash. Kudos to you on your sprite project and getting things organized! That always helps a lot.

[darkcedars]

Oh nooo. Yes, he might be mad at you for being around less.

[viskozni_varhanik]

he misses me 💔 it'd be really sweet if he expressed it a bit differently, hah

[nagi_schwarz]

I managed to get some letter scrapbooking/organizing done today, so that felt pretty good! Also I reorganized some yarn and some UFOs and worked on new puzzle purse letters for the letter club I’m in. While also reorganizing stuff to be more toddler-friendly I found the needle punch kit I’d bought ages ago, and I really want to try it out!

[badly_knitted]

Well done with all the organising, and yay for finding the needle punch kit! Something else to play with =)

[malurette]

I've done the ribbed part and a few centimeters on my bérêt and then I had to stop, I'll be out of coloured wool too soon--I had this multicoloured yarn wih built-in stripes in blue, purple, lilac, grey and off-white and I've completed it with some bright white yarn, I only have left tiny bits of too bright blue and dark purple I won't use, one lilac stripe and three grey & white stripes but I was hoping to save maybe two grey stripes for the ends of a scarf and too much bright-white won't do in that bérêt so I'll have to buy off-white yarn but today is a bank holiday so the shop's probably closed and I can't...
Luckily I still have a scarf project I can keep on knitting until tomorrow.

[badly_knitted]

Hope you manage to get suitable yarn to finish your beret soon.

Good that you still have your scarf to work on!