Check-In Post - June 1st 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: What kinds of organizers do you like to hold your arts and crafts supplies?


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]

I got about three minutes out in the garden. Just got out there and started work on the hedge, and it started raining. Great help.


Came in, crocheted the last 4 pairs of bee wings, and lazed around for a while watching a DVD because I didn't feel like doing anything that required more thought and concentration.

[wiseheart]

Some days are like that. And lazing around can be therapeutic.

[badly_knitted]

I don't know that lazing around helped me, but... *shrugs*

[fuzzyred]

Congrats on finishing the bee wings!

It bites that your yardwork got rained out. Hopefully the weather and your time/energy line up so that you can garden tomorrow, if you wish.

[badly_knitted]

Looks like it will be chilly and raining for the next couple of weeks, sadly. But it might mean I can make progress with finishing some bees. Not that the shop needs any more at present, but they've been selling pretty well, and Shelly has had some ideas for them, like putting some on wires so they can be poked into plant plots, a big bee visiting the flowers.

[althea_valara]

Creativity update for April in May posted in my journal, here: https://althea-valara.dreamwidth.org/1288554.html - in which I am frustrated

New tournament of Nerdopolis started, so I have some plans for projects. Fingers crossed these work to my satisfaction! One of the plans involves designing clothes for one of my knitted dolls - Alisaie's clothes are back from the Shadowbringers era and I want to update them to her new outfit from Endwalker/Dawntrail. That's going to be quite a challenge though! I have ordered some fingering weight acrylic yarn in lipstick red. Alas, they were out of white for her one piece she wears under her jacket.

The one-piece is pretty simple, though, so I might just do it in worsted weight just to get it done. The jacket in red.... I *swore* I would never do box pleats again after doing them for Windy's outfit, but here I am, planning more box pleats.

Anyway, since the yarn is being sent to me, I don't think I'll have time to complete the entire outfit before the end of the month, but the challenge says "make *A* piece of clothing your heroine would wear" so I think I'd be fine with just getting one piece done. And of course I would choose Alisaie as my heroine of choice, I just love her to pieces. <3 (That's her in my icon. I need to get a new icon with her latest outfit! This one is two outfits ago.)

What kinds of organizers do you like to hold your arts and crafts supplies?

I keep most of my tools in my nightstand's top two drawers. What's holding my crochet hooks and DPNs? Why, a box left over from Valentine's candy! It's not heart-shaped, but rather a rectangle that's the PERFECT size for crochet hooks and 7" DPNs. I have some other drawer dividers in the top drawer; the skinny one holds pens/pencils and the larger one holds tape measures, darning needles, and my good wire cutters.

I do have one of those hang-on-a-hook circular needle organizers which I had in my closet for a while, but I took it down and put all the circulars in the second drawer, along with the collection of straights that I never use. I'd prefer to hang the circular organizer on the back of my bedroom door but then the ceiling fan in the summer causes it to scrape and bang against the door, driving my mom bonkers. Having it in the closet was a compromise solution, but... I am not the neatest person, and too often I can't GET to my closet, sigh.

I also have a small organizer stand, three cubbyholes high. The top bin holds my misc. craft supplies, like paper quilling, beads, my other wire tools, some needle felting supplies. The bottom cubbyhole doesn't have a bin in it; instead, it's holding diamond art supplies I inherited.

I've been slowly moving books off my bookcase (I don't read much anymore) and replacing them with yarn storage. I have two big fabric baskets for larger current projects, and a series of smaller bins/baskets for smaller projects. Plus a plastic covered container holding the pretties (nice yarn from Stitch club). That makes me happy. Otherwise, I have large bins of yarn. One next to my desk, and several stacked in my closet. Most of that is acrylic or blends, though. I'm trying to keep the nicer stuff where I can see it and access it, because DROOL.

[badly_knitted]

Sorry you're having such a tough time getting crafty, but good luck with the new outfit for your doll!

Wow, you are so much more organised than me. I just have piles and boxes and bags, so I can never find anything, lol! I have WAY more crafting supplies than I need. Yarn storage is always difficult because it's so bulky.

[fuzzyred]

I haven't made any progress on my hat in the last few days, as my time keeps getting eaten.

>>This Week's Question: What kinds of organizers do you like to hold your arts and crafts supplies?<<

I have sime clear plastic bins for my yarn, as well as an organizer that hangs on the back of my door. The door-hanger is especially nice for looking at my pretty yarns. I have a zip-up pouch with holders for my crochet hooks that I like a lot. Sadly, I cannot find anything like that for my knitting needles, so those are currently in a ziplock bag.

[badly_knitted]

That happens, life has a bad habit of getting in the way of crafting. You'll get back to it.

You do sound very organised, I envy that.

I don't know where all my knitting needle cases came from, I suspect I inherited several, along with the needles, from relatives who stopped knitting, but I have so many needles now, it's a little ridiculous. I did at least sort them all out last year. There are a lot of odd needles.

[elwendell]

No sewing done yesterday.

My home is very organised nowadays. I have two large plastic lidded tubs for fabric, one for paper patterns, another for equipment, and one for the current, in progress, project.

I like the closed tubs because they force me to limit my stock. It is far too easy to collect fabric!

[badly_knitted]

That is VERY neat and tidy, and also very sensible. The lidded tubs also keep things from falling out and going astray.

Yarn is the same. I have WAY too much, and I only knit big things in winter.