Check-In Post May 2nd 2021

[badly_knitted]

Hello to all members, 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.


Today's Question: No question today.


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

[darkcedars]

Ha, I just updated my project post and this popped up.

I'm at the end of the first skein, finally. It is 20" and has bonus dog content.



Did the little bit of work in the back yard today (planted horehound and more calendulas, put weed killer on some thistles). The only thing to catch up now is mulching, going to wait until after husband mows next to do that. I want to mulch around the edge of the stepping stones to the gate.

[badly_knitted]

The blanket really looks pretty, and your dog seems to like it!

Well done with your gardening. Yours sounds so much better organised than my wilderness!

[darkcedars]

Well, more that a lot of it was blank (we've lived in this rental for a while, there were flower beds but nothing in them). I have to keep repelling an invasion of woodbine from the north, and hardy hibiscus (aka rose of sharon) from the south. The woodbine will grow into the small cracks on the tool shed, and it grows so fast I'll open the door to find coils of it all over the grill and mower. It's a total pain.

My neighbor planted this on purpose, I believe. I hope all my dandelions are blowing into her yard. She hates them. :P

[badly_knitted]

Rose of sharon can be quite invasive, and the woodbine sounds worse than the ivy I've been battling for years that has eaten two sheds.

Working from a mostly blank slate lets you do things the way you want them.

How can anyone hate dandelions? I love them, they get everywhere but they're so cheerful!

[darkcedars]

So many yards around here are even only one type of grass. There are businesses called things like "True Green" to make this happen. And some people even have their yards dyed. Humans are WEIRD. They get all excited about bees but not giving the bees anything to eat.

[badly_knitted]

You're right. People pave over their yards as well, so they're easier to care for, I want flowrrs for my bees and I'm very aware that I don't have enough. The buddleias help when they're in flower, but more flowers throughout the year would be better.

[smallhobbit]

That looks really pretty!

[verdande_mi]

Such great colours!

I am slightly jealous of your gardening. More snow is predicted here, so the garden will have to wait, but the seeds I planted inside are showing signs of life.

[darkcedars]

And here I was complaining when we had snow a couple weeks ago (very late for us).

[verdande_mi]

It's late for snow here as well, but it does happen, so far we only had heavy rain and hail.

[badly_knitted]

Sounds like you'll just have to continue with indoor gardening until the weather improves

[verdande_mi]

Yes! I am longing to start though, but I will wait.

[badly_knitted]

Spring will come, eventually.

[medievalrosalie]

That looks great and a doggo seal of approval is perfect! Nice work on the planting! Horehound and calendulas are so nice!

[annofowlshire]

Beautiful!

[badly_knitted]

I decided to do my knitting early today, but just as I was coming to the end of my third row, I realised there was a hole in my knitting where no hole should be. I'd accidentally picked up an extra stitch in the middle of one of my diamonds. Worse, it was in the knitting I did last night! Thankfully it was near the end of the second to last of yesterday's rows, so I only had to painstakingly unpick 4 rows and a couple of inches of the fifth, but still, that took me at least half an hour. Anyway, in the end I did get my ten rows done. Good thing I started early...

Went outside for a bit earlier, until the sky decided to start dripping on me. Not even enough to call it a shower, but it was wet. Still had to dash out and water though. The drips from the sky weren't enough. Tomorrow there's heavy rain forecast, and I'm expecting my seeds to get washed away. The joys of gardening. All I did today was clear brambles, cut away dead branches from my berberis, and cut back various other growing things that I'm trying to deter from growing.

[darkcedars]

Oh noooo. I hate it when there's a mistake you can't fudge!

Supposed to rain tomorrow here.

[badly_knitted]

It was so glaringly obvious I couldn't ignore it. Plus it would have thrown thev pattern off.

Rain halts play when it comes to gardening, but least we won't have to water anything tomorrow.

[smallhobbit]

How frustrating - I'm glad you spotted it before you had got too far, but even so, that's a lot to have to unpick.

We were out this afternoon, and as we drove the last few roads how there were a few drips, but looking in our back garden it must have rained shortly before we arrived. We saw grey clouds but nothing else.

[badly_knitted]

It was, especially since I had to unpick stitch by stich. No ripping out whole rows and picking the stitches up after with this yarn. The fluffiness catches and tangles, making it difficult to undo.

The rain stayed home to water for you.

[medievalrosalie]

It still sounds like you got a lot done in the garden, so hooray for that. Terrible news about your knitting. At least you spotted it before you finished!

[badly_knitted]

I'm lucky I noticed at all, but my finger went through the hole and I thought... 'Hello, that shouldn't be there!'

Not as much done in the garden as I would have liked thanks to the sky dripping, but I can't garden at all today, it's raining heavily and there are gales forecast for this afternoon. I'm staying in where it's warm and cosy, and dry.

[smallhobbit]

I continue with my cross stitch - currently stitching light blue sky and pale blue sky. There's at least one stitch wrong, but no-one will ever know.

[badly_knitted]

The odd wrong stitch, especially in sky, or grass, or trees, isn't a problem, thankfully, and it makes your piece unique to you!

[darkcedars]

Having more than one color to work and yet also not having to be super accurate sounds like a relaxing patch.

[stellar_dust]

I'm attending a virtual conference this weekend and picked up some socks I've been knitting on and off for several years(!) to work on while listening to talks. They're magic loop, and I don't think I will ever do magic loop again -- it's nice that both socks will be exactly the same length and done at the same time and stuff, but it just takes so much time to reposition the needles after every half sock round. I think it's actually faster to knit one sock at a time on DPNs.

[darkcedars]

Maybe it's best for people with serious second-sock-syndrome.

[stellar_dust]

that is probably true!

[badly_knitted]

At least you know that now for future reference!

It's good to have something to do with your hands while listening to people talk.

[stellar_dust]

it's definitely good, it keeps me from getting distracted by the internet!

[badly_knitted]

The internet is a terrible distraction, and a temptation that's hard to resist.

[medievalrosalie]

I don't know what magic loop is, but I understand your frustration. Virtual conferences are great though! learning without leaving home!

[stellar_dust]

It's a technique for using circular needles to knit very small items in the round and can also be used to knit more than one piece at the same time on one circular needle. Here's the pattern I'm using (looks like it's been updated since a friend recommended it to me in 2017).

I'm going to miss virtual conferences! It will be good to see my colleagues in person again (I guess), but it's been so nice not to have to arrange for travel, and to be able to turn my camera off.

[badly_knitted]

The pattern looks great. I've never knitted socks, I like making cosy sweaters, but maybe I will someday.

Virtual conferences do sound like they have advantages.

[annofowlshire]

That’s how I felt about Two at a Time and Magic Loop! Give me 5 DPNs and I can whip those socks out like magic.

[stellar_dust]

I'm glad it's not just me! :D

[annofowlshire]

The Enting crashed early (we went hiking earlier in the day and wore him out) and our neighbours invited us up for BBQ at the fire pit so I sent the Mr to get expend some social energy and I sat down with my spinning wheel and finally finished spinning the last of three plies. Next, the plying!

[medievalrosalie]

Hooray for spinning and plying! You're getting through it!

[badly_knitted]

WOOHOO! That's great! Does the plying involve spinning too?

[annofowlshire]

Yes, you basically “spin” the plies in reverse. So if I did the initial ply spinning clockwise, I then ply them together counter-clockwise. It takes much less time than the individual plies, but it’s a bugger to have to stop in the middle so I’m just waiting until I have a couple of hours I can marathon spin through XD

[badly_knitted]

Ah, I see! And yes, I can understand you wanting to get the plying done all in one go.

[medievalrosalie]

I haven't crafted but I went to the same second hand book sale three times- twice to get good books early and then again for Half Price End of Book Fair sales and scooped up a ton more. almost a hundred books. Some nice books on fibres and weaving and one book on wool which had a great section on natural dying.

[medievalrosalie]

A huge amount of history (particularly medieval interest) and some for my Vintage collection. There's a few pictures on my post here but that sure isn't all of it:
https://medievalrosalie.livejournal.com/45709.html

[badly_knitted]

You are going to be so busy reading you won't have time to craft!

[badly_knitted]

Wow! That's a terrific haul, and some very useful crafting resources! Now where are you going to put them all? *grins*

[annofowlshire]

That’s quite the haul! Back in Seattle the library system would do this bi-annual book sale in two enormous airplane hangars. I had to stop going because I’d end up going home with dozens of books which would have been okay had I not been moving every other year and actually got around to reading them... I think most of them got donated back a few years later. Oh well, it’s good funding for the library to sell them twice!