Knit, Crochet and Natter into 2021

[lazylinguist]

A thread for chat about woolly crafts. All welcome, including complete beginners.

Previous thread here

Runforwine Starting now gives you the excellent advantage of not having slightly bitter memories of being shouted at for doing just that in primary school that'll put you off crochet for 30 odd years you'll just get encouragement and helpful YouTube tutorials here

@lazylinguist they're lovely aren't they! I've written out my yarns and labelled them ready for the pattern (A,B,C etc) and just going to do it randomly! I love the mix-match effect of others I've seen on ravelry!

Correct me if I've missed anyone out! I think I'm right in saying that these are the people now doing the CAL:

@CrochetBug
@MindyMalik
@sophs29
@InTheNightWeWillWish
@givemebooks
@lazylinguist

Who hasn't yet got yarn? givemebooks - I think you said you got the dispatch email yesterday, so I'm guessing yours will arrive today or tomorrow if it's from Wool Warehouse.

MindyMalik - sorry, I can't remember if you're waiting for yarn too.

I think the rest of us are all yarned up and ready to go?

@lazylinguist It just arrived!! So excited! I went with the colours suggested so a beautiful mix of 14 colours plus the 2 navy to edge my sons blanket!

When are we planning to start :)

Im so jealous of all your lovely color combos! I just really can't afford to buy more yarn, and need to use what I have! Hopefully I won't regret it

I just need to check if MindyMalik has her yarn. She was having doubts about her colour choices a while back, but I don't know if that was when about to buy yarn, or having doubts about the yarn she already had!

Crochetbug I can’t afford more yarn either so my yarn is my birthday present from DH! Having just started out, my stash isn’t that big either DH tried telling me I couldn’t have my yarn until my birthday but that didn’t go down well

lazylinguist I’ve got my yarn and as ready as I’ll ever be. I swing between excitement and apprehension for starting the CAL.

Don't worry InTheNightWeWillWish! I managed my Seaside one as a beginner, and that was without a thread full of helpful people!

Scrolling through Instagram earlier, artful photos of semi completed projects and a ball or two of wool on the coffee table. Always wonder how far from reality it is, this is my crochet 'space'

😂 I have built myself a kind of nest of WIPs and yarn around my spot on the sofa.

I'm not generally a tidy person , but I don't tend to have WIPs out around the place. I have a storage box in the bedroom full of yarn, patterns etc, which my new CAL yarn won't fit into, and a basket in the living room with whatever I'm working on at that moment.

Mines just a little nook in my unit with all my other hobby bits and bobs 🙄 sewing, drawing, clay etc 😂 and now I have a huge bag of yarn downstairs hidden beside the sofa! It needs to be hidden because DS1 thinks everything is his 🙄😂

Mines an entire cupboard

Yellow orange crewmate has the crown. I might sew a few gems/beads on the points tomorrow.

My stash is in several places but fits nowhere 🤷‍♀️ current stuff is down the side of my chair, as is my WW order from the other week, rainbow yarn is upstairs on top of the blanket box my handbags live in. Other craft stuff is here, there, and everywhere it fits

My post vanished!

Anyway...yellow orange crewmate & crown is done. Black is the last for dd1 but I'm going to start one for someone else and do that at the weekend.

The stash pics made me smile; mine's dotted about wherever I find space for it

Oops maybe MN was just having a slow moment 🤷‍♀️

That's only the tidy part of my stash. There are bits here there and everywhere

I did a swatch for the CAL. It was a bit tight and solid, so I'm going to go with a 4.5mm hook instead of a 4mm one.

Most of my stash is in the loft. My day-to-day stash is in a chest of drawers in the living room (that belonged to my gran - she failed at teaching me to knit when I was 8 😂). There is subsidiary stash in random places along with abandoned WIPs and UFOs.

I also did a swatch for the CAL. I used my 4.5mm hook and after focusing on the chain, I got the width right but it was too short... I watched the YouTube tutorial and I might be a Yanker so I’ll have to try and watch that or just pull my work out after every row.

You're both so good doing a swatch, I wasn't going to bother I am quite a tight crocheter though, but I don't mind too much if it's smaller than the pattern says as it's for a baby- just hope it doesn't bugger up the stitches in the pattern

I wasn't going to bother with a swatch either.

I've been awake all night (thanks insomnia ) so did a good few rows on my rainbow blanket. Merrily working away then found a mistake and had to frog almost 2 whole rows. I could have botched it, but once I know there's a mistake its all I can see so I have to frog and re-do it.

@tizwozliz this might not be the exact pattern I used for the hearts, but it looks the same. I think I used thicker yarn and a bigger hook to make them bigger. But lockdown 1.0 seems like so long ago its hard to remember!

I'm itching to get started on tye CAL now! I'm wondering if MindyMalik is still wanting to do it. She hasn't been on the thread for nearly a week. Maybe I should pm her and let her know we're ready to go.

I never swatch. From hooking together Wooly Hugs blankets using squares made by many different hookers, I know my natural tension is slap bang in the middle!