Check-In Post - April 23rd 2026

[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: Does your crafting change with the seasons, certain crafts at certain times of the year?


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]

No crafting was done today, I was out in the front garden with my friend battling the massively overgrown hardy fuchsia that's taken over the entire garden. Progress has been made, the garden waste bin is almost full again, but there's still a lot of work to do out there.

[wiseheart]

The annoying thing with plants is that they regrow right after you've finished with them.

[badly_knitted]

Yes, and this fuchsia is a monster, ten feet tall in places, some stems more than an inch across. There are also spiny-tipped yuccas lurking beneath it, so it's hazardous work.

[wiseheart]

Having survived the big cleaning frenzy, I did a tiny bit of crafting: worked some on mini-scarf #6 (go figure, I'll be halfway through by tomorrow) and on pot holder #4. Neither of them is finished yet, but I'm taking my time. This is a hobby, and I only work on them when I feel like doing it.

[badly_knitted]

Glad you could find the energy for a little bit of crafting!

crafting advice?

[dialecticdreamer]

I did a teensy bit of crafting-- garter stitch joined to the 12-stitch base and worked K2tog at the second and third stitches of each row to make a triangle on that side of the square. (The opposite side will have to be picked up and knitted in color B.)

And ran into a problem. The original instructions call for SSK at the start and K2tog at the end of each row. NOPE. FAR too sharp a slope and they just plain LEAN WEIRD.

When doing a K2tog, the leftmost stitch (#3) stacks neatly over the right (#2) on the working side, but it looks a little slanted on the back. THAT looks neat and tidy to me. The SSK looks like the knit stitch has been stretched out like taffy...without actually being a gap. It makes no sense and I don't know why I'm getting those results.

Working that one triangle took me more than fifteen minutes but less than twenty (I knit about 10 stitches per minute after two decades of knitting), so this needs to have as few errors as possible.

As for gauge and colors, I grabbed all my worsted acrylic except for two that are smooth and feel thinner, and sorted for 'citrusy' colors. They include bold orange, three balls of slightly different whites, pale yellow, a darker yellow, a grapefruit pink, and a lime (flesh) green. The plan is to make orange center squares, then alternate two of A (a white from the same ball) and two of B, another citrusy color. If I end up with enough squares for a baby blanket or lapghan, I'll be quite happy. Getting all of those remnants out of the stash will make buying a skein or two of a pale peach or green for the final edging a reasonable idea... and I expect it to take at least six months to get there. Buying anything from a craft store that remotely complements this 1970s mix is going to be difficult, which is why there's so much white in this.

Gauge... Twelve stitches (slip first, purl last through back loop only, work garter for the main ten stitches) is 2.75" across without blocking or stretching. I knit rows until the height matches minus the live stitches, then begin the first triangle.

For the volume of each color... I'd say most of a skein? 3oz or so each? I haven't weighed anything.

Re: crafting advice?

[badly_knitted]

Instead of the SSK, you could try K2tog through the back of the stitches. It's awkward as heck, but it might give a result more like the other edge. I'll sometimes do that when the shaping doesn't look good.

Are you doing the shaping on alternate rows instead? You said every row made the slope too sharp so I'm assuming every other row.

Good luck finding a suitable shade for the border. I do love the colour combination you're using!

Re: crafting advice?

[dialecticdreamer]

The original instructions had both ssk at first and k2tog at end on EACH row. Nope. Nope. Not going to work!

My shaping is only at the start of each row, using K2tog.

Re: crafting advice?

[badly_knitted]

Hopefully that will work better than the original pattern.

Re: crafting advice?

[dialecticdreamer]

I'm praying. I haven't knitted anything in... two years? Crocheting isn't any faster, and the frustration is getting to me.

Re: crafting advice?

[badly_knitted]

That's understandable. Good luck!

[jasleh]

moved my crafting day up 'cause I'm hoping to spend tomorrow trying to pull someone into FFxiv lol

got 3 more rows in on the curtain plus a decent amount done on the needlepoint

.... largely because I woke up stupid early so I had a lot of day to work with

[badly_knitted]

Have fun with the game!

Well done, that's good progress!

Waking up early does allow more time for things.