#raecrochet

[ladychraelix]

welp.

didn't get quite as much work done on the blanket tonight but honestly im okay with that

nigelcat is best cuddleboy

[ladychraelix]

alright so ive had this rule that i follow, where i can only have one major project at a time, because otherwise nothing will get finished. i expanded that to 'one major project at a time per craft' now that ive learned how to knit, and for the most part ive kept that rule!

(with a break here and there to do a quick amigurumi, since those work up so quickly)

this is... probably my first actual breaking of that rule lmao. here's the thing though, i actually do have good reasons and they're not all 'because i wanted to':

- this is an active cal (crochet-a-long)! ive never done one before, and when am i ever again going to be able to get in on one at (nearly) ground zero?

- skull shawl has a soft/unofficial deadline of october, since that's when it will be thematically appropriate

and so, here we are- lost souls shawl tabled for the moment, and sacred space cal blanket active as of yesterday and coming along nicely!

each picture is after finishing rounds 10, 15, and 20, respectively.

it's worth noting that part 1 (of the 2 currently posted) is thirty rounds.

it's gonna be big. i rrrrreally hope it'll help me blast through more of my stash of meh caron one pound skein yarn. i know for a FACT im gonna run out of the dark purple since i only had a small ball of that left, and the middling purple will run out probably closer to the end, and rest may or may not run out. i have Plans for each colour, so if something runs out, ill be ready.

[ladychraelix]

so remember the dumpling cat that i gave to my mom?

actually i just realized i never posted it so uh it looked pretty much identical to this one but with a better face

so anyway she decided to use it as a mascot for her piano teaching, and named it tchaicatsky

she subsequently requested a second one which i have dubbed meowtzart, with 100% more Angery Eyebrows than tchaicatsky

and he is adorable.

[ladychraelix]

another row of skulls for the skull shawl 8)

i also did three rows of knitting tonight so wew

[ladychraelix]

hey remember this? yeah im still working on it, i just took a uh. jumbo sized junimo break from it whoops

either way tho, i did seven rows of knitting today so i decided to switch gears over to crochet for a bit to exercise some different muscles, and did, mm... six rows on the lost souls shawl as of this picture, plus two or three after that before i ran out of time tonight?

either way tho, i think this will shape up to look pretty cool. it'll DEFINITELY need blocking to really open up that lacework and make the skulls stand out, but that'll be a problem for a later time.

[ladychraelix]

Jumbo Bigman......... he is HERE and he is HUG SIZE

total damage: 4.5-5 skeins of jumbo yarn (33yd/skein), 2 complete skeins of gray cotton yarn (180yd/skein), a smidgen bit of white cotton yarn & pink yarn, and two-ish bags of polyfill stuffing.

in terms of experimenting with jumbo yarn, and working with said jumbo yarn? 0/10, would not repeat, oof ouch my hands

in terms of making a friend? 100/10, would definitely cuddle

[ladychraelix]

alright so i wasn’t gonna take an actual progress shot until i had the other arm done and attached but i uhhhhh ran out of time tonight, whoops!!!

so you get a progress pic with both eyes and one (1) arm attached, with the other in progress off to the left there.

i still need to figure out how i want to do the blush (many many strands layered over each other, or a crocheted patch like the eyes?), and also how to make the feet the shape that i want. the antenna should be a simple deal, but the problem with that is that i need more of the jumbo yarn to put the lil thing on the top so i know how long to make it.

either way though, progress!!!

[ladychraelix]

jumbo bigman junimo update

he has eyes! and one (1) arm!!

since the original pattern is obviously written for a much more normal size of yarn, the given instructions of pipe cleaner limbs+antenna and safety eyes were uh. not gonna fly

so im freewheelin’ it!!! the eyes were pretty easy to do - just circles. the one arm i’ve done is also pretty simple, but it’s just... it’s kind of a long crochet, 60+ rounds in order to get it to what i hope is long enough for a proper arm size. thankfully i had the foresight to actually WRITE DOWN what i was doing as i was doing it, so i can just follow my own instructions for the second arm. 

im pretty proud of my arm tbh! i made use of how the jumbo yarn just has space to poke things through, and made a little decrease-into-increase bulb at the end of the arm to sit on the inside of it, to prevent the arm from being yanked out. it was a trick and a half getting it in and then stuffing said bulb, but i managed it! see, here-

much easier to see what im talking about with a picture than trying to explain it.

im gonna save a progress pic of the junimo for when i have the other arm, and maybe the blush, done :)