Check-In Post - Sept 16th 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

[badly_knitted]

The last three pairs of arm warmers are sewn up! There will be another pair, but so far I only have one mostly knitted, so it will have to wait until I've knitted its mate.


Also knitted two more pumpkins, so I have 14 pumpkins waiting to be sewn up.

[wiseheart]

It's always the sewing up part that's tedious, isn't it? Just like book binding.

[badly_knitted]

Always. And the pumpkins have to be stuffed as well. But that's still less tedious, although more fiddly, than the arm warmers.

[nagi_schwarz]

Excellent progress! Way to go!

[badly_knitted]

Thank you! I am pleased to have the arm warmers done at last.

[althea_valara]

It was my birthday yesterday, and thanks to a thread on Ravelry, I went to Five Below (a shop in the US for things around or under USD$5) and picked up two craft kits. The first was a complete beginner's kit for a knitted kitty. I worked on that yesterday and finished it today. Mine doesn't really look like a kitty due to my poor sewing job, but it's still a cute thing, and I had fun so that's all that matters!

The other kit is a crochet Halloween kit of Disney's Stitch, with a pumpkin for a body. I haven't started it yet but the kit looks like it'll work out fine.

Honestly, impressed with both of these kits. The quality you get for such a low price is amazing!

communal_creators has started, and I'm off to a fantastic start. I signed up for 30 minutes a day of creative activity, and blew that out of the water both yesterday and today. Along with finishing the kitty today, I also did a 30 minute sprint writing session, and nearly doubled my word count for a Ladies' Bingo fic, whee! At first I wasn't sure what the next scene would be, but then I was like "...you had a previous fic featuring two of the characters, let's reference that fic" and the scene wrote itself.

I might do more creative stuff later, like work on my smallweb project. But right now I should check my to-do list to make sure I haven't forgotten to do anything important today.

[badly_knitted]

Belated Happy Birthday!

Those kits do sound very good and a lot of fun.

Well done in exceeding your goal for the first couple of days, and for your writing! That's great progress!

[nagi_schwarz]

Yay for new crafting kits and excellent progress on a new challenge!

[nagi_schwarz]

Managed three horizontal rows of stitching so far and then realized it would be better to do vertical rows of stitching between horizontal rows so it’s easier to weave in ends, so I have to go back and do what vertical stitching I missed before I go on, but at least I have a good plan now. Would have sewn more but baby demanded cuddles. Turns out Baby and Eldest are both sick and running fevers so extra cuddles were absolutely necessary. Crocheting can wait.

[badly_knitted]

Poor Baby and Eldest! I hope Middle Daughter doesn't get it too. Cuddles from mom are definitely what's needed.

Still great progress on putting all the motifs together.

[wiseheart]

Sending the invalid ones a virtual teddy bear. *points at icon*

[malurette]

The throw I'm re-lining has patchwork on one side, a very thin layer of synthetic filling, and a weird slim papery material on the other side that sort of looks dry-wash only and would make the whole thing more decorative than practical, though I remember my family using it as a picnic blanket when I was young.
I'd already reinforced the flimsy side a few years ago using a worn bedsheet, but it tore again and again across the middle. This time I'm using fabric from a duvet case that tore along the side, slightly tilted so the weave will be off-kilter, hopefully that'll spread the further wear-and-tear more evenly?
Yesterday I'd sewn a bit more than one half. My hand-stitching is not as neat as I'd like but still much straighter than my previous attempt so it's good enough for me. If I'm not done with it tonight, then tomorrow should do it!

[badly_knitted]

Let's hope that your plan works out and you get plenty more years of use out of your throw. Good luck finishing the re-lining!

[wiseheart]

Good luck! Repurposing old bedsheets and duvet cases is always practical.