Crafting Group September 2026: Your Current Projects

Dear community,

there’s plenty of room in this thread for your September projects. Have fun crafting.

You can find the earlier posts from the crafting group here in the thread for the August and July projects and in the overview thread.

I finished my monkey yesterday. 

I couldn’t make heads or tails of the English pattern, so I had to watch videos in Portuguese—phew. It was fascinating to see how differently people interpret the same pattern! I learned a lot—there were some very practical tips from real experts. The next one will be better; my goal: the head shouldn’t tilt. 

Fabrics: old bed sheets, old guest hand towel

Best, Anja

The things people come up with! Such a delicate little monkey with long limbs that can hook onto anything—that’s quite a feat to pull off. In any case, it already looks great, dear Anja. I don’t even know what else you’d want to improve about it.

I’ve sewn a second “propeller hat.” There’ll be a blog post about it soon for anyone who’d like to make one. These hats, which can be sewn for ages 0 to 2 years, consist of just 3 pieces—and the fabrics are easy to find in the scrap box. 

Next—once I’ve used up the countless kilos of bell peppers I harvested from the garden—I’ll tackle the matching neckerchiefs. Too bad there are only 24 hours in a day.

Best regards, Ina

I’ve finished my project mentioned above. To go with the two propeller hats, I also sewed two neckerchiefs . The two sets are for ages 6 to 12 months. If you’d like to sew them too, you’ll find the sewing pattern in my blog. 

And I also made a few new felted slippers with pull tabs for my daughter-in-law. I only had leftover yarn in two colors, hence the striped pattern.

What are you all working on right now?

Best wishes, Ina

Ina, I really like your felt shoes. Very pretty colors for girls. 

I’ve been sewing hedgehog shelters for the hedgehog rescue center again the last couple of days. Fall is coming, and with it, the time when the hedgehog rescue centers are full—so more will be needed again.

Other than that, I’m continuing to embroider my picture. A few stitches every day, and you can already see some progress.

C-3PO is now completely finished

Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone

Petra 

You can also share your October projects here in this thread. 

I’ve finished something. One less PiA, which has been looking at me reproachfully....

In September 2025, I embroidered the pumpkin and started the lantern. 

But I really didn’t like that the floral fabric was visible behind the pumpkin,

and I also couldn’t figure out a solution for the back seam. 

So the lantern stood in my sewing room while I looked for solutions

And now it’s finished. I simply cut out the fabric and added a nice, wide trim from my stash to the back. 

I’m happy with it, and my fall decor has grown

I really wanted to sew a letter pillow. With a pattern I already had, I had to tape together 16 DIN A4 pages and find the letter in the jumble of colors printed on top of each other. I laid painter’s plastic over it and traced the letter with a permanent marker, but how was I supposed to get the letter from the plastic onto paper/cardboard? By then I’d already lost the motivation.

I found a pattern here where you could easily print out the letters. 

Then, just for practice, I spontaneously sewed a J for the neighbor boy, but I’m afraid they didn’t even realize it was a J. 

I struggled with the edging because I didn’t know how to join the ends of the strips neatly. I watched various videos, and everyone did it differently again. I somehow fiddled it together, and it even fit, but I have absolutely no idea what exactly I did. 

@Anja—my grandson gave me one of those light boxes for tracing. But it’s only for A4 size. Otherwise, I have to shift the paper and trace it in two parts. 

Do you happen to have a glass table? If so, you can tape the J to a sheet of plastic underneath, shine a light on it from below, and with white paper, you’ll be able to see it through. 

I still haven’t dared try printing out a pattern, because with 24 pages, for example, I imagine it would be very time-consuming to cut everything out precisely and then glue it all together. Small things are more my thing. 

Great idea, Petra! Unfortunately, I don’t have a glass table. 

Well, the new pattern was definitely better. Glue 2–4 sheets together depending on the letter—it’s actually fun! 

But 16 sheets—and then so confusing, like searching for letters in a hidden-object book—terrible. 

Oh, I can understand you, Anja. You start out with so much enthusiasm, and then you get held up right in the prep work. But you managed to muddle through! The J already looks good. Although I understand that you have to know it’s supposed to be a letter. With other letters, it would certainly be more recognizable at a glance.

I’m familiar with that whole gluing lots of sheets together thing from sewing, too. I once had a sewing pattern for a maxi dress. I had to glue it together on my big garden table and trace it. 

I also have a light table—like the one Petra has—though mine is in A3 format. I use it every now and then to trace onto paper. 

If I have even larger things, I tape the template to the windowpane. Then I tape the tracing paper on top of it. The daylight shines through the paper, and I can trace the lines. It’s a bit inconvenient, but if it gets the job done, I’m willing to put up with it.

Best regards, Ina

Petra is highly motivated, or a rainy day lures me to the sewing machine

I started this in the spring, but it’s been sitting there for a long time now. 

Table runner or wall hanging for the Christmas season

Lots of different jean legs went into it

One 👽👽👽 less

Petra the table runner is great! I’d love to make one just like it. Where did you get the templates? 

Ina what you did with the window is great! I’ll give that a try. 

I sewed an L for my daughter to celebrate her graduation (teaching degree):

Anja - your “L” turned out really well. I really like it with the crown on top. 

I didn’t have a template or pattern for the table runner. I gathered the appliqués individually - I usually find what I’m looking for on Pinterest and trace them. 

If you’d like more info about sewing, just write to me. 

At first, it was like playing Tetris

Thanks, Petra ♡

Well then, I’ll go look. 

I totally believe that Tetris thing 🫣

I’m crocheting the “Nemea” shawl by Kleines/Feines again. It’s really fun and definitely not boring. 😄

I really messed up yesterday—I was knitting a little sweater for my new doll and had finished everything except the sleeves. The pattern from TansuluKraft calls for short sleeves, but with the cold season approaching fast, I wanted to knit longer sleeves—long story short, the raglan stitch, of all things, slipped off and I couldn’t catch it again, so I had to rip everything out and start over.... sob....

Hedgehog dens? That sounds nice. Do you have any photos of them?

By the way, I’m new to the forum—I’m currently crocheting a spiderweb for Halloween and trying to finish knitting a sweater for myself that I started ages ago.

Barbara

First of all, a warm welcome to the forum, dear Barbara.
We’re so glad you’re joining us and enriching our community with your ideas, creations, and comments. 

Apart from that, I hope you continue to have fun with the spiderweb and the sweater. How big will the spiderweb be, and where will it be put up? Will it have a resident too?

Best regards, Ina

Hedgehog shelters are small dens where hedgehogs can take shelter, hide, or crawl into. They’re for sick hedgehogs or for hedgehogs in care stations. 

Thank you so much! These hedgehog garages look absolutely lovely. Did you figure out the measurements yourself, or did you use a pattern?

Dear Ina

Thank you so much for your kind welcome!

The spiderweb will be about 30 cm in diameter and mounted on a ring. The residents are little bats.

There’s a Facebook group that makes crafts for wild animals. That’s where I got the sewing pattern for this. There are different sewing patterns; this is the simple version. 

At the request of my hedgehog rescue, I only sew small (approx. 25 x 25 cm) shelters. I get the fleece from the hedgehog rescue, and sometimes fabric too, but I usually have some in stock, or you can get it for very little money at Diakonie. And then I sew. 

There’s an enormous need at the hedgehog rescue center. So many little hedgehogs—or sick ones—are brought in there. 

A spiderweb with feather mice—perfect for Halloween and fall. Great!

Do you have a pattern for the hedgehog caves, Petra? 

So, a link or something?

I wanted to give away some hearts, but the person I was meant to give them to wasn’t there today. 🥺

Quick Little Stitch

Using up scraps: picture frames from my basement stash

I love acorns in the fall

Dear Petra, your acorn is beautiful—unfortunately, cross-stitch isn’t really my thing

Best regards, Petra

It’s wonderful to see someone who can embroider like that—Petra’s acorn design looks great. Unfortunately, embroidery just isn’t my thing at all 😇.

I’ve started a new project from my stash 😉 after I stopped getting so annoyed about the shrunken sweater, which basically turned into a clothespin bag (as I described in another thread)🤭.

And, of course, my favorite knit—a top-down raglan; it’s coming along great. 😁

How would you do the ribbing—at the neck, the hem, and the sleeves (they’ll be long sleeves)? Black or white? 

@rusalki01—I’d go with black. Around the neck for the contrast. And for the sleeves and hem for practical reasons. The sleeve cuffs—at least for me—are subjected to disproportionate wear, and white tends to get dirty faster there than black. Same goes for the hem. If a pair of jeans ever rubs off color on it, it won’t be noticeable.   

I have two projects in the works right now. An RVO sweater from a Lana Grossa pattern booklet. But not in yellow—in purple.   

And the fan-pattern tablecloth based on the CP pattern by
HTDesign. Using size 40 thread and a 0.6 mm crochet hook. A real challenge. I can only work on it with a magnifying glass.   

Also on hold is the axolotl Finn by Olya_Usolya_Amigurumi_Designer. It’s crocheted with chenille yarn. It’s hard for me to make out the individual stitches, so it’s not easy for me either, but my granddaughter asked for it, so I’ll manage.   

Once all of this is finished, I’ll make a few crocheted Christmas trees—with patterns also here on CP. 

Best wishes, and have fun crafting, everyone!

Heidi

Regina, I’d go with black, too. 

Heidi, there are 0.6 mm needles??? How awful! 😵‍💫🔍 Anything under 3 is a nightmare for me. 

I took a picture of the 0.6 with the 2.5, as well as the threads—the orange is Cotone by Lana Grossa and the purple is size 40 Lizbeth thread, a bit thicker than sewing thread....

And here’s another picture of the fan-pattern tablecloth. Once it’s blocked, I think the pattern will look better.

Dear Anja, you can definitely give away your beautiful little sewn heart at the next opportunity and bring joy to everyone with it. 

I couldn’t do any kind of needlework where I have to use a magnifying glass. That would inevitably lead to neck tension for me, which would cause me problems for days. But hats off to you, dear Heidi, for being able to make something like that by hand. 

I really like Petra’s cross-stitch picture with the acorn. The dark, thick picture frame goes wonderfully with the motif.

Dear Regina, I’d go for a white neckline trim on your sweater. Since the sweater already has very striking black-and-white stripes, another stripe at the neckline would be too much for me. There’s already so much going on with this sweater—the neckline needs to stay simple. 

Best regards, Ina

Thanks for sharing, Heidi. 

Brrrrr, such a teeny-tiny hook — not for me with my wonky eyesight. 

My serger has been giving me trouble for a while now. The thread keeps coming out on the right side, I’ve broken the needle twice, and it’s making loud, ominous noises. 

I’ve been giving it a piece of my mind, especially since I seriously have to unscrew the entire foot just to change the needle—otherwise I can’t even get to it. I told it that if it doesn’t stop acting up now, I’m going to buy a new one. Then I couldn’t get the foot back on (that’s when I always get stubborn—I think, “This HAS to work!”), and lo and behold, now it’s purring like never before. You don’t have to understand it. 

I actually wanted to sew something nice today, but now my sewing time’s been used up on that. I can’t physically manage any more—I need a session on the heating pad, then a massage, and then I have to get the hedgehog food ready again.

I’ll do some crocheting while watching TV. I’ll just keep working on the granny jackets—I don’t have to think about them, and I can crochet them without even looking. 

Love,

Anja 

Oh Anja, I understand your frustration. You’re so motivated to get started, and then the machine breaks down. But it’s not just a minor issue that could be fixed quickly. If it’s going to be a problem, it’s a major repair right off the bat! Nobody wants to deal with that. BUT you conquered it! 

It’s a good thing the day isn’t over yet. You’ve really earned your long, relaxing break today. Make yourself comfortable!

Best wishes, Ina

Thank you, Ina ♡

Dear all, thank you for the advice. I think I’ll do the neckline in white—as Ina suggested—but make the cuffs and hem black, since I agree with Heidi on that. :-) But first, there’s still a lot of the body and then the sleeves to knit—though it goes relatively quickly in stockinette stitch. I didn’t want to add a pattern stitch here; that would have been too much of a good thing. I tried it on again a little while ago—a few more stripes have been added—and it fits well and looks really good when worn. 

Best regards, Regina

Dear Regina, I think that’s a good decision. If you knit the waistband black, it makes you look slimmer—not that you need to worry about that ;-)

Best, Ina

Hi Ina, your last sentence made me smile ;-). I’m only 1.54 m tall, and at 62 kg, I’m already carrying quite a few extra pounds—but it’s still okay, meaning I feel quite comfortable like this. 

Have a wonderful evening, everyone.

Best regards, Regina