November Projects + October Projects 2022, Part 2: the Crazypatterns Crafting Group

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November Projects, Part 2: the Crazypatterns Crafting Group (No Advertising)

Dear users, dear authors,
here is the new thread. Have fun with it.

You can find the earlier posts in this thread:

October Projects + September Projects + August Projects 2022, Part 2: the Crazypatterns Crafting Group

So I don’t fall behind, I’ll keep this short. :-)

Great idea 🙈😇

Andrea, the shawl already looks great.... That was the “vacation bobble,” right?
I once tried crocheting a bobble without a color gradient—I had the color change right in the middle.... Now the cat uses it as a “tablecloth,” so to speak. It’s made of acrylic yarn, after all, and washes and dries relatively quickly. (Anyone who claims cats are clean is lying 😁)

Good evening,

thank you, my dears.
Yes, that was the vacation Bobbel. But it was not wound for this shawl. At that point, I didn't know yet what it would become.

The color change was a coincidence. I was already afraid it might really be centered, but I got lucky. Let's see if it works out with the second color change too.

You were all busy again.
The gray cuddly yarn looks great as a pillow. Why didn't I think of that? I had that yarn in my hands too, and no idea. See, Sandra, you turned it into a pretty pillow. Really cozy.

Everyone is already busily crocheting for Halloween and Christmas. I really need to get a move on. In any case, I want to have these little calendar bags finished for Christmas—that's the plan.

so keep crafting nicely, don't forget to take a coffee break now and then, and relax

best wishes
Andrea

Finished my little girl’s birthday present. 



Oh, Petra, that little bag turned out absolutely beautiful! Your daughter is sure to love it.

I’ve been knocked out for a few days now because of COVID. Yes, unfortunately, I caught it! Luckily, I’ve been vaccinated four times, since I’m a high-risk patient in several ways. But I’m doing reasonably well, and I’m slowly starting to take an interest in the forum again. So today I was able to post a long-finished pattern for a bottle gnome here.

Let’s keep going then. Get well soon, Ruth.
The bottle gnomes are such a cute idea.
Oh, Petra, that little piggy pouch is so cute.👍

oh dear Ruth, get well soon then.
Your bottle elves are a great idea, even for little “wobbly men.” Great

Petra, the bag with the lucky piggy on it looks chic. Your daughter will be so happy. Made especially for her. A true one-of-a-kind piece.

So many beautiful things have been created here again.

First of all, get well soon, Ruth. Take it easy and recover properly. Your passion for crafts is back, which is a good sign. Your Secret Santa idea is great.

Petra, the birthday gift for your daughter is just so cute. It’s something special, and she’ll definitely be thrilled. The pillow for your son looks great, too.

Sandra, you always whip up such special gifts. What a lovely idea—the heart with the little doves for the silver wedding anniversary. I would’ve loved that, too. I also like your cuddly pillow.

Andrea, the shawl you crocheted from the vacation yarn cake looks great, too. The colors worked out really well.

I’m currently knitting a soul warmer from yarn I got in a swap. It’s my first one, and I’m really looking forward to wearing it. I have no idea who I have to thank for this beautiful yarn. I’m totally in love with it. Since it was going to be tight with just those two skeins, of course, I had to buy two more. Yes, just two skeins, because I found a shop that offers free shipping on orders over 10 euros. That works out great for me, since I have plenty of other yarn that needs to be used up first.

Here’s how it looks so far:



I’m going to knit a colorful sweater for Linja out of sock yarn—I’m working on the gauge swatch right now. And then I have another idea for a doll project. But that still needs to simmer a bit.

Monika, I think I put the blue-toned yarn in that swap package back then. It’s from the first package, right? I didn’t have enough of it left for a bigger project, and it was too thick for the little things I usually design. The combination with the pink looks great. I can’t wait to see your finished soul warmer. 

A little something for in between. A few fruit coasters.
I sewed fleece to the back.

Andrea, are you already getting ready for next summer? I can totally picture this on the patio. That way, everyone knows right away which glass is theirs.

  Monika, I’m excited to see your soul warmer. I like the colors of the red yarn, combined with blue… looking forward to the next picture.

I’m weaving in ends for my son’s pillow. It feels like a thousand ends. In between, I’m crocheting pennants as a baby shower gift for little Franz. Really bold colors this time. 

Hello, you busy bees!
Yesterday, I suddenly felt like crocheting a stuffed animal. I decided on a sleeping bear and got started right away. I spotted a mistake in row 17—I’ll have to let the designer know once I’m done.
  Arms done, legs done, almost finished with the torso—and then, bam, the stitch count is off. This is crocheted in spiral rounds, and somehow I placed the stitch marker wrong, so I lost track of whether I was still working in rounds and had to completely unravel 4 hours of work. *sob* I have to redo the legs, since the torso attaches to them. Now I remember why I don’t like doing projects where you have to count all the time! Looking back, I thought to myself, if I’d just ignored the 2 missing stitches and finished it anyway, maybe no one would’ve even noticed. Nah, damn perfectionism. *snorts*
  I’ve decided to take breaks after every hour of crocheting today, because after a while, when I’m crocheting nonstop, I go into a trance and can’t concentrate anymore.
That’s why I like patterns where you can relax in that trance and don’t have to count a thing! 

Darn, I forgot to check the "Notify me when there’s a reply" box. But I’ll do it now! 

Yeah, with spiral rounds... I have to be super careful and keep counting. If I make a mistake, I rip it out and start over. Otherwise, the shape might not turn out right in the end. The journey is the destination🎯

It’s not just the spiral rounds—there was one time I wasn’t sure if I’d pressed the stitch counter once too many or too few times. Argh! (It was too few; one leg ended up being 1 row shorter.) 

I’ve since kicked my perfectionism when it comes to crafts. I tell myself now that every craft project has a flaw somewhere—it’s just part of the deal. ;-)

Andrea, your coasters look great. You’re all set for summer.

Yes, the “soul warmer.” Ruth, I guess that’s your yarn. Yeah, I’ve had that lying around for a while. I just liked it so much. The new shipment arrived today. I reordered the orange-colored yarn, but instead of blue, I got dark red yarn to go with it. So part of the “soul warmer” will have more red tones instead of blue ones. It’ll definitely look interesting. By the way, I’ve almost used up those two skeins, so the new yarn came at just the right time.

Tell me, how do you authors handle it when customers point out mistakes? Do you redo the entire piece to check it? Or do you just take their criticism at face value? 

Anja, that really depends. Some mistakes are easy to verify—for example, if you just made a typo. With other mistakes, you can figure out what’s wrong by “reworking it in your head.”  Sometimes it’s not even a mistake in the pattern, but rather a misunderstanding on the customer’s part.
And sometimes you might actually have to redo the piece (though that hasn’t happened to me yet).

Man, I’m losing my mind over this pattern! While there were minor errors before that I could easily spot, I’m completely stuck on the third one and don’t feel like figuring it out anymore.
I have 52 sts in one row, and the pattern suddenly continues with 56 sts (even though in the previous row I only crocheted on the arms—no increases).
And from there on, nothing adds up anymore. The author continued the next 8 rows with the wrong number of stitches, and I can’t figure out how to distribute the decreases so that the body shape still works out. I’ve set up my stitch markers, but my brain just can’t keep up because I’m turning 4 stitches into 3, and once again I lack the visualization skills and experience when it comes to crocheting little animals. So I just can’t make sense of the stitch markers and the numbers (which I’m sure could be adjusted). Argh! This is now the fourth time I’ve had a pattern that’s wrong. I can’t even begin to say how many hours I’ve spent unraveling and puzzling over this. And this time, I just don’t feel like puzzling over it. I’m putting this aside for now until the pattern is corrected. And then there’s always this inner conflict because I think, maybe it is right after all and I’m just too dumb to read it. How embarrassing if I complain and it turns out to be right in the end. 

Two extra stitches on each arm???? I could imagine that “increases” belong there, so the arms sit better???
That would then explain the missing 4 stitches....
When I get “one of those” patterns, I really get stuck on it until it finally becomes “logical” and I can keep crocheting. 
I was really annoyed once: out of four knitting charts, only one was correct, and that was really quite obvious. I wrote to the author/publisher, and they actually claimed “they hadn’t found any mistake.” That was the last pattern I bought there.... 

Thank you all so much, my dears.
The colorful autumn trees inspired me to make these coasters. Yes, I also wanted to bring a little bit of that summer feeling into my home. They’re already in use when we occasionally sit out on the balcony to enjoy the last rays of sunshine.

Geez, Anja , that’s so frustrating. It seems like you’re just having a rough patch. That’s right—put everything aside for now, take a deep breath, and sleep on it, then try again. Have you written to the author yet? Maybe it was just a typo after all.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone—

I’m off dancing again today :-)

Typos aside, she continued with the wrong number of stitches.

And no, Steffi, the sleeves had 12 stitches. In one round, they were started with 5 stitches, and in the next with 7 = 12 stitches. So that adds up.

  Nah, I’ve been racking my brain over this for two hours now, and I’m just not having it. I wanted to finish this today so I could take a nice sunny photo of it, but hey, the sun will shine again someday. 

 

I just can’t seem to find the time to knit or crochet right now. I have two UFOs lying around here—a crocheted bag and a knitted sweater… and for some reason, I’m just lacking the motivation to keep working on them.
  But there’s so much more to do. For the past few days, I’ve been working on some winter decorations. I’ve already cut out, folded, and glued up to part 64 of 440… 

It’s going to be a snow-covered house, with fir trees, a snowman, and a few presents..... The whole thing will be about 52x52 cm in base area. I think I also have some little lights from my model train set somewhere... 🤔😊 One of the fir trees will probably get a “string of lights.” ... 

Boo, Steffi , string lights! Aren’t we supposed to be saving electricity? Just kidding. I’m not giving up my star-shaped string lights either—they light up my room so nicely and subtly in the evening. I did change the timer, though: they turn on an hour later and turn off an hour earlier. That saves electricity too, right? 

So, the author corrected the pattern and apologized for all the frustration I had (by the way, she changed something so simple with the third mistake—I would NEVER have thought of it, and just like that, the math worked out again!). 
Well, here we are again. That would have been the perfect moment to offer a free pattern as compensation. :-(

Good morning, everyone,

Hey Ines, that already looks promising. Best of luck with it.
Tell me, what’s that cute hippo in the background? Where can I find it? Is the pattern from here? It’s just the right size for me to crochet.

See, Anja, everything turned out fine after all.

Have a great start to the new week!

Andrea..... do you mean this one??? 

I think it was some kind of mobile with a star and hippos. I ended up turning it into an egg cozy.... I’ll see if I can find the pattern somewhere, then I can let you know where I got it....

  Anja, I agree with you.... they “should” have at least provided a free pattern as a little compensation. After all, you did “test crochet” the whole thing, even if it was involuntary. ...
I hope you’re still enjoying crocheting, though...

The hat my grandson wanted is finished.

He started at a larger school this new school year. Last week there was a fire alarm. And the teacher said they had to get up immediately and leave the classroom. No, if he doesn’t have his beanie on his head (which, of course, he doesn’t wear during class), he has to leave it on the desk. They’re not allowed to take anything with them.

  Our grandson was horrified. “Those awesome hats from my grandma—no, they mustn’t burn!”

So he went shopping with me and picked out some yarn in a color he doesn’t like at all. I wasn’t allowed to knit a stitch pattern either, because it’s going to burn anyway. It would be such a shame if I made something nice for him. We couldn’t convince him that this was just a practice drill and that nothing would burn. The only thing I was allowed to do was add a pom-pom on top (he loves big pom-poms on his hats).

I think the color is great. With size 7 needles, it knitted up pretty quickly, too. 

Oh my goodness, Petra, he’s really traumatized, poor thing! Maybe in the future he can make do by stuffing the hat into his jacket sleeve once he’s taken both off. I’m assuming they were at least allowed to put on their jackets and didn’t have to stand out in the cold without them?

So, I’ve finished my little bear—you can see it in the gallery. I’d dropped a few hints to the author and wrote in the comments that I like authors who thank people for their help by offering a free pattern, but I didn’t hear back. The frustration continued—there were no instructions on how to make the eyes and nose, and it was only photographed from the side, so I had to figure everything out on my own. This is the first time I’ve given a 2-star review—I didn’t want to, but it was really a terrible crafting experience, and I explained exactly why I’m deducting points.
Now I’m done with crocheting for the time being and will go back to knitting Petra’s scarf, which I—oh horror—already started back in November 2020. Just one more ball of yarn to go, then it’ll be finished and I’ll have something new to show. And I can already tell you that this project was definitely fun! It just took so long because, well, me and my perseverance… you know how it is *grin* 

No, Anja, not traumatized. And they have to leave everything behind, even their jackets. But we don’t expect it to ever catch fire. He just wants to be prepared and know that all his favorite hats are safe 🤣

And then he’d rather wear a hat in an “ugly” color? Funny how confident he is with those hats now (just don’t tell him what else could catch fire). How the brain always has to seek security… (I know this all too well as someone who struggles with anxiety).
No jacket???? What the heck? It’s cold! But it’s definitely SO CUTE how much he loves Grandma’s hats! Awwwwww

Good evening, it’s late—

finally off work. I’m tired and worn out.

Exactly, Steffi— I meant the hippo. So cute. No rush—I still have plenty to finish up. All those UFOs *grrrr*

Oh, Petra, that sounds so exciting—but it’s nice when kids and grandkids like knitted items and take good care of them so nothing happens to them. So cute.

Sleep well

Oh yes, thanks Andrea, I’d love to get a good night’s sleep again. Those pesky menopausal symptoms! 

I finished the pillow for my son yesterday. It was really fun to make. He’ll get it tomorrow for his birthday. 

He’s definitely going to be happy about that....
It turned out beautifully 😍
Yesterday, the cat “helped out,” and I have one less UFO. I couldn’t decide whether to just toss the sweater in the corner for “sometime later” or to unravel it… and then Murphy showed up 🙈😂 After his “five minutes,” it was such a mess that I had no choice but to unravel it.
On the bright side, my winter decorations are coming along… I’m already halfway done 😇

It’s slowly getting crowded on my craft table....

Wow. Your winter decorations are going to look great. I wouldn’t have the patience or stamina for that. Soooo beautiful. 

Hänschen, beep once! 

Finally, I have something to show again: a gift for the first grandchild of “my” craft teacher (I help her once a week with crocheting, embroidery, and knitting with the 3rd and 4th graders) and wrist warmers, a project commissioned by my daughter:






Hey there... Good evening...

Everything’s “quiet” over here—my winter decorations are taking a little “break”... I have to stabilize the whole thing from the bottom, otherwise the house will sink into the snow 🙈

A few gifts and a snowman have been added, and two fir trees are already waiting to be glued together....
And I have a new knitting project on the needles—before that, I unraveled all the UFOs that had been sitting on various knitting needles 😊
And since you almost never have yarn in the right color at home, I actually had to buy two more skeins.... I had two 200g skeins in my stash, and I needed a matching 100g “accent color” to go with them (I couldn’t decide which color, so I bought two skeins—one of them will match) 

That’s the beginning for now 🙈
@Christina.... Your handicrafts teacher will surely be pleased. And I like the wrist warmers too—I like the colors.... 

Christina, you’ve picked out such a cute gift for yourself. Those two little bears are absolutely adorable. The wrist warmers for your daughter are beautifully colored and will definitely go with lots of sweaters. I’ve knitted some for myself, too. A high of 19 degrees in the office—according to my boss. So I thought I’d knit myself a pair and try to stay warm that way. 



Steffi, the snowy landscape is turning out great. Do you have enough space to display it? Are you going to put a thick piece of cardboard underneath it?

Your knitting project looks really interesting, too—a cable pattern and zigzags. What a lovely piece it’s going to be! 

Good morning.....
Yeah, the landscape is pretty huge.... But I’m sure I’ll find a nice little spot 😇 
I’m going to reinforce the corners of the house with tiny “wooden strips,” which will also let me adjust the height of the snow a bit... The model is hollow on the bottom, after all... I’d started out using thicker cardboard, but when I put it together, I noticed those annoying “shadows” showing up at the glue lines. So I had to switch to thinner paper. But I still have the cardboard from my first attempt for the snow. ... 
The new knitting project is going to be a shawl—feels like the 250,000th one... What’s on the needle right now will be the “neck,” and after that, I’ll start knitting “everywhere.” ... an MKAL... 
The cable is really “fun” to knit.... and completely without a cable needle. 
A Rapunzel cable. 
It’s just that picking up the stitches and binding off again after 4 rows is pretty time-consuming. 

Now I just need four more of each of these ribs, and then I’ll continue on the sides.... 

Now that’s an interesting technique. And knitting a little bit here and there—brilliant! That way, it never gets boring. 

👍 It never gets boring.... 
An I-cord is knitted along each edge. This makes picking up the stitches really easy. First, I knitted 124 rows of I-cord and then picked up 123 stitches from it. This creates a very clean, even cast-on edge, and nothing curls up; the edge stitches are knitted this way too.... Perfect for quickly starting a little knitting project 😊
My yarn has just arrived. Good thing I ordered two skeins in different colors. Color two—the one that just hopped into my cart on a whim—will be wound today and then knitted up right away. 

Wow, Steffi, you’ve unraveled all your UFOs? That would keep me busy for WEEKS!

But something else just happened to me. I finally wanted to finish Petra’s shawl and am in the home stretch, and NOW—two years later (!!!)—I realize that I don’t like the colors at all, and I don’t know what I’d even wear it with.... Uaaaahhhh! All that work for nothing! Okay, it was a fun pastime, but without any result. :-(
Petra said two years ago that she personally prefers solid colors, and two years ago I thought COLORFUL was better, but now I’m into solid colors too. Oh my gosh. Damn it all.

I treated myself to a book of knitted animals, and there I can just go all out with my COLORFUL style. But man. I’ve been working so hard on this shawl these past few weeks, and now my nails curl just looking at it. Who can understand that! Could this also be a symptom of menopause? That my taste suddenly changes? 

Anja, I think tastes change all the time. Sometimes you wear bright colors, sometimes gray; sometimes a skirt, sometimes pants.

Why don’t you finish that shawl and give it to a loved one who likes bright colors?

I’ve picked up my sweater again and sewn up two seams. I don’t think I’ll be happy with this piece. It’s a pretty odd shape, what I’ve knitted there. 

Yeah, I’ve unraveled all my knitting UFOs....
For me, it’s exactly the “opposite”—everything I knitted two years ago or earlier was in subtle, muted colors. Nothing colorful at all. Now it’s different—I’m knitting shawls in three or more colors, sweaters with colorful patterns.... Maybe that’s why unraveling them was relatively “easy,” and with some pieces I really asked myself, “What on earth were you thinking when you knitted that? What kind of drugs were you on?” Crooked sleeves, uneven lengths 😂🙈😂
And yet I still absolutely need a size 3.5 screw-on needle... 🤷
If you don’t have to put too much “work” into the shawl anymore, then I’d finish that too...
  A book about knitted animals.... I think it’s nice—most of them are usually crocheted, after all.
Do you know Claire Garland? She knits very “natural”-looking animals. ... I once knitted a bunny by her—my cat didn’t find it funny at all 😂

Do you mean Claire Gelder? That’s who my book is by.

  I’m currently trying my hand at a knitted cat I designed myself. There’s a crocheted version, and based on that, I’m knitting one—let’s see how the shape turns out in the end; it’s supposed to be usable as a pillow.

I started with the ears (closed cast-on, so you don’t have to sew anything on or close any seams). 

No... I meant Claire Garland... I double-checked myself to make sure I spelled her name correctly... 

Funny that they have such similar names. I checked out your Claire—she makes such great animals that look lifelike. “My” Claire makes more cute, cartoonish animals. Both are very, very nice!

Ughhhh, I started an octopus, I’m on the 4th tentacle, and NOW I realize that I think the colors are crap again. You’ve got to be kidding me! Is this menopause too, when you change your mind every few days/hours? Ugh, man, so exhausting! 
I’m going to stick with these stupid colors now, otherwise that was 4 hours of work for nothing (not counting the 3 hours when I didn’t understand the pattern because, once again, I’d read over it too superficially, grrrrrr). 
Maybe the colors will still work once they show up again in the body. 

I fell asleep with my glasses on the day before yesterday and must have been lying on them during the night. One arm was bent upward; I carefully bent it back into shape, but I didn’t notice until yesterday afternoon that the whole pair is now sitting crooked on my nose. By then, the optician’s was already closed. Now I’m just constantly adjusting my glasses; they pinch behind my left ear and dig into my nose on the right. I’m counting the hours until it’s 9:30 a.m. tomorrow and I can go to the optician. I’d really like to have a spare pair for situations like this, but no one can afford that with ridiculously expensive progressive glasses. 

This whole thing with the glasses is really annoying.... I kept my old pair for “emergencies,” even though they’re a lot “weaker” than my current ones, and I got a pair of “sunglasses” to go with them and chose the lightest tint available....
Maybe you’ll like the color of your 🐙 again once you’re done with it 🙈
I found another crochet animal book yesterday while tidying up. It was somehow put in the “wrong” place…
First, I’ll finish knitting my shawl, and then we’ll see… And I still have to cut some wooden strips for the winter decorations… 

Just weaved in the last few ends. Now the baby gift is ready to be sent, and there are a few less scraps in the cotton box. 

That’s a really lovely baby shower gift.... I’m amazed that you can stay so disciplined and work so diligently to use up your yarn stash.
For me, it’s going something like this right now.... I take 400g (2x2 skeins) out of the closet for a shawl, and because I’m missing a color for the shawl, I “have to” order a skein.... and since I couldn’t decide which color to get, two skeins hopped into my shopping cart and clung on tight. So now they’ve both “moved in” with me 😁 

Here’s how it looks so far.... 

Your shawl looks really interesting

Very pretty, Petra. I’m amazed that someone would name their child Franz. I don’t know a single Franz. OK, I don’t know any Fritz either.

Steffi, awesome shawl—I’m curious to see how it turns out.
Take comfort in the yarn—you’re still being pretty conservative with just 2 skeins.
Unlike me:
I’m currently working with leftovers (on the octopus) and thinking: “Wow, this yarn feels sooo soft. Too bad they don’t make it anymore.” I Google it. Amazon still has it. 10 skeins for 32 euros. Oh! Only 15 euros in lilac. *Sound of placing an order*
So: using up 1 skein + 10 new ones
Waaaaah! 

Uaaaah, I just wanted to buy a pair of underwear at NKD: 

Those are going to be some really cute underwear 😂😂😂
I like the color combination, and it looks very soft. Do you already have a plan for what to make with it? 

Nope. None.

Well, everyone, I’m back—after successfully recovering from the flu, I’m back to knitting. I’ve actually finished a few things in the meantime. But first, I’ll take a quick look at everything that’s been posted here...

Anja, regarding your question to us authors about how we handle it when a customer points out errors: Well, I take a close look at the pattern and am always very grateful for reported errors. In that case, I reward the person with a free pattern as a thank-you. I haven’t had to revise anything yet. Sometimes it’s enough to explain a step a little differently or more clearly. I’m glad you were able to continue with your project and that the author corrected the error. By the way, your new ball of yarn looks pretty—I’d like it, too.

Steffi, your winter landscape is turning out beautifully. I admire the patience you bring to projects like this. I like your new knitting project—it has a very interesting pattern.

Petra, that’s funny that your grandson thought the exercise was for real and now you need a hat that can be burned. But it would really be a shame to use the new hat for that. And the pillow for your son is quite the labor of love. I’m sure he was delighted. The wrist warmers are great, too, and especially the colorful pennants for little Franz. That was my father’s name, by the way.

Christina, your gifts turned out great, too. Little bears are just such a cute motif, no matter how many times you see them.


Well, now it’s my turn to show something again. The soul warmer is finally finished and is very comfortable to wear. It’s cozy and warm. I only needed half a ball more in addition to the two balls (from Ruth and Ina). Maybe I’ll knit some cuffs around the armholes—we’ll see. But I already like it just the way it is.



I’m also knitting a sweater for Linja out of colorful sock yarn. Here’s how it looks so far:

Wow, the soul warmer turned out great, Monika! It looks fantastic with those colors!

Monika, your soul warmer looks great. The red tones with the stripes are beautiful. Perfect for snuggling up in. 

Thanks, Ruth and Petra! :-)) I’m glad you like it, too.
I’m totally in love with this piece. The colors are exactly my style. And I almost even had enough with just those two skeins.

I’m working on a loop scarf. I’m already 2/3 of the way done. 



While tidying up, I discovered this beautiful, forgotten skein of yarn and would love to knit arm warmers out of it—this time with thumb holes. I’ve never done that before. The yarn has glitter in it. I hope I can stick with it and keep working on my loop—I don’t want to end up with another UFO. 

That’s great, Monika, that you’re feeling better again and that you’re already sharing something so lovely with us.😉
Your soul warmer looks absolutely gorgeous. I’m not usually a fan of dark colors, but your striped combination looks totally awesome. I’d love to snuggle up in that, too.

Petra, the pattern on your loop looks really interesting.

Wishing everyone a wonderful long weekend

The red yarn with glitter is pretty—I like it 😍
And your soul warmer turned out great, too, Monika...
I’m still knitting my shawl.... 

Here’s how it looks so far....
I’ve picked up stitches again and am currently knitting a cable edge on it. I’ve already finished the first 12 rows of that 😇

Monika, I really like your soul warmer! Maybe I’ll finally get around to knitting one for myself, and your pattern would be just the thing.

So, Christmas production has begun...

Oh wow, those are great Ruth!

I’m allowed to test crochet for a designer and I’m on the home stretch too. Just one more paw, the little nose, and sewing everything together, then I’ll be finished after 10 days. 

Thanks for your feedback on the soul warmer. :)

Petra, your loop has a beautiful pattern. And I’d like the red yarn, too.

Steffi, your shawl is really turning out to be something very special.

Ruth, you’ve had another wonderful idea. Angels are always loved and needed.

Anja, wow, you’re doing test crocheting? Great—that’ll help you stay on track, too. I’m so happy for you.

I’ll have something new for the dolls soon… as soon as I’m done test-knitting it, I’ll show it to you. Now I just need to take some nice photos. I’m already excited to hear what you think.

Have a wonderful (holiday) and do something fun.

Everything’s done, but now I’m stuck because I can’t embroider very well. The face looks really awful, and I’ve already tried three times and watched the video. Ugh! 

I don’t think it’s that bad at all... Embroidering on crocheted items is always a bit tricky, but you do have “pre-made holes” where you can insert the needle. Just remove the threads that are still dangling there 👍

Yeah, exactly, Anja—I don’t think it’s that bad; it looks cute. Without the loose threads, it’s actually great.

I’ve now finished the Christmas dress for the dolls. Take a look. Don’t they look totally cute in it?

They’re cute in their Christmas outfits.... 
I’m still knitting away on my shawl; I’ve never been this slow before.... 
It was an MKAL, and I’m in “Team Snail” with a few others 😂🙈😂
...and it “bothers” me again. ... 

An I-cord would be threaded through the cable edge.... It’s really exciting to knit because you didn’t know what was “coming” next. 

Monika, your babies are wrapped up so cutely. My doll had a poncho back then, too. I loved it. But it wasn’t nearly as great as your cape.

I repurposed a piece of denim. I’m not sure yet what exactly I’m going to do with the feather 🤣

Petra, the feather turned out great! It looks like a lot of work. I could totally imagine 2–3 of those on a jeans pocket.

Steffi, your shawl looks pretty complicated. I still can’t quite picture how it’s made.

Monika, the capes turned out really cute. It was about time your babies got something new.  I’m sure they were already feeling neglected 😉. A cape like that would definitely look great made from Christmas stocking yarn (green, red, white) too.

I think the feather is really beautiful; it reminds me of a mandala 😍 or as “decoration” on a crocheted bag.... 

The shawl isn’t that complicated at all; since an I-cord is knitted along each edge, stitches can be picked up from it very easily, and it’s almost invisible. To start, an I-cord was knitted, and the stitches were then picked up from it. The edge stitches are also knitted as an I-cord.... and then you just knit something on here and there 🙈 😁.... 

Steffi, I’m really curious to see the finished shawl. Looking at the whole thing, I can maybe picture it better now that you’ve started knitting it

Petra, thanks for the feedback! :)
Your “feather” looks really interesting. I can’t believe you made something like that out of a single piece of denim. Wow! I can picture it on a bag or as part of a dreamcatcher.

Ruth, thanks for the feedback, too :) Yes, the idea with the Christmas sock yarn is great. Unfortunately, I don’t have any on hand right now.

Steffi, your shawl looks really complicated. I think I finally need to give I-cord a try. It’s been tempting me for a long time, and it always looks great.

I’m back to designing doll clothes—it’ll be something warm for winter. Meanwhile, the sweater for Linja is coming along.

Steffi, your shawl looks really interesting. I still can’t quite picture what it will look like in the end either.
Petra, your feather is also something very special—how did you come up with such a brilliant idea?
Ruth’s Christmas angels are beautiful, too. 
I’m already familiar with Monika’s capes. They turned out gorgeous.

Now I can show you all something again, too.
Mäxchen and Mia with their new capes. Unfortunately, Finn still has to be a bit cold, but certainly not for much longer.

Oh, Marion, I’m totally in love with your two cuties. They look sooo cute in their capes. I especially love Mia’s red one—it looks really cozy.

Thanks, Monika.

That’s right, the red one is really soft and has a nice fur trim. It’s knitted from scraps (traditional wool and fur-like wool).
You definitely had another great idea for our little treasures. 🤗

Hi everyone,
I ended up changing the face after all; you can see the result in the gallery.

I’ve got something new going on: peg weaving. It’s fun! I got the wooden peg set from butinette, but the quality is absolutely terrible—I’m going to write to them about that, too. After I’d already started (having watched plenty of videos beforehand), I noticed that the yarn kept getting caught on the pegs and that it looks terrible if you use unraveled yarn for this. So I took it all apart, sanded down the pegs one by one for two hours (unbelievable!!!), and started over with new yarn—now it looks good. It’s a real pain in the back, though. It only got a little better once I stuffed a zillion pillows behind my back so I could lean against them.

  Otherwise, I’m still always itching to start things and never finish anything. Okay, I finished the cat in 10 days, but only because I felt obligated to the designer since I’d agreed to test-crochet it. It’s sooo hard for me to stick with things. I’ve now started another sweater that really caught my eye—it’s made of triangles with sleeves attached at the sides, a similar build-up project to Steffi’s. And then there was that shawl I discovered, but I’m disciplining myself now and will NOT buy the pattern until I’ve finished the cardigan I started! Discipline, folks!!!!!

  The capes are super cute—I used to wear something like that as a baby.

Petra, you can also just tie the feather to a stick. So, find a little twig on a walk, attach a hanger (a branch laid across), and tie the feather to it. I think the simplicity of the branch and feather really makes a statement. 

I just took a quick look at peg weaving....
It’s really “annoying” when you spend a fair amount of money on a “loom” and then the quality is so poor... Especially since it’s not “complicated” at all to produce a usable result. 
I think I’ll disappear into my “craft room” over the next few days and see what suitable materials I have lying around 🙈😁🙈
How big is your set? I’ve only seen “large” ones online, more suited for fabric strips. ... 

Steffi, the wooden sticks are about 12 cm high, and one frame is 50 cm long (you can stretch two next to each other, which makes it 100 cm wide). Each frame holds 31 sticks. I started with one—that’s already a huge amount of work; with 100 cm, you could be wrapping until retirement. 

I can do it pretty quickly now. I’ve learned how to manage the color changes well and have also tried shortened rows, and I managed those too. 
Definitely something completely different for a change. 
I might swap the wooden sticks for felt-tip pen casings; I saw someone do that in a video, and then it should slide more smoothly than with wood. We’ll see. 

The photo “helps,” and so do the measurements.... I also have “enough” material in my little workshop.... Then I’ll make some notes and get to work with the saw and sandpaper tomorrow 🙈
But first I’ll finish knitting the shawl, and then I can start weaving.... 
I have this huge cone of “rug yarn”—about 3 kg 🙈 Maybe I’ll come up with something to actually weave a rug out of it. The yarn is still relatively thin... Let me think about it. 

I used the yarn doubled (needle size 4). From needle size 5 upward, a single strand also works. Any smaller than that will wear you out. But they also wrap T-shirt strips around it, for example. Some also have larger homemade pegs.
Are you making the board yourself?

Of course I’m making this myself 😁 I have the “luxury” of having my own “little” workshop here, with all kinds of tools and equipment for working with wood... I can “disappear” in there for a few hours—the dog loves it 😇 She lies outside in front of the workshop door on her blanket and gets something nice “to chew on”.... 
 

Anja, that’s really interesting what you’re doing there. But you’ll need a lot of patience for that—wow.
Steffi, I admire your craftsmanship. That’s just not my thing at all.

This looks so familiar to me with the little sticks for wrapping around. Is this a “newly” invented hobby or something old? It takes me right back to my childhood…… or my teenage years. Has this been around before? 

I guess, like so many things, this has been around forever—it’s just that someone has now made it “socially acceptable.” ... 

@Monika.... It’s not that hard to “make” yourself—you need a piece of a wooden board (I managed to snag a “scrap” from roofing work), then a dowel plus the right drill bits (a very fine one for the holes in the rods and a large one for the holes where they go in.... A little sawing, a little sanding.... Done....
😤My cat was just being so “kind” and spilled my drink all over the bedspread, the pattern, and the yarn I was about to knit with.... 
I’m hoping the rest of the yarn, which wasn’t in use at the moment, will be enough; otherwise, I’ll actually have to wind it back into a skein and then wash it.  
He was just being “important” and urgently needed a quick cuddle.... then he really couldn’t care less if anything is in the way. He’s just “the cat”.... 


My shawl is slowly growing.... One "half" is already off the needle. ... 
And the stitches for the second "wing" have already been picked up. 
 The weather here is really gorgeous right now. Sunshine.... I went for a walk with my "little one"; we romped through the woods for a full two hours. Now she's tired, lying with her bottom in the sun and sleeping... 

Wow, that looks amazing, Steffi! A real gem—I wouldn’t dare try that myself.

Petra, I didn’t know about the wooden pieces. From my childhood, I only remember looms; macramé was popular back then, and at school I also learned tatting—you know, making little doilies with a shuttle. And of course embroidery, knitting, and crocheting.
But it’s really fun—I’m already pretty quick at winding. I didn’t feel like it today, so yesterday, to cheer myself up against the depression, I treated myself to a pattern and started something new.

I was annoyed yesterday—or rather, I was anxious again because of a neighbor. She came by to pick up some eggs from me, standing there all snotty, and with my fear of catching something, I could barely sleep again. I think it’s outrageous how carelessly some people spread their viruses—I’m a high-risk patient, ugh. What annoyed me most was myself: I already had the mask in my hand and then thought, “This will be quick.” And then my mind started racing. Man, oh man.
Starting Friday, I’ll be going to a stress management group 5 times, but you always have to bring a negative test from the same day. Then I’m faced again with the fear that a positive result will be sent by email, and I’ll completely panic. Waaaah! And starting on the 23rd, I’ll be in an anxiety management group for 8 weeks. In between, work and physical therapy—and after that, I can head straight to a burnout group. ;-)

Darn it, I’d just pulled the thread out of the giant skein from the inside, and then it got stuck, and now a whole gush of “yarn vomit” came out, and now I have to knit it all up because I don’t want to wind the skein—otherwise, the 500-gram skein will twist and get even more tangled. Hmpf. 

Yarn barf... That’s more than annoying. Hopefully it’s not unplied multi-strand yarn, too. 
I’m sitting on my bed right now, continuing to knit on my shawl. The end is in sight 😁  
When I read about all your appointments from the 23rd onward... just the thought that I’d have to manage all that would “paralyze” me so much. I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight out of sheer panic that “I couldn’t handle it”.... For me, even one appointment would probably be too much.... 
I’d rather knit something “complicated,” as a kind of therapy 🙈 Switch off my thoughts and knit, with an audiobook playing in the background... works for me. 

Steffi, I’m still working, after all. I can’t hide away at home forever. I have no choice but to give it a try. It’ll either work or it won’t. At least then I can say: I tried everything. It’s not going to happen without a bit of suffering. Or as the experts say, “Change only happens outside your comfort zone.” Unfortunately, unfortunately. 

Depression is pretty awful too. Usually fear paralyzes me; now I can’t get off my butt because of depression. It’s 2 p.m. and I’m still in my pajamas; I’ve been wanting to take a shower since 10 a.m. 
I’ve also increased my medication dose, and I can feel that too. 

It’s off the needles.... The shawl is finished; I still need to wash and block it. Maybe tomorrow—we’ll see 

This is just a “spontaneous” photo—the colors don’t really look great under “artificial light”.... 

Wow, that’s some serious art.

Where is everyone else? We’re just having conversations here. 

The shawl turned out beautifully. Very, very interesting. Was it fun to make, or are you just glad to have finished it? Because fun and a great shawl—that would be perfect.

@Anja—I’m always here—but right now just reading... I had a stressful week at work and I’m just tired

Get well soon, dear Petra ♡

The shawl turned out really great, Steffi. It’s awesome that you stuck with it—it was definitely worth it!

I only finished one little thing—a little soccer fan—just in time for the World Cup. You can open it at the top, so you can put a little surprise inside. 

So cute, Ruth! And you really went all out with the background. ♡

I just put the little one in front of a picture on the laptop 😉

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