Living simply

I'm a knitter and crocheter. I believe anyone can be creative because creativity lives in the soul. When I see a pattern I want to make I say to myself "This is going to be fun, it's gonna be a challenge!" and I feel a happy anticipation and gratitiude that just sings inside of me.

[caylinnightengale]

A day off to cheer up a wounded heart📚🍂

A Day Off to Cheer Up a Wounded Heart by Choki Subtitles in English I thought I'd share this. It helped my "blah" feeling to pass in a gentle and hopeful way. I hope that feeling passes for you too.

[caylinnightengale]

Masquerade / The Cat Returns (Animatic)

I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of this song to the dance scene but it works.

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FIVE FACT FRIDAYS | The Cat Returns | GKIDS

What you already knew, maybe didn’t know, or needed confirmed.

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The Cat Returns, Haru Cosplay Breakdown!

Cosplay level: EPIC!

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Returning To The Cat Returns

I always learn new things about the things I love. A follow up to Whisper of the Heart and a lovely movie on its own, Stevem gives his take into The Cat Returns.

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Mr. Darcy obsessively staring at his future wife for almost 6 minutes st...

This is hilarious and I hope you at least get a chuckle out of it.  This is now my favorite version of Mr. Darcy.

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My brother made me a yarn swift! I can even “fold” it up for storing or taking it on the go.  He followed a youtube tutorial and used some scrap wood he had.  I also crochet some face masks with removeable filters. The pattern is from Traverse Bay Crochet. There’s a Youtube video and a written pattern.  You can also just search for a pattern and you’ll have plenty of options. 

Today was also our outing day.  Besides a grocery run. went to the park so Luna could walk around a bit and saw a blue jay! 

Yay, the outdoors!

He’s so big!

[caylinnightengale]

This the Such a Simple Shawl by Wilmade.  So true. Just started working on it here and there and now it’s done. This is DK weight and I only re-used one ball. 

That’s right. I frogged a previous project and made this out of half of it. Not sure what I’ll do with the other ball but that’s fine; I have more projects to work on. 

Have a safe week everyone.

[caylinnightengale]

Sanitized Songs - Quarantine Medley

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'Thank U Frontline' by Chris Mann (Alanis Morissette)

I think I know a person or two who needs to be thanked.

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"U CAN'T TOUCH THIS" - COVID 19 Edition - Made Entirely With Healthcare ...

Don’t touch anything.

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Southerners During Quarantine

Yeah, so it’s kinda like that. 

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re: be a lady

#allthingswoman

Happy Women’s month! Here’s something encouraging and uplifting.

[caylinnightengale]

The Greatest Show - (ROCK/METAL cover version) - Jonathan Young & Caleb ...

So I was listening to one of my favorite cover artists and thought I’d poke at the embers of the The Greatest Show fandom.

[caylinnightengale]

(Re-)Make It March

So how was February for you? While I haven't worked on my projects every single day, I am making progress on my WIPs by assigning specific times to each one. 

But I can’t even with the sweater.

Currently, I'm in the decreasing stage and have discovered a problem. There are too many decreases to do, already many hours into it, and there's only two inches left for the cuff.  I've double and triple checked the instructions.

I'm. So. Done. With this sweater. I need to take it back to the body bind off some 17 inches ago and start the decreasing there.

Frog it and put it in a corner.

So I moved on to a crocheted hoodie vest that was also in my UFO list.

I used Berroco Comfort and a pattern from a beginners crochet top booklet. Just need to attach the two pieces together and I’ve got me a cute layering piece.

As for the square blanket...that was a tragedy. I did a test swatch and it came out ok. I knew the outer yarn wasn’t superwash wool but it came out fine.

And yet.

Completely un-salvageable. Yes, it is stuck together. Felted and with a stink so bad, I wondered for a second if I had made this with burlap instead of wool (you know, ‘cause burlap is coated in kerosene?)

It was chemical, whatever it was. After two failed projects and couple of IRL stuff, I’m feeling pretty down. Tomorrow is a new day though.

So. March. I’m thinking of re-making a top from a UFO. It was in crochet and needed another ball of yarn to finish, but that’s not doable, so then I was going to knit it ‘cause it wouldn’t take up so much yarn, but my knitting mojo is running on fumes, so I might go back to crochet with an open lacy design and two rectangles.

That’s as far as I’m getting for now. Butter Pecan, Youtube, and my doggo Luna are keeping me company so it’s not so bad.

[caylinnightengale]

Possum/Wolf Mittens and Crochet Frustration // Casual Friday 3-04

Alternate title (that I made up) Finish It February! And more.

This is just about the first couple minutes of her podcast: I was really into the idea of Finish-It-February and so I did a bit of cleaning up in my yarn stash.

I have made progress and I have an updated inventory of things. I have a list of UFO and WIPs that I remembered and a couple that I had forgotten.

So far, I’ve used up two skeins for hats. I made up this green one I’ve had for ages that I used in my beginner classes to demonstrate stitches, cast ons, bind offs, etc. 

It’s top down on DPNs. A little slouchy, roomy, comfy, and done!

This next one I used the Kayla pattern from a facebook group. It’s not my favorite and I won’t be hanging on to it. The yarn looked prettier in the skein.

Next are my circle granny squares.  They’re no where near as awesome as Sophie Digard’s’ but I had fun playing with color and the thick/thin yarn. That’s a scarf!

I discovered I play safe with colors. I hesitate to branch out from what I already have so working from this stash, which was mostly gifted (90%), I’ve gotten to try new fibers, colors, weights, and I’ve had to exercise my creativity a bit. I still don’t have a perfect understanding of it all, I’m still tentatively reaching out of my comfort zone, and I don’t even a pattern assigned to all the yarn that’s left (there’s plenty still!), but it’s been fun.

Just playing around with the placement.  They are five across here, though I think six or seven across will be closer to a lounge blanket. Just long enough and wide enough to veg out in front of the TV for movie night or something. I don’t know what I thought 30 squares (one-a-day in December) would be enough but I think three months is going to do it.

Then, on a whim rather than experience, I threw in one square into the wash then the dryer.

The yarn I’m using is a wool/viscose blend. The label didn’t say superwash but I wanted to know for certain. 

It’s not.

So this square is softer and fluffier than the unwashed ones. It’s also a little felted. It shrunk by about one half of a round in size. That’s not too bad and I was thinking of making a few more squares anyway. The thick and thin-ness of the yarn makes me think of homespun and it does kinda even out after washing but still a touch rustic. I like it.

So the plan will be to put it all together, then wash the blanket and one piece and see how it comes out. 

Now for the thorn in my side.

I have finally made it to the other side of the neck!

I do not like this method of construction.I have procrastinated for a couple of days on and off and I just want to be done with it. This is the month. I’m glad I got to learn how to knit from cuff-to-cuff but it’s not for me. The cables are not the problem. Overall, the stitches are fun. They’re easy, take a little bit of attention, and I can get through the rows....slowly. Eventually.

I prefer my sweaters top-down or bottom up. I’m trying though! It’s gonna be pretty sweet when it’s done but it’s gotta get done first.

[caylinnightengale]

It’s the Roaring 2020′s

So how's the new year going for you?

I hit it strong (at first) by sewing a new dress! I started New Year's Eve and finished it New Year's Day. 

Please ignore the inside seams for the neck, I'm still learning. I found the pattern by It's Always Autumn. I do need to take it in a bit so I'm not floating in it....guess it's not quite done yet.

One of my Crafty resolutions is to include more (more than 5 items) sewing projects this year. I want to increase my crafty repertoire.

I did continue making one square a day in December only to lay them all out and...it's small. So I kept going. Until I ran out of my joining MC yarn so that's on hold.

I paused on making leaves for the Noro magazine afghan as holiday hectic-ness invaded my space. Ah well, what's another year?

I also made a no-fail skirt. You know, the kind that's shirred at the top, on the bolt, and just needs a seam. Voila!

I made another one, but included loops for invisible straps and now I have a cute summer, strapless dress!

So then I went to the library.  And found this gem!

I've been working on it, ripped it back, got it the second time around, and then had an energy draining couple of days.  Fortunately, I can check it out again and I'm enjoying it. One of the other reasons (the first being to make socks) I wanted to learn to knit was because I was in love with a cropped, short sleeve sweater I got a Rue 21 (long ago) and it baffled me. Once I started to learn to knit and began to pick up on the mysteries of the craft, I realized it was knitted sideways. As in, from one sleeve to the other.

How awesome is that?! I couldn't pass up the chance to try this method out myself once I saw it and having made a few garments, I felt confident in my ability to tackle it. I'm not experienced with cables, but these are straightforward and easy to remember so I don't have to keep looking at the pattern chart to know what to do when I get to one.

This jewel teal yarn is a wool/acrylic blend that I've had in my stash for nine months or so. It was originally purchased for a crochet coat, but the pattern confused me and still does. The chart looks like it requires 3-D glasses to understand! I wasn't able to find answers to the questions I had and the one other person who had made it and posted it, never got back to my inquiry. So I gave up on that project and now there's this lovely sweater.

For all the chunky cables, and the method of knitting from side to side, you would think it was going to take quite a bit of yarn, but I'm just finishing my second skein of yarn and I'm close to the halfway point. This of course, would depend on the yarn being used and how much is in a hank, ball, or skein.

That being said, I might be able to make another sweater out of what's left but I don't want to get too ahead of myself.

I also frogged a sweater I had made in the boxy style.

It was a good learning experience. I like the yarn and adore the color, but I wasn't reaching for it as often as others and when I did put it on, it wasn't very comfortable overall. Yes. After a few wears, I had to admit that the style wasn't working for the type of yarn (Berroco Comfort)  is was made out of. So there's another sweater waiting to be re-made.

What's this now?

It's a swatch! Yes, I have finally begun making the Boyfriend Cardigan I talked about back in (checks previous posts)August! of last year.  Since I am not working from the pattern however, and must make it up as I go along, am I allowed to re-name my take on it? (It would be The Non-Existent BF Sweater, That's a lot to type.)I was inspired by the picture of course even though the reviews are basically “BEWARE! SURRENDER ALL HOPE BEYOND THE POINT OF PURCHASE! NO REFUNDS!” And in consensus, “THIS IS A HORRIBLE PATTERN!” etc.

So what should I do but gather my courage, a calculator, measuring tape and a pair needles? Anyway, it's slow going, since I have a due date on my sideways sweater but it has been cast on and there's a couple inches on the needles. Progress!

Happy New Year!