Hello there!
I have a finished object, a gorgeous acquisition and some postcards.
Crochet & Knitting
Finished objects
I have one FO this week, ha! I am not rushing my projects, but it’s nice to have something done.
Full Stitch Hat
The hat is finished, looks fantastic, and I will wear it.
However, I am not happy with the construction because Red Heart Super Saver is a thick yarn and cinching a rectangle of tunisian full stitch, which is a THICK stitch, is a nightmare. There is a hole on top of the hat, despite two rows of decreases (not in the pattern). The pompom covers the hole just fine, but the next time, I will do more decreases.
Works in progress
Wobbly Hat
You know, I started knitting this year, and this is my first project, apart from two small swatches. Practising on a project allows me to see my progress. Like visually see how my tension is improving. It’s still total garbage, though.
The project is small and simple enough, so it’s not frustrating, but it’s big and complex enough to challenge my skill level. I enjoy that I practise the two main stitches in knitting so that I will have a memory muscle for both. I also inspect how each stitch looks on both needles (unworked/worked)—still learning the absolute basics, but giving it time.
The Ugly blanket
This is still in progress; I don’t expect that to change anytime soon. I did some work on it, and it’s growing nicely, but it has a long way to go, which is fine because I enjoy a mindless project.
Here is the current status. I might add a stitch marker as a progress keeper.
Foxy the Squirrel
I was fishing for an amigurumi, and I couldn’t decide which kind of ami I wanted to make. It took me about three hours to go through my patterns (I have so many). Nine patterns got to the last round, and I chose the simplest one. I haven’t made an amigurumi in a few weeks because it hurt my hands, so I didn’t want to start with something too intricate.
At first, I thought this was a fox, but it’s a squirrel. The pattern is here if you are interested.
I am using a 2.5mm hook and VlnaHep Jeans yarn (YarnArt jeans and Etrofil are sorta compatible with it). So far, only half of the head is done. It does not look like it, but there are over 80 stitches in the last round.
The colourwork threw me off. I am used to colourwork in a flat piece with bobbins, changing colours every round, but here I was lost on how to achieve that as neatly as possible. The pattern does not say anything about it, so I carry the yarn in the back, but the inside is a hot mess. If it interferes with the stuffing, I will not hesitate to rip it out, but for now, I can manage.
Acquisition
Can you get an AC/DC LP and Malabrigo yarn in ONE store where you live? Because I can do that here, and it’s hilarious.
Anyway, this blogcast is not about AC/DC, so let’s talk yarn. Alright, there isn’t much to talk about because everyone knows the Malabrigo yarn is gorgeous and soft and fabulous and… can I get more adjectives? The vibrant colours make me want to make something with it ASAP. But I only bought two incompatible hanks. So my current idea is - a hat for the archangel. I already have a pattern chosen for it, but I need to try it with a cheaper yarn first. And then knitted socks for the Fortaleza.
Some time ago, I cherished my special yarn for a special project that would be worth the yarn. So I never made anything from it. I don’t want that to happen here, so I already caked the archangel to have it ready. I just need to find a skein of the same weight for “practice” yarn first.
Should I talk about how I was caking up the hank of Malabrigo and made a tangled mess that took me three hours to untangle? I don’t have the wooden umbrella for hanks, and I don’t plan on buying it, but I will know better when caking up Fortaleza. Or not, it does not matter; I don’t mind untangling yarn.
I made another three purchases on Amazon, and I feel so sorry for my wallet. None of the packages has arrived yet, so that will be in the next post.
Postcards
Finally, I got some cards that were due. Yay!
The first came from Cleveland, Ohio, and it’s Minerva McGonagall from Harry Potter.
The rough travel conditions gave poor Minerva a black eye, but the rest of the card is alright.
This one came from Bologna, Italy, and it’s a fountain of Neptune.\
Yarny chit-chat: The battle of Perfection is the enemy of finished
I am learning this lesson with every project. As a perfectionist, having a mistake in a project could drive me nuts. But I keep telling myself that 99% of people would not notice. The same amount of people wouldn’t recognize knitted vs crocheted item or handmade vs store-bought item.
Currently, I have one amigurumi doll in timeout because I screwed up her feet and fixing that means ripping out the whole thing and starting over. I am not sure whether I want to do that or ignore that I cannot put shoes on her. My chill-self is for finishing it and giving it to the little girl I am making it for before she grows up. But my perfectionist-self wants to start over. I also don’t know how to improve the feet because I followed the pattern to the dot, and the shoes are still too not-fitting. The problem is that her shoes are pumps, so I cannot make them bigger, that would be plain hideous.
It stays in timeout until I am ready to deal with it.
Another example might be the shawl I showed in the first post of sc~dc. The last repeat was full of fudging, and no one noticed. But you, an experienced crocheter, probably noticed that the upper part is not correct; it’s curling. And that’s because I managed to screw up so many stitches I added a new big repeat of the flowers on each side.
And the last example is this blog. It takes a lot of willpower to publish every single post because this can be done better, that can be rephrased, and the picture of X should be recreated. No. I have a timeframe of roughly two hours to create a post, and whatever is done is published.
And I am running out of my time, so see you in the next post ~