Check-In Post - Oct 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 (courtesy of ysabetwordsmith): For those of us who do yarn crafts, what kinds of yarn do you prefer working with and why?


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]

20 more pumpkins have faces! One of them ended up looking sad =(

[wiseheart]

Oh, the poor little dear! :(

[badly_knitted]

Yes, poor sad pumpkin. Not sure whether to try and make it look happier or leave it sad.

[fadingfootsteps]

I think it can stay sad- they'll be a little unique that way. Unique is good.

[badly_knitted]

Hopefully they're all fairly unique, but sad things make me sad, so now I feel sorry for a knitted pumpkin *sigh*

[wiseheart]

You can always give it a loving pat. :)

[badly_knitted]

I might if I can find it among all the others...

[spiralicious]

Poor little sad pumpkin. At least it has friends.

[badly_knitted]

Yes, that's the only good thing. I'll have to try to avoid any others ending up sad...

[nagi_schwarz]

Way to go on the pumpkins! Sad pumpkin is just sad to be leaving you...

[badly_knitted]

Hopefully it's nothing worse than that...

[fadingfootsteps]

Starting another new doily (the old one is not shelved but the accessibility of the pattern is different from the others) and coming to terms with that pattern creation takes a level of 3d thinking I don't have, at least in crochet.

Edit: Sorry I should mention the other one I was doing last time is done, just doing the wet block so it's dark and ugly rn. No photo.

I'm on round 7 (of either 26 or 34 depending on where I choose to end) and some of the tricks it's pulling, man...

[badly_knitted]

Well done on completing the latest doily, hoping it blocks well. The big one will just have to wait for now.

Good luck with the new one. With luck you'll overcome its tricks.

[spiralicious]

Well done!

[nagi_schwarz]

Congrats on finishing the first doily! Good luck on the new one! Some patterns are just tricky.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Today's creative project is the Poetry Fishbowl with a theme of "Witches and Wizards." Have you made crafts of them? I can work from picture prompts! Or other prompts, I'm flexible. Drop by and leave me prompts, or just watch the fun.

Re: Yes ...

[spiralicious]

Have fun!

Re: Yes ...

[nagi_schwarz]

Have fun with the poetry fishbowl!

Re: Yes ...

[badly_knitted]

The perfect theme for the season, obviously! Good luck.

[spiralicious]

So many things happened in the last week.

I had three days of debilitating weather related headaches, but they have subsided.

Inspired by the concept of ghost projects (unfinished projects that haunt you), I made 32 little cards with ghosts on them. The intention being that every time I complete a ghost project, I'd write it on the back and add the card to my jar happy stuff & accomplishments for the year. Even if I don't use them, I have tiny ghosts to decorate the house with. My mom saw me making them and wanted her own set, though she is using them differently.

Vexed_wench & I got the Fall Fest Bingo opening post done and up at allbingo!

I found a free how to knit book at work, it's honestly more of a pamphlet, but the illustrations are large and clear and I like having it on hand for when I forget how to do something and there's no internet access. It just happens too often.

Saturday was the library's fall festival. I was mostly there to see three of my favorite library staff members get slimed (it was to celebrate meeting and exceeding their goals of the number of people either getting new library cards or checking that their current library cards were in good standing), but they were also giving away free pumpkins to paint. The library is going to do a painted pumpkin display for the last week of October. My mother, my friend, and I each picked one up to do. I have no clue what I'm doing.

I made and decorated 10 business card sized orange cards that say, "boo!" on them. I'm going to paperclip Halloween stickers to them and keep them in my pocket to give to people at random.

This project made me realize I needed a new blade for my paper-cutter. The old one was so worn down, it was nearly flat. Luckily, the only store in town that sometimes carries them had one package.

Monday, I made cards with Lynne. Despite it only being yesterday, I couldn't tell you what we made, but she talked about it quite happily when the house keeper called. I also figured out how to finish off one card I'd been designing for us to make in a couple weeks and a card to make to use the 3D humming bird stickers Lynne wanted me to incorporate into a card. Overall, the day went pretty well.

Knitting wise, I have finished knitting the second half of the cable hat. Unfortunately, I didn't realize I accidentally skipped the last row (the one with decreases) until after I was done binding off. I compared the two halves and they should be close enough to sew together. I still need to block them

I did already start the next project in the workbook. The current chapter is on how to knit stripes, which I already know how to do, but I want the practice. The first project is a technically one I've made before. It's the same scarf from the chapter on learning the difference between stockinette stitch and garter stitch from the beginning of the workbook, but this version has stripes in different widths and five colors. It's coming along well, but a single pattern repeat is 84 rows, so it feels slow.

This is not mine, but I wanted to mention it, my mother is making a princess pumpkin. She's built her a tower out of an oatmeal container and made her a wig already. Painting her face on had had some set backs though.

[nagi_schwarz]

Wow! You've done so much! Way to go you! The little ghost cards sound adorable, as well as the ones to give out to other people. I am glad you had fun card-making with your friend, and also made knitting progress.

[spiralicious]

Thanks so much!

[badly_knitted]

Wow, you have been so busy! Great projects, love the ghost cards and the boo cards, such great ideas!

Glad things went well with Lynne, and well done with the hat despite the mishap. Hope the sewing up goes well.

Good luck with the striped scarf, and also with painting your pumpkin!

Love your mum's idea for hers. =D

The pamphlet sounds useful. Now you just have to avoid losing it by putting it somewhere safe...

[spiralicious]

Thanks so much! X5

It's really cute. She plans on tangling a prince toy in the hair.

Yes, that is a concern. I am hoping it will fit into the pocket of the folder thing I keep in my knitting bag with the current patterns I'm working on. I'll just have to remember it's there.

[badly_knitted]

Rapunzel was my favourite fairy tale as a kid. The prince climbing the hair will be a cute touch.

Hopefully it won't slip your mind.

[spiralicious]

Yes :D It should be quite cute.

Fingers crossed

[wiseheart]

Good grief, what a busy week! I'm intimidated by just reading your activity list!
Love the idea of the little ghost cards. :)

[spiralicious]

So very busy. I fear the rest of the year is probably going to like similar.

Thanks :)

[nagi_schwarz]

Second Halloween hat is finished, and I've started on my first Christmas gift (6/16 pieces made today)! Another friend asked for a Christmas gift in a project style I've wanted to try for a long time (Korean maedup knotwork), so I was terrible and bought a bunch of crafting supplies to give it a shot. I found an entire channel of clear tutorials for all the knots I want to use. All of the videos are in Korean and don't have subtitles, but as it turns out I do know enough Korean to understand enough of what the instructor is saying, coupled with the videos themselves, to figure out how to make the things! So I am super excited!

[badly_knitted]

That sounds like a fascinating project, and kudos with how far you've come on learning Korean. I'm impressed!

[wiseheart]

Wow! Go you!