This week ended up having far less crafting time than I'd hoped. I never got to sit down and start measuring and piecing the quilt pieces, the single I've been working on for the last couple weeks is still incomplete, and I still need to make the linings for those bags. On the other hand, there were some small victories, so let's celebrate that!
Crochet
I'm in a discord group, and we just started doing seasonal Crochet-Alongs (CAL) and I've been having a lot of fun seeing how differently the same projects can work up in other's hands. The patterns the group chose was Diamond Lace Bandana by Viv Crochets and Picot Bandana by The Turtle Trunk. To be honest, I think both are really cute, and I have some yarn I've been meaning to use for projects like these, so I decided to start with the Diamond Lace Bandana and hope I finish it in time to work the Picot Bandana before the season is up.
This was technically my swatch; I used a different hook size on each repeat until I found the one I liked the best (3.25 mm with fingering weight yarn) and then restarted. I've gotten past this point now, but the lighting is even worse for a photo than it was when I took the swatch photo, so I'll take a better one in the morning or so. I have been following the pixel chart the designer provides, though it's pretty intuitive, so after the first repeat, I haven't had to refer back. However, the blog post the pattern is on is a little oddly formatted. There's recommendation links to other posts in the middle of the pattern, so I had assumed the pattern was just the pixel chart and the author's commentary. It took one of the other CAL members to point out that the pattern continues below that. 😳 Whoops, haha. Anyway, it's a very simple filet crochet pattern, easy to memorize so you can work on it out and about, which is exactly the kind of projects I love the most, so I'm happy this was the pattern chosen.
Knitting
I saw a photo of a drawstring pouch and I thought "hmm, I bet I could make that," so I set out to make a small one for my artistic child's miniature eraser collection. Right now they live on a shelf and get knocked down when reaching for other parts of the collection, so if they had a home, I think their existence would be less precarious.
My first attempt involved knitting a round base, then working a purl ridge to facilitate a nice fold and working flat. However, I quickly realized I've already done that, and it's not the shaping I was looking for. So I ripped back to before the purl line, and just continued creating a flat circle. It was a bit of a leap of faith, because I'd never done this before, but I was fairly certain it would work out, and I was right! There is nothing more satisfying than taking a leap of faith and having it work out.
I also had an idea to make a little pocket worry friend for my anxious child; I saw this cute pattern, Tiny Window Cat by Sara Elizabeth Kellner and knew that had to be it. Our cat is an emotional support animal for my anxious child, and my child often wishes our kitty could go with them into difficult situations. Now she can!
At about 2 inches tall, it's the perfect size to hold in one hand, perhaps hidden in a pocket, and hold when you need that little bit of assurance. It's only been 2 days, so no word yet on if tiny pocket cat has helped my little one while at school or otherwise out and about, but I can hope. The best part is, though it's hard to tell in this photo, it does stand up on it's own. You can set this little guy down and have her watch over your work wherever you are, provided there's a flat enough area for her to perch. The shaping is really simple and it works up fast, so props to Sara Elizabeth Kellner for the free pattern. Also, if you love this, she has a whole book of knit cats that I find so fascinating. The cats are really lifelike and look pretty fun to work too. It's amazing what she can do with shaping alone in most cases.
Spinning
I am on the last ply of the sock yarn I'm spinning and I am ready to be done. I really like the color, but for some reason I have not enjoyed this spin as much. This is my first time using commercial prep in probably about 2 years, and I really prefer my own prep it would seem. People talk about how smooth and wonderful top is, but it drafts very unevenly and I need to spend a lot more time editing my draft that I do with my hand prep, which was a shock to me. I really thought that hand prep must be inferior the way machine prep is lauded, but I think that's perhaps just inexperienced people giving up on finding their groove with hand prep before they've reached the point where they can confidently make the comparison. Having processed more than 10 pounds of fiber by hand, I now much, much prefer it. Which has made this spin feel like it's dragged on and on and on...
I'm in the home stretch now, I know it. Probably 4 or 5 hours left to this spin and then the plying. But boy, I am fed up with how delicate and difficult to draft this fiber is. It has kept me from working consistently on it, I keep reaching for something, anything else to do because it's just not as satisfying. Hopefully I presevere on it this week, and I'm able to get it done.
What are you working on? Have you made good progress on anything? Let me know down in the comments, and see you next week!
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