Constant learning

sc~dc 26: Picking the rainbow

2024-03-24T00:00:00+01:00

Hello there!

No knitting today, wow.

Crochet

Flower pot coasters

I wanted to do this kind of project for a long time, and I finally did it. Something snapped in me, and I decided there was no reason to postpone the things I wanted to do.

For the flowers, I used the VlnaHep Camilla yarn and a 3.5mm addi hook. I made five “roses”, even though the pattern is named “Daisy Coasters”.

Initially, I made the first pink one and wanted to make all of them pink, but… blue is cooler (literally). I like the accent the pink provides.

I was fiddling with the hook size because it was either too small to hold a mug or too holey to be useful. The 3.5mm hit the sweet spot.

Since I had to attend some useless meetings, I worked on a few roses during that time; otherwise, I would have strangled someone for scheduling a meeting for Monday morning just to repeat what was already done. … When every single participant was part of the process from the beginning, so everyone knew all of that.

I took two pictures of the roses. The first is of roses sitting in a glass, and the second is of them arranged in a flower pot.

The flower pot is not part of the pattern, so I improvised.

Here is my written improvisation: hook 4.0 mm (I used 3.5 around round 9) and three strands of the cotton yarn in brown.

1: 8sc into magic ring
2: inc every stitch (16)
3: inc every other stitch (24)
4: inc every two stitches (32)
5: inc every three stitches (40)
6: inc every four stitches (48)
7: sc in all sts into back loops
8 to 13: sc in all sts
14: border edge: (slip stitch, chain 1) repeat

For some reason, I made a Ravelry project page for it. I might do it for other projects later because I find it convenient as heck—all of it in one place. I already do it in a paper notebook, but I do not have pictures there, and I will not waste printer ink on that. Ravelry, here I come.

Ripple blanket

I did six rows! Which is not much, I know. But at least something is getting done.

Wednesday ami

I was asked to make a Wednesday doll in… eeeehm, November. I picked the yarn from my ami rainbow stash, and it has stayed on my desk for all those months.
I wanted to make the doll myself since the Flix series started, but I had many wips and no pattern.

Anyway, it’s embarrassing to see my friend when I owe her something, and I meet her at least once a month. The shame got to me, and I started working on it:

Using the standard ami hook - 2.0mm, and VlnaHep Jeans yarn.

Now, the pattern—it’s by Kader Akkol from Spicaartdoll, and I got it from a friend across the pond with many other e-patterns, because her tendonitis is so severe, she’s decided to quit making amigurumi.

Wish me luck that I do this pattern justice; it’s gonna be my first time doing doll hair.

Baking

Well, well, well. Welcome to the muffinarium.

Creepy green muffins

My pink cupcakes were creepy in the wrong way, so I decided to make green ones. Hehehe.

They are really, really, really green, but the picture makes them look a bit unrealistic because of the stove light. Here is the inside of one (yap, that’s dark chocolate!)

Everyone had a kick out of it and loved the idea.

Coconut muffins

Later, I had two visitors in two days - one was a person who was here to work, so I’d never met him before and did not want to scare him with food colouring choices. And the second was a poshy posh person that would never put anything that weird into her mouth. So, I made a batch of muffins with cocoa and coconut:

They look boring, but the worker asked me for a recipe for his wife, and the poshy person did not say anything mean, which she usually does, so that’s a win.

Not so yarny chitchat

Alright. I contemplated whether to post this or not. Not because it’s not exactly typical for girls - I must be considered a weirdo already. But because it’s outside of the craft stuff. … Or maybe it’s not. It’s a creative outlet as well.

Anyway, I am following Kayla, and her body is kinda-sorta making her life miserable. I do not understand how she copes. She has lost seven fingers already, and she still crochets! But she is functioning as a person, which is beyond me. Because when I hit one of my TEN fingers between two cabinet doors and couldn’t use it or touch it for ~three days, it was maddening. Yes, I needed to cook and clean, and all the other things, but basic human things were difficult. Like putting my hair in a ponytail, the ouchie finger always found a way into the scrunchie.

A few days ago, as she lost another finger, she kept repeating: Focus on the things you CAN do, not on what you cannot do. Which hit closer to home than I am willing to admit.
I had been playing the piano since elementary school; I spent countless hours on it. Then, I had to take a break because college was too time-consuming, and I lived in an apartment building, so I did not want to bother my neighbours playing the piano after 8 PM, which was usually the time I got home.
I don’t want to get into details, but my hands stopped working. My finger joints stopped sliding smoothly and started getting stuck, so bending them took a bit more effort. It’s a slight change, but that is not a state for piano playing. I spent about seven years going from doctor to doctor, trying to fix that. They all offered conservative treatments; some were very painful, and one left me with burns, but nothing worked. Ultimately, all of them suggested surgery with more risks than benefits. I am not having my hands screwed up. I can use them for day-to-day stuff, crocheting, knitting, and drawing. And the proposed surgery might make everything significantly worse. Nope, I chickened out every time. The risk is too big.

So, recently, I took the advice from Kayla and decided to stay in the music area but chose an instrument that does not require fine finger movements:

Yup, I bought a drum kit from Roland. I love the brand, the quality of materials and the sound. I was drumming back during high school but had to quit because… again, I lived in an apartment building, had an acoustic set and no money for an electric one. And my neighbours were NOT thrilled to have a drummer in their building.

So, I am going back to my high school years (which I hated with passion :D) and re-learning drumming. I suck so much. Soooo much! But I play with a metronome to correct my mistakes ASAP. The progress is very slow; I cannot even play a simple AC/DC song just yet without being off-tempo during the first minute. But… gosh, I love being back in the music world. My soul is happy.

See ya in two weeks!

sc~dc 26: Blanket madness

2024-03-10T00:00:00+01:00

Hello there!

I skipped one week because I went on my annual mountain trip and did not touch anything yarny during that time. However, I took the rainbow sweater with me and wore it proudly in public. Got one compliment from a German tourist. That counts! :D

Crochet

Ripple blanket

I worked on this quite a bit. During work, I had some tasks that required longer testing, so I kept the blanket on my lap and worked on it when I had to wait. It grew significantly, and I still enjoy the process.

Look at the colours~

Mug rug

I found a cool-looking pattern on YouTube. So, I spent some time putting together the colour palette. I used Excel (Google Sheets) and conditional formatting, and I chose these colours:

which should make this blanket:

After that, I went upstairs, checked my rainbow selection of cotton yarn and was able to pick the colours.
I started working on it, and it felt like a nightmare pretty quickly. I had too many ends and used each colour for one or two blocks at most.

I couldn’t imagine doing that for a bigger piece. Maaaaaybe if it looked gorgeous, I would have continued, but there were “floats” when the colour was needed the next row up. Those floats were visible and not nice; they stuck out, and I did not like it.

This is from the designer herself:

So I cursed the time spent on that, frogged what I had done, and returned to my Excel sheet.
I played with the square shape and came up with this design:

Prepared a C2C-friendly diagram

So I made it:

But there were FIFTY ends to weave in. So I tried to make C2C in the round, which logically does not make sense but is possible. I figured it out and made a few rounds, and it was great. I tried to google it - has someone even done it before? Because I wanted to make more than one square and have one set of instructions. And, of course, the answer was yes! Heart Hook Home made a very clear tutorial

So, I made these two squares, and they didn’t take forever, and the process was quite enjoyable.

I will probably make a laptop slip from them; I will just make them longer on one side and maybe add some surface slip stitching. That’s still undecided, but there is no rush.

The diagonal version made a beautiful mug rug ~ so in the end, it was a successful project. I also learned that I need to read/watch through the patterns to see whether they are suitable for me.

Lion blanket

Finished! It survived the washing machine and the dryer, so now it’s packed and ready to be donated. I kinda like how the super thick variegated border looks on it.

It’s big and squishy, and I hope someone will love it.

Knitting

Garter blanket

I worked on this a bit, too

I cannot stretch it because my cable isn’t that long.

Here is the progress:

I like working on the ripple blanket more because it’s not so monotonous. But I will finish it.

Fortaleza sock

I made a few rows, and it’s not worth a picture just yet :)

Baking

Creepy pink cupcakes

I wanted to bake cupcakes for a while, so I found a recipe and tried it. I wanted to make them cute, so I added a bit of red food colouring to make them pink. The batter was fine and looked as I wanted.

However, when they were finished, the outside was kinda skin-coloured.
…
I am not showing that creepy stuff :D
…

The inside was pretty pink but still

We are not going to talk about it again :D

Acquisitions

Beads

I got some glass beads. We went to a museum of glass

and there was a shop nearby, so I got these gorgeous shiny things

And I want to use them for the string in the drawstring bags. Have I made a drawstring bag? Ever? No. Do I have supplies to make about fifty of them? Yes. Will I start one soon? I don’t know. Yep, that’s how I operate.

I also got this beyond beautiful candle holder

Later did I learn it was made in China. When you are in the area where glass goods are made, you expect the stuff shops sell to be from the local production. Heeeell, nah. And, of course, they try to hide it. Accidentally, I found the candle holder online today for less than a half and checked the sticker on the box I got mine in. The “MADE IN CHINA” was there but crossed with an ink pen—hecking crooks.

Books

Let’s change to a positive note. My employer pays for most books I pick. I get a hefty yearly amount of points to spend, and I do spend them.
So, I bought this Scandinavian book of knitting patterns

And I also got a book for a certain someone I taught to knit. It’s a book on knitting and crocheting for beginners, and there is some helpful info and terminology in my language as that person doesn’t speak English.

I got other pattern books, but these are “just” ebooks.

Not so yarny chitchat

The mountain trip was great even though there was no snow. We hiked to the waterfalls, and I enjoyed the not snowy view, too.

We also went bobsleighing

(I couldn’t really take pictures of anything else than going up because… I was flying downhill as the staff said it was possible to use the track without breaks. Hehehehehe!)

And, of course, I took a bunch of photos of everything. Like this

Or a random path in the forest (see? No crowds! Ha!)

One day, it was raining, so we just took the car and went shopping. That’s the first time I came from a mountain trip with so many books :D And these aren’t the books mentioned above. Yep. Gotta go read, see ya in two weeks!

sc~dc 25: The sweater is finished

2024-02-18T00:00:00+01:00

Hello there!

Crochet

Lion blanket

This is a new project that grew rather quickly.
Last year, I got yarn from JOANN, and as I was more and more sure I would not get more yarn from them, I kept pondering what to do with the yarn I already had. These thoughts were intrusive and annoying, so one day, I decided to stop this madness and looked for a pattern. Nothing felt right - I needed something big enough that I could stop at any time because I did not want any scraps and could not get more yarn.
The final answer is so easy: I’ve never made a giant granny square. Ta-daaa

It’s called a Lion blanket because I am using the Lion Brand Mandala Bonus Bundle, and so far, this is two cakes. The blanket is not big enough, so I will add Lion Brand ice cream. I have four skeins of the Parfait colourway. Some colours match perfectly, and some are a little lighter, but they go together anyway.

I worked on it A LOT. I am currently working on a task that involves waiting 6-10 minutes frequently, but I need my brain focused so I cannot switch to e.g. dealing with emails and such. Working on a simple granny square had been perfect. I might make more in the future.

As I looked up the link to the shop, I saw that JOANN no longer ships internationally. Cannot say I am surprised.

Knitting

Garter blanket

I did not work on the Garter blanket, but… I almost frogged it. As I saw how quickly the Lion blanket grew, it terrified me. I have been working on this monster for so many weeks. Ugh!

But let’s not do the giving up thing. There is no deadline, and I desperately need to learn how to weave in ends into the garter stitch. The blanket is staying, and I ordered the rest of the yarn for it:

I am not even halfway there… breathe, breathe…

Rainbow sweater

It is finished!

It looks sad in this picture, but you saw it multiple times when it was all bright and shiny. The important part is: it is done.

For the body ribbing, I went down from 4.5 mm to 3.25 mm, and I am glad I did that. It fits me, kinda-sorta. It’s big and baggy, but it fits. And I will take it with me to the mountains, as I predicted last time.

I cannot say that I will start another sweater right away, but I might start a cotton shirt for the upcoming summer. Hmmmm?

Acquisitions

When I bought the yarn for the Garter blanket, I also ordered this fabulous brooch

What am I going to do with it? No idea. But it was too cool to leave it there.

And these jingle bell pumpkins - they are fairly big, and again - no idea what I will do with them. But perhaps…yes, I see a spooky amigurumi in my future.

And the last one is yarn. I went yarn shopping with a new knitter! I taught her how to knit; now, she is doing her own thing. So when we visited a yarn shop, I had to be a good sport and buy yarn. Maybe just to warn her, this hobby is expensive.
I got two skeins of Nako Vals, and I want to make a puff case with it. It will be either for my books or for my books and my work badge. It is caked and ready to go. Once I finish the Lion blanket, I will start it… hopefully.

Baking

I was not sick this time, so I had time to bake for our board game night.

I made a mini babovka. In English/German, it is called a Gugelhupf, which is an ugly ugly word. So, babovka it is. You’ve already heard about vanocka, so these unusual words should not surprise you that much.

Look how adorable it is!

And, of course, I had to make more

Apart from mini-babovkas, I made muffins and muffins with chocolate chips. All of it was gone the same night. I think it was gone even before we finished the first game. Hehe.

Not so yarny chit-chat: Working during the weekend?

Hello, my name is Klaris; I am a workaholic. It’s Sunday evening, and one hour ago, I closed the work laptop because I worked all day. I made a deal with my boss that I would work this weekend and take only one day off for my mountain trip. And as a good addict, I will explain to you why this is a good thing.
A release is coming up soon, and I need to finish a big task. So, to ease my anxiety about it, I will work two more days and spread the workload. I need to focus and not be rushed because that’s how bugs are made. And as a bonus, I will save up a few days of vacation time…which is unnecessary because I always struggle to take enough time off (and you cannot give that up here).

…

I just deleted a whole paragraph of rambling. You are not interested in my complaints, are you? Anyway, it was a preeeetty awesome “work weekend” because all the idiots that usually ignore rules were offline, and I had all the brain power reserved just for my work. So much work got done. * *

I already talked with my boss about these big tasks before a release, and he assured me it would not happen again. Can’t say I believe him, but this is the last time I am stressing about it.

That should give me back more crafting time. I want to do all the things but I don’t always have the time. Fingers crossed this release is the last problematic :)

See ya in two weeks~

sc~dc 24: Two weeks of sickness

2024-02-04T00:00:00+01:00

Hello there!

Crochet

Rainbow ripple blanket

I did four rows since the last post - well, almost four. The blanket consumed another skein, so I will attach the next one, perhaps tonight.
I am looking for another blanket pattern for two cakes I got over a year ago. So, it’s safe to say that a C2C blanket is coming ~ however, there are different C2C stitches, and I am having a hard time picking just one.

Knitting

Fortaleza socks

I finished the gusset decreases, and that is pretty much it. Still on the first sock, but still enjoying the process. And that is the main factor for me :)

Rainbow sweater

I made the second sleeeeeve!

Yes, the picture is weird, but I wanted to fit the whole garment to my table and show the sleeves. Now, I need to extend the body, sew the holes from picking up the stitches, weave in the ends, and wash it. I have a feeling this ray of sunshine is coming with me on my annual mountain trip.

Not so yarny chit-chat: You are not chilling? You will be chilling.

I guess the workaholism caught up to me. One week, I was blessed with a series of migraines, and the next one was even better - flu or COVID. But I took just one day off because the migraine made it impossible to even look at a screen. I worked through my little respiratory illness. Gotta say I wasn’t very productive. Ahem. But sleeping 16 hours a day sure felt nice!

I guess leaving a pub at nine at night and then travelling home from the capital left me weak for the sickness to get me the following night. There was a woman in the theatre just behind me who was constantly coughing. Peeps, please stay home when you do not feel good.

Regrets regarding my trip to the capital? None. I had fun. But planning two sleep-depriving nights in a row may be something to consider the next time.

See ya in two weeks~

sc~dc 23: The Blanket Snail

2024-01-21T00:00:00+01:00

Hello there!

Crochet

Rainbow blanket

This blanket got some attention. Despite the tiny yarn and slow progress, I enjoy the living hell out of it.

Here is the progress - see the red stitch marker in the bottom left corner.

Jayda’s Calendar blanket 2024

I wanted to join Jayda this year and make a calendar blanket. So, I picked the yarn - Kartopu Baby One. And created some swatches:

I enjoyed the square but… I can’t say I like blankets with different squares in them. I need to see a pattern in it, so I started thinking about colours and spent a few days picking six to create an ombre effect. And then, I thought I might arrange them diagonally in a 12x12 grid. Nope. That won’t do. I want to position them so that the blanket makes sense and is balanced - I guess some squares will be denser than others…

That was a nice thinking exercise with some swatching, only to conclude that I would not join a mystery CAL.

However! As I was thinking about granny squares, I realised I wanna create a snowflake one. A quick Google search returned this beautiful design. I don’t know if that will be a blanket (hopefully not; I have two active right now), a pillow or maybe even a bag. But heck, do I want to make some!

Knitting

Garter blanket

See? I stopped increasing, finally. The blanket now ate another skein of yarn, so I have two left (out of six).
The progress is still slow. One row takes me around 8-9 minutes, which is a lot, considering how little height they add.

Abby socks

My hospital socks are finished!

I do not have a better picture because once I put them on, I refused to put them off. It was around 0 degrees here, and this knitting magic made my feet absolutely comfy when I was outside almost the whole day. Yap, yap, I hope they will survive washing.

Baking

Vanocka (sweet braided bread)

My family arrived for the weekend, so I made another one, and everyone loved it. They took the leftovers home, so I had just one slice, which… is okay; I truly do not need the extra calories.

This time, everything was easier. I knew what I was doing, what to expect and how to handle the sticky dough. Even the layering looks better than before:

Not so yarny chit-chat: NYRs catchup

I just wanted to share that I finished a book, watched three movies and… worked like crazy most days. I am trying so hard to chill and start another amigurmi, but it’s not happening.

I was hoping that since the previous release was done, we all might get some rest, but I was wrong. Maybe the first half of March looks promising. Phew.
Anyway, I will just try harder; what else can I do? I cannot postpone the release cycle or stop using my free will.

Keep your fingers crossed for me :)

See ya in two weeks~

sc~dc 22: New Year Plans

2024-01-07T00:00:00+01:00

Hello there, and Happy New Year!

Crochet

Josje

Lo and behold! Josje is finished, and she is adorable.

I took some time and embroidered her eye-surrounding features. I spent a bit on the eyelashes and how to make her look cute and not crooked.

With that in place, I gave up on other parts of her face because I was afraid to screw it up.
That relates to the blush I talked about the last time. I decided not to add any because of her braids - I was afraid the braids would get “dirty” during transport.

Here is a little in-progress picture (For some reason, the process felt brutal but necessary):

She has already been gifted, and the recipient enjoyed it quite a lot. And she asked many questions, for example: did you starch it? How come it holds its shape so well? And so on.
During my next visit, she told me her daughter claimed Josje as hers. Fine by me, at least the doll has a home.

Rainbow blanket

I worked on this project a lot, but I am not sure it’s visible. The stitch marker shows an increase of 19 rows. I love it, it’s so warm and beautiful. But it’s still too short.

Knitting

Garter blanket

This blanket got some love as well, I kiiiinda finished increasing on one side, but I want to make a few more rows. It takes a lot of time as knitting grows slowly, but the garter stitch makes this yarn ultra-squishy. I want to work on it a lot more.

Abby socks

My second hospital sock finally got a heel! I am currently doing the gusset decreases.

Fortaleza socks

This sock is at the same stage as the Abby sock. I think I even ended at the same round. I did not work on it as much because the yarn is not fuzzy, but the dog sheds like crazy. So, I want to keep my project clean and have both socks the same, not one with dog fur.

Baking

Cinnamon rolls

I attempted cinnamon rolls, and they… survived. I was afraid to put too much sugar in them, so I, ahem, did not put in enough. They were good, but more sugar the next time.

Vanocka

On the other hand, Vanocka (I would describe it in English as a sweet braided bread) turned out beyond yummy. Traditionally, sugar powder should be on top of it, but I do not like it, so mine is shiny:

The braiding process is fiddly because the dough stretches and the strands stick to each other…

And the structure to hold it together during baking is rather funny:

Acquisition

I do not have pictures, but I got a BIG box of Drops yarn. I wanted to try it out and went a bit wild. I got their alpaca, baby alpaca, cotton, mercerized cotton, linen, silk, and some sock blends.

And one hank of Malabrigo, because that is a rule. At least in my kingdom, it is.

I don’t regret it and cannot wait to knit or crochet a fancy garment. I was even considering a pillow cover using some of the cotton.

Not so yarny chit-chat: Plans for 2024

Last time, I evaluated my NYRs from 2023; now it’s time to set new targets. I thought about those, but really, it was easy to come up with them.

I will also share most of my personal goals because I know I need to chill a bit more, and putting it here makes me more accountable.

Read 10 books. Seriously. Ten books a year is a laughable goal for people who read regularly, but my idiotic self refuses to sit down and read a book. One cannot really multitask during that. Hmpf.
Watch 50 movies (episodes in shows do not count). The same as above. My watchlist is overflowing with recommendations. I pay for two streaming services and don’t use any of them. Before COVID, I was at a cinema at least bi-weekly. What happened?
Send 50 postcards to the world (domestic post does not count). Last year, I failed this one intentionally. I forgot that it is possible to send cards and not get any. I want to do at least that.

Now, the relevant one:

Make 10 amis. I did not make many amis during 2023 and feel bad about it. I want to make them; they make my soul happy.
Sort all patterns in the download folder. There is forming a new universe around the chaos in my patterns. I need to properly name all the PDFs and maybe categorize them somehow. To give you an idea of how BAD it really is: there are around 460 patterns in my download folder alone. I also have a dedicated folder for patterns. I don’t think I can tackle everything this year, so the download folder it is.
Knit from linen. I got linen yarn from Rosarios4 and now from Drops as well; I want a garment from that!
Make a yarn shirt. This one is a generic plan. Currently, I have in mind a crochet shirt I saw online, but it could be anything else.
Finish or frog all current wips. There are too many wips, and I do not want to carry any of them into 2025. Here they are:
- sunflower
- diamond painting house
- rainbow ripple blanket
- garter blanket
- elsa
- fortaleza socks
- abby socks
- rainbow sweater
- all half-assed projects upstairs
- chic beanie - started and frogged, so this is 99% going to the frog pile.
- (cowl) - not yet started, but I want this to happen. I have the yarn, pattern, I just need more WIP space for it.

I don’t think any of them are unreachable. Although the diamond painting is challenging, it is doable. One week is gone already; time flies so quickly.

Also, have you noticed? No yarn restrictions!

See ya in two weeks~

sc~dc 21: Working too much again

2023-12-17T00:00:00+01:00

Hello there!

This fortnight was again a bit too centred around my work, but I also travelled a lot.
I still managed to start a new WIP. Oh, well. There is nothing that can be done about it now.

Crochet

Stitch

Despite him being done for a while, I just want to share how my boss liked it :D. I was stitching during a call with cameras on, and later that day, he asked about the project, so I showed him the (rainbow ripple) blanket. He commented something along the lines, “Wow, that must have taken so much time.” Yep. It did. But I showed him Stitch that was sitting on my desk and told him, despite his size, this little fella took me so many hours, and it’s not even visible.
He asked if I could bring him closer to the camera so that he could take a screenshot. I might give Stitch to him because he has young kids. And I like giving my stuff away to people directly rather than through a charity.

Josje

Do you remember how I said I wanna have her done by Tuesday/Thursday? HAHAHA. Best joke ever. Of course, she is not done.
Amis do take time; I’ve been making them for a few years, and I always underestimate how long they take, at least for me. I do crochet quickly, but I take my time with sewing and adding details because I know it will be worth it.

Anyway, I also need to correct her name. It’s Josje, not Josie. And the designer (group?) is also present in the pattern. It’s Guusje Pluis. Apparently, I have problems with reading.

Now, as I corrected myself, I can show you the current state of Josje:

The poor girl is bald and will stay bald. The only thing that is missing is her hat and details. I bought some blush powder for kids, and I am terrified to put it on because if I screw it up, there is no going back. Apart from cutting off her head. Ugh! Wish me luck.

I wanna share this creepy picture of a headless Josje:

Such a cute doll and yet so creepy.

Rainbow blanket

I did one row on this one. It counts, but it’s not worth a picture, trust me :).

Knitting

Abby socks

I did a few rows on the second sock, and it’s almost ready for the heel as it was before, but closer.

Garter blanket

And I will repeat myself, but - I did a row or two, and it’s not worth a picture.

I try to work on all my active WIPs during the fortnight window, at least a tiny bit. I did not lose interest in any of them, but I just needed to finish other things.

Fortaleza socks

This is the new WIP I started. When I started with socks, I’d never imagined having two socks on the needles. And yet, here I am.

In my defence, I needed a quick WIP for travelling. I knew I wouldn’t have much space for knitting, and I couldn’t knit all the time because I needed to do other stuff, but still, I needed that WIP. And there is no way I would fiddle with a heel while on the go.

So I took the opportunity and caked up the Malabrigo Fortaleza hank I had since January/February. Again, there is no need to treasure the special yarn in the stash because I want to wear it and treasure it that way.

Acquisition

I got some things, and I have zero regrets.

Needles

#stopInterchangeableAbuse
I bought Chiaogoo 9”, 2.25~mm circular needles because I don’t see a reason why I should abuse the interchangeable set since I will have socks forever. That takes the needle size and cable out of the set and makes it less interchangeable.

Yarn for a coin

Many, many years ago, I renovated an old Stingl Original piano and found two coins inside of it. I thought nothing of it and googled the value of them. One was worthless, and the other was a bit valuable. Nothing super rare, but I decided to keep them and sell them later.

Years passed by, and I still carried them in my wallet. When on my travels, I was walking around a city, admiring the architecture, and there it was - a coin shop. And around a corner, there was a yarn shop. Yep. I sold my coins and got this:

Hot pink, so hot it burns. With a white buddy that will set it off even more:

Originally, I wanted to do cuff, heel and toe in the white, but now I want stripes on top of that.

Next on the list is this lovely navy blue merino:

It’s not for socks; I wanna make a cowl and fingerless mitts. And I want cables and all the texture as it is a solid colour.

I cannot leave a fancy store without a hank of Malabrigo, can I? I have Archangel Arroyo, so now I will have it in socks also:

Not so yarny chit-chat: Evaluating NYRs

It’s almost the end of 2023, so I think it’s fair to evaluate how I did in regard to my New Year’s Recommendations. It’s fairly straightforward, but let’s get some details.

Make a full-size person blanket: done. I made at least two, and I am working on another two.
Learn to knit and make a hat: done. This may count as two, but nah. I made a hat; it’s wearable, but I am not into hats at the moment, so I decided not to make more.
Knit a pair of socks: done. Again, I did at least two, and I have two on the needles at the moment.

Now, we are entering the failed territory:

Send 50 postcards to the world. I failed this intentionally. I was fed up with the site that gives addresses of people to others in countries that are labelled as terrorist countries by the EU. I want to, but I am not ready to go back.
Buy yarn more mindfully. I failed this a few times when I went bonkers in the summer. But most of the year, I was good.

Not so bad, not so good. Certainly better than my personal NYRs. I failed quite a higher percentage of those. For example, I wanted to read ten books. I finished like four. I wanted to watch 50 movies because my watchlist has over 750 items. I watched 32. I managed to do most of those that are good for my physical health, but I failed to relax and chill.

I will think about my NYRs for 2024 and think about ways to accomplish the chill ones, and share them with you.
The next blog post should be on the 31st, but I might skip that one and start on the 7th again.

See ya in 2024~

sc~dc 20: Amis are back on the menu

2023-12-03T00:00:00+01:00

Hello there!

I started smaller projects and worked on the huge ones a bit, and apparently, it adds up. I did not think I did much, but after I gathered all the projects, it showed x)

Crochet

Stitch

I randomly started working on Stitch, and it was pretty tedious because the pattern tells you to

Use the finished photos of Stitch and the end of this page as a visual guide to help with assembly.

And then

Sew the head onto the open end of the body.

Duh. I wanted to sew the head on top of the tail! (that’s sarcasm btw)

So, I had to freestyle the felt shapes and sizes. Which is fine; I do not mind freestyling things. But I kinda do mind doing that when I am following a pattern.
Anyway, that is alright. I managed, and the result is cute:

Here are a few progress pictures I took:

The total was 18 pieces, not counting the felt:

It took a while to assemble:

I did not want to use felt to experiment, so I used paper and cut a few shapes and sizes to match the original Stitch:

Will I use more of her patterns? Probably yes, but I will bear in mind the instructions are a touch loose.

Josie

After I finished Stitch, I wanted to start another amigurumi because I missed making them so much.
I found a pdf with two dolls, Josie and Joris, in my pdf collection. I found this website with the pattern for free. I am not sure if the pattern is really free because I got mine in Portuguese, and there is no designer’s name.

It’s adorable, and Portuguese is no biggie for me, so I started working on it this Saturday morning. Everyone was still asleep, and I had some me-time and got this much done:

A whole lot, I know! :D

I want to finish this doll by Tuesday or Thursday and give it to the PT lady. I see her twice a week because my knee still bothers me. She is into hand-made things and is undoubtedly crochet-worthy. And she is totally sweet and nice to me. If she likes Josie, I might make Joris for her as well.

Rainbow blanket

Now, we are entering the realm of sloooooow projects.

I made a little progress on this because I put it aside for a while, but I didn’t want it to go into hibernation.

I love how it looks, but the width is a killer:

Diamond Painting

I got the containers for diamonds, and they’re game changers. I made progress, but… who knows how much because I am still disorganized (is it even possible to get organized now?):

While I was moving the diamonds from ziplocks to the containers, I had some stickers left of colours I hadn’t even touched yet, and they formed a beautiful estimate of how long the diamond painting is going to take:

Knitting

Abby socks

My sweet socks. I finished the first sock that was almost done the last time. The second sock is a few rows away from the heel flap.

Garter blanket

The garter blanket is growing rapidly, and I may need more yarn to finish it to the requested width, which is a wonderful excuse to buy yaaaarn! I might do that in two weeks. I have an appointment close to the yarn shop, so I will probably stop by and get yarn to… just finish this blanket. Yeah, we all know that’s a lie.

But there is still time. I will continue working on it, a few rows at a time :)

Cowl

I got this yarn almost a year ago and was treasuring it. Yeah, no more! It’s time to make something out of it.

Originally, I wanted to knit a hat. But I do not wear hats because I hate to cover my ears. Instead, I decided to make a cowl. Luckily, the vast internet got my back, and I found this knit cowl pattern.

So I swatched and got the purrfect gauge:

Which is absolutely misleading because I swatched flat, and the cowl is made in rounds. But who cares? It’s a cowl, and I can frog it if needed.

I am itching to cast it on, but I have amis I need to finish, and I got two more amis that a friend asked for. Aaaaaa! … … Or maybe I can have this cowl for the next winter. Right?

Baking

I enjoy baking, so I’ve decided to add this section because… well, why not?
I like baking, but I have never thought about making it “a thing” in my life. And I couldn’t because who is gonna eat all of it?

However, this season, I said FUCK IT and wandered into the land of gingerbread cookies:

This is just one tenth of all of them. I bought food colouring, and I will decorate them. Mwhahahaha. Yeah, I am in XMas mood already. This is weird because it usually happens in August, and during December, I am more meh towards all of it.

Acquisition

I got a glue gun! As you can see, my first time using it was on Stitch. It smells like cancer, but it gets the job done.
I am still clumsy, so it will take some time before I feel comfortable using it. If that ever happens.

I also got other crafty things, like safety eyes, beads, magnets and lace-size hooks. Maybe after I make something with them, it would be good to show it, but till then, I am not sure anyone wants to see my craft hoard :]

Not so yarny chit-chat

The festive season is in! I got some advent calendars I wanna show you (sadly, not crafts related).

A beautiful traditional one with chocolate:

An Yves Rocher one with cosmetics (can’t say this is my cuppa, but since someone made an effort picking it and paying for it, sure as hell I will try it out):

I tried the handcream already, and it’s… nice. It’s not something I would buy myself, but trying new things is neat.

And I got a Kinder one, but I forgot to take a picture. Today, I had Kinder Surprise in it - and it woke up the child in me.

See ya in two weeks~

sc~dc 19: Working through wips

2023-11-19T00:00:00+01:00

Hello there!

Crochet

Gamer bunny

The bunny is finally finished! I started working on him in March, and it took me this long.
There are so many pieces to craft, so that’s probably why I ignored him for so long. But now he is done, and he is adorable!

I had issues with the controller buttons. I cut the pieces and used a felting needle to stab them in, but it didn’t work almost at all. So I took a sewing thread and a needle and secured them this way.

I got a glue gun somewhere between China and my place, so for the next time, I know that felted sheets should be attached differently.

Newborn octo

A friend is expecting a kid this December, so I made this little octopus one evening. I used kid-certified yarn VlnaHep Camilla, kid-certified stuffing, a 2 mm hook, and no safety eyes. The red colour was chosen because that’s the first colour newborns “see” properly.

I took me just that one evening, and I can see myself making more of these and donating them.

Diamond Painting

I lost my craft-jo for a few days, and this got me back into it. There is no thinking, no skill, it’s just relaxing. I worked on a different corner than before, and I got this far. I don’t do it in organized sections; I go all punk, and that’s how I like it.
And there are no stitch markers, so neither I nor you would know how much I’ve done. Oh well.

I ordered some plastic containers for the drills because working out of the 50+ ziplocks is not exactly comfortable.

Knitting

Abby socks

One sock is almost done! I just have to kitchener the toe and cast on the second one. It feels great, it fits, and I like the colours. Yeah, apart from the white pooling, but I can live with it.

Garter blanket

Two skeins in, and it’s still too small. It’s growing slowly, but the whole process is relaxing, and I enjoy it. I gave up the idea that this would be done by Xmas. It may be, but it probably will not. Yep.

As you can see (the stitch marker is in the bottom right part), I did a few rows, and they take more time as they grow.

Dog Mat #2

It’s finished and gone already. I worked on this diligently for a week and made it on time. I don’t think there is anything else I can say about a 40x70 rectangle. Hmmm. But I do like the pattern, and I do not hate garter stitch at all, despite working on the garter blanket as well. Knit stitch all the way!

Acquisition

I did not buy anything since the last time. Well, I did, but everything is somewhere in the post void-world.
There is no yarn, though, and I want to buy all the yarn in the world and have some tabs with yarn deals open. The struggle is real, people.

Not so yarny chit-chat

I got here one week late, but it’s fully justified. I made only that dog mat and a few rounds on the Abby sock. Working on one project that needs to be done quickly drained my craft-jo, and I had to take a break. I didn’t want to feel the blog-pressure, so I rescheduled it. No biggie.

The last week, however, got a lot of crafting time. And I enjoyed it, which is preeeetty much the whole point of this. Right?

Now, I want to mention one little thing - I joined a local charity. It does not mean anything special; they will just take my crafted things and sell them. I might join them for some of the events they will be at, but we have not discussed it yet.
Some people make things and then do not know what to do with them. Well, sell them, gift them or donate them. It’s that easy, and every option comes with something for you. Either money or good feelings.
I do not want to sell my things simply because people are people, and I do not want to deal with them and taxes and stuff. And sometimes, gifting is not an option; I do not want to throw my things at people and expect them to be grateful. So, now, I mostly do things for myself, and for people who ask me for something, the rest is donated.

See ya in two weeks~

sc~dc 18: Injury & surgery with a sprinkle of workaholism

2023-10-29T00:00:00+02:00

Hello there, long time no see. Let’s dive into the projects section, and I will talk about the past struggles at the end.

Crochet

Rainbow Blanket

This blanket got some love while I was recovering and had people over. It’s mostly mindless and easy, so here is the current progress (it is folded in half):

The problem with this blanket is the yarn - it’s sorta itchy. I don’t mind that at all, and I will wash or freeze the itchiness out of it, but I need to be careful of who will receive it.

Gamer bunny

I don’t understand WHY the heck it is taking forever for me to finish one amigurumi. It’s still not done, but I made some progress. All the parts are crocheted, and I sewed the body, head, ears and hoodie together.

I need to add the felted details to some of the parts and then sew together the rest. It will get done, eventually. There is no rush, is there?

Dog mats

I was asked to make two 70x50 mats/rugs. The main purpose of one is to absorb all the outdoor dirt. The other will be placed under the dog’s water bucket area.

You might be wondering - why would someone ask for a handmade rug for that purpose? Well, because the doggie is an asshole and runs with those rugs outside and tears them apart. Yeah, the asshole dog was mine, but now he lives with my parents because I moved out, and they refused to give him to me fully. Which is fine - he is old, and I have moved twice since.

Anyway, the point is - it had to be made from sturdy cotton. I dug up all the 100% cotton from my stash I was willing to sacrifice for this purpose and found a variety of colours. Most of them were one-offs that I did not know what to do with anyway. So I started playing with designs and ended up doing tunisian crochet.

Mainly because I did not do any tunisian for a while, but also because it’s dense, double-layered and sturdy. At first, I made a paw design:

But that took some time, and I am on a schedule right now. So I opted out to do just a tunisian simple stitch and go to town. It produced this scrappy-looking mat that is currently drying:

I forgot how much tunisian curls, so I put a half-double crochet border around it and stretched it aggressively while blocking.

I was limited by the length of my tunisian hook, so I had to do two stripes. And I accidentally decreased on one side and noticed that during blocking. Ugh. It was driving me up the wall, and I considered ripping it out, but… no. This is a prototype to see whether the dog can tear it apart.

If it proves itself, then I could make more.

Ambidextrous Mozaic

I wanted to try mozaic for ages, but I’m not too fond of the fringe it creates. So I started using both hands - doing one pass (two rows, two strands) using right-handed crocheting and the reverse pass using left-handed crocheting. I am a lefty, but I crochet right-handed. So, using my left hand is not that difficult, but it takes some brain power and focus. I made this so far:

And I am 90% sure that I will frog it and make something else because this was one of the original dog mat designs. I don’t have any other use for this width.

That’s all from crochet, so let’s insert a tiny amount of other crafts:

Cross-stitch

Here is the progress on my sunflower:

It’s almost done, yet I have not touched it for weeks. I noticed that cross-stitching and diamond painting screwed up my neck, so I took a break from those.
However, recently, I got lazy glasses from Amazon, and they are fantastic. I have yet to try them on CS or DP, but they worked great for tunisian.

Diamond Painting

I don’t recall ever talking about this, but I ordered two HUGE kits from Diamond Art Club, and I started working on one of the kits during the summer of 2022. The size is 105x70cm, and let me tell you: it’s humongous confetti with 57 colours, and it takes forever. Here is the tiny portion I did:

I don’t know how often I will work on it because I have it rolled and stashed away, and taking it out is no fun.

Knitting

Shortie socks

They are done. I don’t have a better picture than this:

I managed to make the first toe rotated 90 degrees. It was just me not paying attention to where my stitch markers were. So I had to rip it out (it was all done, finished, ends weaved in), pick up all the stitches and redo it. No issue; it went smoothly. However, the socks are too small for me, so I washed and gifted them.

Abby socks

These were my hospital knitting, and the first one got a lot of compliments from the staff and my nice cohabitants. The yarn is Abby socks (discontinued). The pattern is still the same: vanilla socks on 2.25 mm needles.

Garter blanket

I was asked to knit a garter blanket, for which I even got the yarn. A certain someone saw my IKEA garter blanket and wanted a similar one. I agreed to do it. I plan to gift it to the person for XMas. But gosh, that’s a slow process. Despite working on it for hours, this is all I have so far:

The yarn is Vlnika Rasty, and I am using 5.5 mm needles. The pattern tutorial link is here.

Rainbow sweater

Uuuugh, how do I start this one? I started knitting the XL size and, at some point, moved to the L size. Who knows when that happened? But this is the current progress:

I also misread the instruction for the sleeves: I was supposed to knit 3” and then start decreasing. Well, I did 3 rounds and decreased. Oh well, who cares? The sleeves now fit me better, anyway. One more point: I did not like the way I was supposed to pick up stitches. Now, I have holes at both ends that need to be sewn. I will attempt a different method that I need to come up with. Speaking of coming up with my own methods - I haven’t learned a proper bind-off yet. Here is my ridiculous but fully functional slip-stitch BO:

It’s taking a long time, but I enjoy the process immensely. I tried it on a few times, and despite knitting the L size, it’s still too big on me.

Dog Mat #2

I do not have enough cotton yarn to make a second tunisian mat, so I will do the garter blanket in 50x70 size as knitting takes way less yarn than crochet. I started a tiny piece today, but I forgot my yarn comes in two thicknesses. I need to hold two strands of thinner yarns to match the thicker one. But that’s fine, it took ten minutes to make.

Acquisition

Apart from the lazy glasses, I got these beautiful progress keepers:

They are already attached to my sweater, both blankets and the abby sock. I also bought two Chiaogoo cables because the garter blanket is not gonna fit on the cables I already have. I got the longest cables for M and L sizes.

Not so yarny chit-chat:

Alright, now I can explain where I was the whole time. It comes in three parts:

#1 Workaholism all the way

I worked so hard to finish a big task at work, and my days were like: get up, do the morning routine, work till evening, do the evening routine and sleep. Rinse and repeat. The worst part is: I enjoyed it. I love my job and my teammates. And it was a joy to work on the task where I was given a good chunk of freedom, and I could show off my capabilities.

#2 Hand injections

I got injections into both of my hands, and that put a full stop to my crafting for several days. To put it into perspective, the clinic specializes in hand issues, and I asked for the most aggressive treatment. Even the nurse commented that it was “brutal”. Well, I want my hands healed, and I don’t care for a bit of pain or discomfort.
Now, I can say it helped only one issue on one finger. So, getting back to piano playing is still unreachable.

#3 Accident and a sudden knee surgery

I had an accident on a staircase, got to the ER and was told that my knee needed surgery. I happily agreed because that damn knee was giving me problems since I hurt it in April.

I got admitted, and they operated the next morning. Which was very quick because I shared a room with a lady, and she told me she had been waiting for a similar surgery since March. I guess mine was a lot more urgent? I don’t want to know.

Afterwards, the doc told me it was massacred inside, and they fixed it using some anchors. Yeah, yeah, whatever; I am just happy it’s all done, and I can heal and finally use my leg like before.

Little did I know about the struggle that comes with a metallic brace they put my leg in: from the ankle up my bum, all straight, no bending, crutches for walking and good luck sleeping with it.

All that happened in the middle of September. They took off the brace two weeks ago, so now I do physical therapy because re-learning how to bend the knee and stretching all the muscles and tendons inside is not as fast as I thought. I did not feel like crafting because my hands were dead from the crutches. And I couldn’t stay in bed and rest because… well, because I just can’t. I even ended the medical leave prematurely, and I had to argue with the doc a bit.

I don’t plan on going back to workaholism. But I got some awesome feedback on my task. It’s not released yet, but word spread out, and multiple projects are suddenly interested in it.
Now, my boss thinks I am more capable than I am in reality, and he gave me a task that breaks my brain every time I tackle a new piece of it. I am trying very hard to stick to my work hours, but I suck at it.

Now you have it. The work issue is not yet resolved, but I think it’s a beautiful problem to have. When I was growing up, every single person in my family hated their job. So, I think of it as a privilege to enjoy working too much sometimes. The hand issue is not an issue for crafting, and I stopped using crutches this week. So, craft-wise, it should return to normal.

Hopefully, see ya in two weeks~