Check-In Post - Sept 9th 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: Share your favourite crafting tip, if you have one.


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

[marinarusalka]

I finally finished my top, yay! I want to do something really simple next, so my next project will be a fairly plain baby blanket for the charity knitting group at my synagogue.

[badly_knitted]

The funeral went beautifully, it was more of a celebration of life really and brought back some lovely memories of my neighbour. That took up half the afternoon, but I fitted in some crafting after I got home.


I have knitted 4 meece bodies (2 each of sparkly purple & turquoise and sparkly purple & pale pink) to go with the tails I already had yarn cut for. Also crocheted all 8 ears. I still have three or four other ears surplus to requirements though, so I might have to knit meeces to go with them. Can't waste meece ears, and I can't use them for anything else.


Anyway, I now have 6 meeces to sew up and stuff...

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yesterday I posted the Poetry Fishbowl report for September, which has sold out. \o/

Today's plans are mostly yardwork.

Tomorrow we hope to catch an evening farmer's market to see if that one is any good.

>>This Week's Question: Share your favourite crafting tip, if you have one. <<

When you're going to fall festivals, watch for other crafters. Around here we see blacksmiths, broom makers, seatweavers, woodcarvers, fibercrafters, painters, photographers, upcyclers, ceramic artists, and more. It's useful to know who else is into your craft, or related crafts, in your general area. They will often know about resources like stores or other events.

[badly_knitted]

Looks lovely and very comfy!

Great idea, knitting for charity is always rewarding.

Re: Thoughts

[badly_knitted]

Yay!

Good luck with the yardwork.

I wish we had fall festivals and such around where I live, but there's rarely anything craft-oriented these days. We used to have a regular monthly craft fair pre-pandemic, but these days there's practically nothing. Last craft fair we had back in November, there were 6 stalls and only 4 were actually craft stalls. Used to get 20-30 stalls.

[althea_valara]

I started over with the Sylvan Tee. I mean, I really should have made a swatch and I did start one, but I was swatching in the round and my needles are LONG and I got tired of magic looping, so I pulled it out after about four rounds and just started the (knitted flat) cable stripe again, on size US4 needles. These needles are bamboo, too, rather than my preferred metal, and I think that too is affecting gauge. Anyway, I'm only half done with the first repeat of the cable stripe and it's already looking better, so I will probably go with these needles.

I do have a potential issue in that the largest size in the pattern might not be large enough for me, so I might have to improvise some/do math. I'm willing to do that, but just hope I have enough yarn. I will order more if I have to but I've had this yarn for a few years so the dyelot will be different, hmm.

Otherwise, I have been putting a lot of work into my Neocities site for smallweb, and am poking at fic ideas for ladiesbingo and 1character. Honestly, been doing more of this than crafting, but it's creative work so feels fulfilling.

[badly_knitted]

Oooh, good luck! I hope the smaller needles will work for you (I prefer metal needles too). Hopefully the calculations for size increase won't prove too difficult.

Writing is very creative. I'm two sentences short on my first table at 1character, still haven't started the second table. How are you getting along with yours? Also signed up at spook_me... It's my favourite seasonal fest. Just hope I don't end up writing an epic this year!

[althea_valara]

I have ten sentences written for 1character but hit a wall because I wasn't sure if those sentences were really in character for Alisaie? Someone said "well, you could make it an AU" but I'm more used to writing within canon, either lost scenes or post-canon stuff. Not that I write all THAT much (I only have 13 works on AO3 and some of those are fiber arts) but the whole point of me trying these other challenges is to get me to write more often.

[badly_knitted]

It is tricky, especially trying to stay in character. I think a lot of my sentences aren't STRICTLY in character, but I decided to do this challenge as a way of exploring different facets of two characters I've just started to write, learning more about them in a way. Characters behave different ways under different circumstances, and it can be fun to see how the prompt words can fit a chosen character, perhaps looking at them from a different angle.

Anyway, good luck with the challenges, I hope you can come up with something for them that you're comfortable and happy with.

[nagi_schwarz]

Lovely! The pattern is so pretty. It looks nice and comfy!

[nagi_schwarz]

Glad you were able to share some lovely memories of your neighbor.

Excellent meece progress!

Re: Thoughts

[nagi_schwarz]

Hope the farmer's market is fun! I love going to the one here.

[nagi_schwarz]

Hope all goes well with the restart! Sometimes restarting a project can be really disheartening. Good luck writing as well!

[nagi_schwarz]

Blanket progress:

22/22 purple motifs
30/30 lavender motifs
30/30 white motifs
6/6 vertical half-motifs
1/10 horizontal half-motifs

[sister_raphael]

Still catching up with posts and loading photos. :) No sewing today, but the posts have a lot of sewing in them for anyone who wants to scroll back. Still got three or four weeks of the pre-event sewing to post up about, and I'll throw some links when they're up for anyone who thinks they might be interested.

for now, here's a leather belt I put mounts on only to discover that they don't go through the buckle and now I need to change the buckle and swap the belt hanger for an earlier time period one.

https://sister-raphael.dreamwidth.org/165214.html

[sister_raphael]

That's annoying, but better to swap now than wait til it's almost finished and do it then. Fingers crossed for you!

[sister_raphael]

That's really lovely!

[sister_raphael]

Funerals can be tricky. Glad it was a nice one.

Re: Thoughts

[sister_raphael]

Good advice!

[sister_raphael]

That sounds like a lot!

[badly_knitted]

WOOT! You're doing great!

[badly_knitted]

Thank you. I'm glad I went, to be there for her daughter, who I grew up with.

Thanks. I wasn't supposed to be making more meeces, I don't NEED more meeces, but I have to finish what I started.

[badly_knitted]

How annoying! But that can happen so easily with belts. It still looks great.

[badly_knitted]

Yes, it went so smoothly, just like mum's did. It does help to have a really experienced funeral arranger.

[marinarusalka]

Thank you!

The synagogue has a whole closet full of donated yarn for charity knitting, and I found some soft bamboo yarn in pretty pastel colors that will make a great baby blanket.

[marinarusalka]

Thank you! It is very comfy. The silk yarn made a nice fabric, and the little eyelets help keep it cool.

[marinarusalka]

Thank you!

[badly_knitted]

How wonderful! I've never knitted with bamboo yarn.