The Crafting Thread
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I've been learning how to do chain maille. It's fun! This is a bracelet I made for my sister a few weeks ago. She's since lost it. -_-
Also toying with the idea of turning them into browbands for horses.
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Anyone know any good embroidery kits? Like just a nice whole kit (cloth, thread, pattern) I could pick up?
I've got the other tools, I just want a self-contained kit I can work on this summer.
Saying the quiet parts out loud since 1996.
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- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
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@arkandel One of the dedicated ‘wear this to dye in’ shirts began white. It reads: I knit so nobody has to die with a skull and crossbones on it.
It is so, so, so very not white any more.
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I will be too broke still to take advantage, but one of my favorite project bag makers is doing a flash sale tomorrow for cat patterns:
https://www.slippedstitchstudios.com/collections/pic-your-pus
I have two of her project bags (Sock and Two Skein) and one of the Go Crafty Travel Cases. They're awesome and well-made.
She does tons of releases for nerdy stuff. My project bags are Star Wars patterns and the Travel Case is Firefly. Along with the cat ones, she's releasing (tomorrow?) an Outlander (her 2nd) series.
Saying the quiet parts out loud since 1996.
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@auspice I have some of her stuff!!
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Photobuquet's hostage situation made me angry. I finally got over myself and just started an imgur profile and up loaded some pics of my latest painting. I kind of stalled awfter doing a Mantic dwarven army and Mantic elven army for Dragon Rampant. I kind of tail spinned in my painting enthusiasm and worked on the Elven Flying Cavalry forever and finally have them ready to be sealed.
Firstly I repainted a Halloween prop from Dollar General to act as a greater warbeast for my skeletal Romans.
Then there was this Happy Meal toy a vendor left after a convention over the summer. He left this pile of poor, unloved toys so I took this home (1996 Hercules Happy Meal toy research found) and gave him a repaint to use as a rock golem great warbeast.
Then there's the Reaper Skeletal Behemoth that was purchased for me as I can't have TOO MANY greater warbeasts.
Then there's the flying elite Eleven warrior maidens on pegasi. They need to be sealed and then mounted on their flying bases but ouch, I stalled forever on getting them finished. More pictures of them once I get them on their stands.
I'm working on 15th century fantasy knights, pikemen, archers, etc. now. Trying hard to hash out a purple and yellow scheme for them but not quite getting that purple right. Feels good to be painting again, and feels REALLY good to knock out so many figures in short order as I started in on Sunday.
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I lack the patience to do mini painting. Full props to those that do.
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And just because I'm uploading again, the last painting spell was in August when I was in medium sized dragon mode. Elven leader on venom dragon.
And my leader figure for the undead Romans. Totally inspired by that old Dungeons and Dragons module CM2 Death's Ride... Only the dragon was blue on the cover.
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Y'all.
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Someone posted about Temperature Blankets on Facebook this week and I was like 'Huh, I should teach myself how to crochet..'
It's not going well...
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My mom kids that I am really good at making 'rope' when I crochet because all I can make is a single chain/row/whatever.
Thanks, mom who can craft like a badass.
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@sockmonkey said in The Crafting Thread:
Someone posted about Temperature Blankets on Facebook this week and I was like 'Huh, I should teach myself how to crochet..'
It's not going well...
I've wanted to do one of those! And then this past week, I saw a similar idea, but as a mood blanket.
Next year, next year. When I can afford to plan and buy yarn.
But I'm happy to answer crochet questions! I'm great at crochet. The Knit Witch on youtube is a great resource. Her vids are best vids.
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I have started a lot of crochet! And then I put it down for two days, totally forget what in the actual hell I was doing, and... have to undo it all and begin the process anew.
...at least it isn't using up much yarn?
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@Auspice Any help would be greatly appreciated because URG. It's not hard but it's hard.
So I knew that I wasn't going to make a temperature blanket. Starting off with a blanket seemed crazy. So I was like 'A scarf seems like a reasonable project' -- I decided to make a Hufflepuff scarf (PROJECT TWINSIES) because Hufflepuffs are awesome.
So I make my first chain. No problem. I make my turn. S'okay. Make my second chain. S'okay. Once I get to my third chain, it becomes a disaster. I can't find my loops anymore. Am I doing things too tight? I don't know.
So I give up and start over, this time making sure I stitch (is that the right terminology?) looser this time. I hit the same problem once I hit the third chain.
Give up again. Try a third time, going even looooooooser. AGAIN. THIRD CHAIN. NOOoOoOoOoOoOOoo!!
I decide to just .. give up on the scarf and just practice. Different yarn, smaller square. I switch to a ombre yarn because I figure with the color changing, it will be easier for me to see where the loops are (I had been working with black yarn previously). This time, I gets past the third chain and it's easier to work with. I don't know why -- it's the same brand yarn but it's just better. Friendlier.
So I guess I will just practice, practice, practice and eventually just make a blue scarf just to get my feet under me. My edges are shit though. I don't turn well. I don't turn well at all.
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OK, I am so sorry for the delay getting back to you! I saw this on the bus the other night, went 'Oop! Need to read this later when I'm at home' .... and then I forgot (yay ADD). I just remembered. I suck.
I've actually seen a few temperature scarves, too. They're great! And I'm working on a knit Hufflepuff scarf for someone... which I began a year ago and may be done in two years. Because I find knitting tedious (hence loving crochet!).
One issue I had when I began crocheting and I don't know if this is the same issue, but I will share just in case (and who knows, maybe someone else is having the same issue!) is that I kept crocheting through the front loop only. Oops! Now, some projects will call for this (or call for this on certain rounds). Make sure you're going under both loops of the V (look down at the row from the top, it makes a V) for each chain:
Again, it may not be your issue, but it def. was mine starting out! It took me weeks of 'why is this going wrong?!' before I finally found some good pics on a pattern that set off the proverbial lightbulb on that one. It's also why the first row can be so tricksy because getting under the V on the first can bee a PITA (but it also doesn't really matter; if you only go under a single loop on the first, no one's gonna ever notice in the end... just make sure you do on every round after!).
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@Auspice After ignoring my yarn like sullen child for a week, I picked it up again last night and was like I AM GOING TO FIGURE THIS OUT. And what I figured out was..
I was stitching completely wrong.
It's hard to explain what I was doing but it sounds sort of like what you described. Like .. it was like I was making that first chain on every chain, if that makes sense? Instead of pulling the thread through the loop and THAT becomes my double loop, I was somehow pulling through the loop and what was on my crochet hook every time.
Anyway, I figured it out and life is much easier now:
(I don't know why this is posting upside down)
I've somewhere managed to lose a stitch -- I was 50 across and now I am 49. I think it happened when I transitioned to the black. Or back to yellow. I dunno! So when I am done with this, it will probably be really skinny at the other end. But I won't care because this ugly Hufflepuff scarf will be my baby!
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I lose stitches sometimes, but it's suuuuuper easy to make those up in crochet. But what may be happening is you aren't chaining enough on the end of your rows. Just go ahead and add a couple more if needed when you find you're short one or two.
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@Auspice So actually, this brings up a decent question that I have just been too lazy to look up. How do you end one color and add another?
So when I get to the end of a row, on my last stitch: I go under the V, pull the yarn through to get my double loop. Pull the yarn through to finish the stitch. Then I make a single chain, turn my work and continue if I am sticking with the same color.
When I switched from yellow to black, I finished my last stitch but instead of making a single chain, I tied it off. Then I did a slip knot of the new color, went under the first V I could find.. blah blah. Should I have made the single chain before tying it off? Is that where I lost the stitch?
Am I switching colors all wrong in general?
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I am... so much a visual person. Having trouble following, sorry!
So, I do color changes myself by... I'll crochet until the end of the row, then just pick up the new color, do a simple knot (not finish it, just sort of half-pull through the ends), and when I finish the piece, weave 'em in. It sort of looks like what you're doing.
Here's some videos on methods of adding in colors that might help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysG7lin2so4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8vtkK-_3Do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEgYATtmmpM
