Check-In Post - May 21st 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: We all probably have multiple WiPs, but which of yours has been hanging around longest, waiting to be finished?


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]

Late posting tonight, sorry. Been battling the cross stitch. Making progress, but I made a bad mistake yesterday and had to undo some of my stitching. I made another mistake elsewhere but that was one I could work around. Anyway, got back on track and I'm on the second shade of grey.

[wiseheart]

I hope there are less than fifty shades of grey. *g*

[badly_knitted]

I think it's only 6 and one of those is more silvery.

[althea_valara]

Boo on mistakes, but well done on progress in spite of them!

[badly_knitted]

Thank you! It's so easy to miscount rows when the darker greys on the chart all look so similar.

[nagi_schwarz]

Oh no! I cannot imagine how tedious it is to undo stitching in cross stitch. Glad you got back on track!

[badly_knitted]

Sometimes it's not too bad, but this time it was a bit of a nightmare. I succeeded though, and I've already stitched a bit this morning.

[yarnandglue]

Undoing cross stitch is such a bummer. I've been in the mood for some cross stitch so I picked up a few kits on eBay yesterday :)

[badly_knitted]

It really is =(

Ooh, what kits did you get? *being nosy*

[yarnandglue]

I got some little ones based on Laurel Burch's art! I got a cat, a dragonfly, and a sun/moon! :)

[badly_knitted]

Those sound lovely! I'm a big fan of dragonflies. There's actually a set of dragonfly designs in the same magazine as my current project, and I have the fabric all cut out and prepared to stitch them when I get around to it.

[wiseheart]

I worked a bit more on my felt rest processing project. Finished all the blues and the greens - only the browns, greys and blacks are left, but I might postpone them for later and start decorating the little sewing kit boxes. We'll see.

[badly_knitted]

You'll decide what you're doing next time you have some free time for crafting.

[wiseheart]

Oh, I know what I'm going to do. Finding the free time is the tricky part. *g*

[badly_knitted]

Good luck with that!

[nagi_schwarz]

Look at you go! So much progress. Sounds like you're doing awesome! Being able to switch to another project is nice.

[wiseheart]

They are all part of the same project, actually. I needed a great many geometric shapes before I could start the decorating part. The plan is to glue felt stripes on the side of each little kit and decorate those with circles, triangles, quadrants or any combinations of those.

[fadingfootsteps]

meant to work on the togekiss but ended up fishing out my extra black chenille and now I have 2/5ths of a crane. Oops? I'm not even sure I have enough for a full crane but we'll find out.

[badly_knitted]

Well, if you run out I guess it can be a two-color crane!

[fadingfootsteps]

wrong kind of chenilles to match the black, it's got different thickness ad fluff to the rest of my stuff sadly. I appreciate the enthusiasm though!

[badly_knitted]

That's sad. I hope you have enough to complete your crane.

[nagi_schwarz]

Ooops! But yay for another crane! A multicolor crane is legit.

[althea_valara]

Alphi has a leg and has been partially stuffed! I'm hoping to at least finish the other leg today.

Also did one row on the cardi.

But mostly, been cleaning my room and gathering stuff for my dog-sitting trip. Room is not perfect but looks much better.

Also, because I can't get enough of this video, here is Colin Ryan (Alphinaud's English VA) hearing himself in game for the first time. He couldn't stop giggling!

https://www.twitch.tv/iamalphinaud/clip/BloodyBlazingAlligatorVoteYea-dfrKsrnvGqtpoZYk

[badly_knitted]

You're making great progress with Alphi!

Well done on the doll and the cardi. Good luck with dog sitting!

[nagi_schwarz]

Way to go! Excellent progress on both projects. Also that clip is adorable...

[nagi_schwarz]

Had a brutal migraine for most of the day, but once the pain had abated enough for me to get vertical I wanted to do SOMETHING so I tried out the needle punch kit! Verdict: harder than it looks on YouTube (should have been obvious but oh well) but still pretty simple and fun! Definitely not something I can do while watching, well, anything, but would be a great project for an audiobook or podcast. Also I got some templates in the mail to make some little fabric twist boxes. I have some fabric kicking around that I can use, so I should do that...although I could just buy some more fabric, wouldn't have to be a lot. And then try making them! Would make great gifts for some of my crafty friends (or even non-crafty friends; could just be used to hold things). So. Maybe I'll try those out.

[badly_knitted]

Ugh, so sorry about the migraine.

The fabric twist boxes sound intriguing, looking forward to seeing the results. Enjoy your needle punching!

[yarnandglue]

I'm sorry you've got a migraine. I hope it goes away soon.

[wiseheart]

A migraine is such a crippling thing! Kudos for you to try something nonetheless; I'm always in awe of your versatility. You try out so many different things!

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Today I potted up some plants and seeds. I also planted 5 little bluestem grasses in the prairie garden -- my winter seeding in pots had a 50% success rate in that species. Some others didn't grow anything, some did well, the marigolds had at least 1 sprout in each pot.

>>We all probably have multiple WiPs, but which of yours has been hanging around longest, waiting to be finished?<<

Many of my works are series. I do have some unfinished poems. I try to complete at least one of those each year. I don't have an easy way to track what's the oldest though.

Re: Thoughts

[badly_knitted]

The bluestem grasses sound lovely!

There always seem to be some things that don't come up, but you still did pretty well.

One of these days, when I have more time, I'll have to check out some of your poems.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> The bluestem grasses sound lovely! <<

They really are. They send up triple seed heads that look like turkey feet. Some turn shades of bronze, rust, or red in fall. :D

I love native grasses. I have Northern Sea Oats with their big heads that dance in the wind. This year I've got side-oats grama and switchgrass to try.

>>One of these days, when I have more time, I'll have to check out some of your poems.<<

Good gods yes, people have lost whole weekends down that rabbit hole. Don't try it unless you have plenty of time. My partner refers to my writing as "flypaper for eyeballs."

Re: Thoughts

[badly_knitted]

How wonderful! I do love grasses that are ornamental, as long as they don't grow too big.

Flypaper for eyeballs, I love that phrasing! Definitely can't look at present, all my time is needed for the cross stitch project that has to be finished in two weeks, but when I have some free time...

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>How wonderful! I do love grasses that are ornamental, as long as they don't grow too big.<<

Big bluestem is 6+ feet, I think little bluestem is around 3-4' tall. Switchgrass is maybe 3-4' too. Northern Sea Oats are probably around 3' and I think side oats grama is smaller.

>> Flypaper for eyeballs, I love that phrasing! Definitely can't look at present, all my time is needed for the cross stitch project that has to be finished in two weeks, but when I have some free time... <<

There's also the June 3 Poetry Fishbowl with a themes of "Gentleness Is Strength."

Re: Thoughts

[badly_knitted]

Those are BIG, but you have the space for them where you are.

Sounds like an interesting theme.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

*chuckle* To me, big is the 10-12' tall cup plants and sunchokes. The goldenrods run 5-6' tall.

Re: Thoughts

[badly_knitted]

In a small garden like mine, those kind of sizes would turn it into more of a jungle than it already is! Under 3ft is best for smaller spaces.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

My favorite tiny plants include Corsican mint, woolly thyme, winter aconite, and dwarf iris.

Re: Thoughts

[badly_knitted]

Woolly thyme sounds adorable! I used to have winter aconites, but I think squirrels must have dug up and eaten the bulbs.