Check-In Post July 6th 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

[badly_knitted]

GAH!

I managed another 32 rows in the end, but halfway through I dropped a stitch in one of the blackberry stitch panels and it started unravelling. The one place I couldn't just pick up the stitches and fix the problem. I had to unpick about 5 rows stitch by stitch before I could stop it unravelling.

[pensnest]

Argh! How tiresome. Five rows stitch by stitch sounds like a big road-bump.

[badly_knitted]

It seriously was, especially undoing the purl three together, which is nearly impossible to do without making things worse.

[pensnest]

Safety lines, she said, nodding wisely.

I even put safety lines in my Reyna, which is pretty simple knitting. It saves on frustration!

[badly_knitted]

I've never heard of safety lines. Explain please?

[pensnest]

A safety line is a thin yarn - I use a fine knitting cotton thread - which you put through all the stitches of one row of knitting, and leave there while you continue. That way, if you have to frog the knitting, you can safely rip it back to the safety lines row, because all the stitches are caught on the cotton thread, and you can pick them up easily from there. You can (if you need to) indicate on your pattern where you have put a safety line - really useful if you have a complicated pattern. It's best done on a plain/WS row, assuming you have a plain row in your knitting, either knit or purl.

I use a darning needle to thread my safety line through the loops - I think it's also possible to knit it in as you go, but I prefer just to do it after I've knitted or purled the row. You don't want to catch your knitting yarn, and don't forget to leave a long tail at either end!

[medievalrosalie]

Ahhh What a great idea!

[badly_knitted]

Ooh, what a clever idea!

Not sure it would work on this design since there are no plain knit or purl rows, but it's definitely something to consider for future projects.

Thanks!

[smallhobbit]

How very annoying!

[badly_knitted]

It really was, I almost abandoned the rest of the knitting once I'd unpicked far enough back, because my back and arms were hurting, but I pushed on.

[m_findlow]

Oh no! That's so annoying! But I guess better to unravel now whilst your still knitting than when you go to wear it!

[badly_knitted]

Definitely! Hopefully I can avoid any further disasters though.

[wiseheart]

Oh, dear! Good luck then!

[badly_knitted]

Thanks!

[medievalrosalie]

Oh that sounds just so annoyingly frustrating! At least it was 5 rows and not 50.

[badly_knitted]

True, it could have been a lot worse!

[wiseheart]

Today I ventured into crafty places a bit. Meaning that I began to draw the popsickle items found on Pinterest into an exercise book.

I've decided to make two to four drawings each day this month. It will take a long time until I'll have all the ones I might want to try, but then I'll have the exact measures, the numbers of the popsickles and the extras down for use, which will make the process so much easier! A friend of mine is planning to do some popsickle crafting with me; so I'll just put out my exercise book and we can choose which item to make.

[smallhobbit]

Working with a friends sounds fun - I hope you enjoy your drawings.

[wiseheart]

I do. I love planning out my projects long before I'd actually start.

[badly_knitted]

That sounds like an excellent idea, all the designs in one place to save trying to find them later.

[wiseheart]

It is necessary, as I have a memory like a sieve.

[m_findlow]

I like your planning! Pinterest boards are just too tempting to click away at. At least if you've got them in a notebook you won't suffer that rabbit hole of time wasting! I clicked a few of your popsicle links and got caught there myself! Those clever people with their glue guns...

[wiseheart]

Too bad that I'm hopeless with a glue gun, myself. :/

My method is to save the pictures I like to my own board first. Then I go through that board and save the best pieces to my HD. That way I can do my drawing, even if the internet is acting up.

[medievalrosalie]

Popisicle craft buddy for the win!

[wiseheart]

She's a good friend indeed. We've got a bunch of shared interests, which is great.

[pensnest]

I'm somewhere into the low 300-stitches per row now with my 'Reyna' shawl, and it's looking quite good, but the ball of yarn is still large! I intend to use as much of it as I possibly can.

[smallhobbit]

That is a ridiculous number of stitches per row!

[pensnest]

Ahaha. Yes, yes it is. Particularly since the shawl is still *small*! It's sock weight from Posh Yarns, lovely stuff but TINY.

[badly_knitted]

That's a whole lotta stitches! My sweater is only 128, so your shawl is more than double that!

You're doing well for yarn!

[pensnest]

And I bet your sweater is a lot bigger! I tend to do sweaters in the round, nice and seamless (I *hate* sewing knitted pieces together), so they generally have a bigger stitch count than 128, but yeah. Fingering/sock yarn is just... like that.

[badly_knitted]

It's not that big really, to fit a 34inch chest. I'm only tiny, thankfully, lol!

Sewing up can be annoying, but I'm used to it, and will usually do it in stages to keep from getting too bored. I almost always use DK anyway. Things grow faster. Fine yarn is great for baby clothes, but I like something more substantial to wear.

For a shawl though, especially a lacy one, finer yarn gives a much better look.

[m_findlow]

Oh, that sounds lovely. Nothing better than a hand knitted scarf or shawl. :)

[pensnest]

I really enjoy knitting scarves/shawls, though I keep having to remind myself to wear them. No gauge anxieties!

[medievalrosalie]

That sounds like it's going to be quite a sizable shawl. Which is great!

[smallhobbit]

I've printed out the patterns for another 8 squares for my throw, which is good. That will be 16 different squares, which I can repeat as I want.

[badly_knitted]

That should give you plenty of variety to keep your enthusiasm up.

[smallhobbit]

Yes, better than having to do several repeats.

[wiseheart]

True. Repeats are boring.

[althea_valara]

Finished the fingerless mitts, woohoo!

I have four rounds left on the sun hat. I'm going to try to finish it tonight, and if not, early tomorrow. I'm logging in to my MMO now, but I can crochet while waiting for Duty Finder queues to pop.

I'll have pictures tomorrow of the finished items!

Bad news: my sunset tumbler cozy was rejected for the Nerdopolis challenge, because I misunderstood the challenge parameters. Boo. But I wasn't the only one who misunderstood, there were at least four of us, so I don't feel TOO bad. Still, it's annoying because it means I need to make another project to fit the theme. Good news: I already have the project in mind and in fact started on it this afternoon.

(For the curious, I thought the challenge was about how you got into your fandom, so I tied my tumbler cozy into the opening scene from Final Fantasy X, which was my first Final Fantasy game. Turns out the challenge was actually not about you, but how the fandom itself got started - i.e., its original source material. So I'm making a rat by a designer whose patterns I love, as the first Final Fantasy game has a quest in which you are to find a rat's tail. Bonus: I get to make another one of Sarah's excellent patterns!

[pensnest]

That's frustrating. Still, it means you have an extra Thing available now, and making a rat (!!) sounds like an awesome thing to do!

[badly_knitted]

Yay for finishing the mitts!

Woohoo for gprogress on the sunhat!

Sucks that the sunset casy was rejected, but those are such cute rats, so I'm sure you'll enjoy making one!

[medievalrosalie]

That all sounds great, and even if you can't use the sunset tumbler cozy for the challenge, you can still use the item itself!

[m_findlow]

No crafting today I shouldn't think. We realised that all my work tops on the clothes horse in our spare bedroom are fading down one sleeve fro the afternoon sun, so they're all going to have to be moved back into my main wardrobe, which mean cleaning it out. Three hours it took to clear out the side with the hanging bars, and a lot of jeans that no longer fit (though some are in thr 15-20yrs old category, so I suppose not fitting was to be expected). Most are in really good condition still, so they'll probably sit in the garage for a year and then I'll get the diabetes foundation to pick them up. I very much doubt I'll drop enough to fit back into them, and some are so low cut round the hips I can't believe I used to wear them!
All that cleaning and clothes fittings knackered me out though. I was so sweaty and dusty afterward I showered again and now I'm crashing on the couch. Figuring out which work clothes can go in the new space is a job for tomorrow. Of the two bars, I've got almost one whole bar free. Nto sure I've got the energy to do the same with the tallboy drawers full of tops, but that's less pressing. Mostly I know the tops are just too short now and I prefer longer cuts. No idea how I used to wear short t shirts with those jeans. My whole back end must have been flying out in the wind!

[pensnest]

I don't clear out my old things often, but there is quite a bit of satisfaction in getting rid of things I don't use and making way for new stuff! for a bit of roominess in the wardrobe. I hope you find that satisfying.

[badly_knitted]

Wow, that's a busy day! I had to do something similar a few years back and I cleared ouit a LOT of skirts. I never wear skirts these days, only trousers. Nobody neds to see my wonky legs!

Styles change, and our tastes change. Some of the things I used to wear make me cringe now at the very thought. I guess that means we're grown-ups now...

[medievalrosalie]

I've recently had a bit of a clean out too with more to go. Handy tip: if you like long T shirts- shop in the menswear department. They always have longer shirts and they tend to be stitched more sturdily and the fabric is usually thicker. Apparently men being "rough on their clothes" means they get better clothes to withstand the imagined roughness.

I'm also looking at jeans I love and don't fit. I must wave them a fond farewell too. You've done so well to sort out as much as you did in one day!

[medievalrosalie]

No sewing today, though I have re-started work on a medieval linen gown which will be a mid layer between chemise and surcote. It's been in the cupboard for years, literally, and I'm really getting stuck into finishing it. I've changed the sleeve style, sewn the new sleeves and finished the front seam. I'm about a third through the back seam then it's just the hem to go.

I've been heavily distracted by the whole hoping to have my medieval brooches produces so I can make some pocket money selling them.

[badly_knitted]

That sounds like a big project, but you seem to be making great progress with it.

Good luck with the brooches!