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!