It’s the last day of August 2020, so it’s time for my Monthly Craft Report. Read on to see what I did and learned in August as well as what I plan to do in September.
Why I’m doing this
I’ll be showing my age here, but I remember reading the Animorphs books as a kid, albeit an older one. Each book started with the exact same chapter with some names changed up. It got pretty annoying. That’s why this’ll be the last time I’m going to direct you to the first report to let you know why I’m doing these reports.
Project management changes
I have an ambitious plan to not buy any more yarn until I’ve finished all the projects I have yarn for right now. This is to help with yarn storage and just to see if I can. My resolve to do so was tested this month, as I mention below in the “Other progress” section.
I reworked my Project Clean Queue list. It’s now a finite list so I can know for sure when I’m done with the project. Then everything will just be in my project management queue instead. Amusing side note, I had to rename a couple items made with the Sybil Downton Abbey yarn because we named our youngest Sybil. If I didn’t change it I would confuse myself for sure because I would think they were projects for her.
What I finished
So let’s jump right in to the fun stuff. If you’ll recall from last month’s post I had 7 projects, including 1 motif, that I was working on. Of those 7, I finished 3 of them. I finished the Lacy Spa Cloth, the Queen of Hearts washcloth for our 3rd daughter, and the Moogly square #21.
I reached my bare minimum goal of 3. That’s still way better than I have been doing, but I hope to do better next month. I had really wanted to hit my goal of 5 projects.
The Lacy Spa Cloth was quite the learning experience. As I said last month, I bought new needles for it about mid-project. It seems I dropped stitches maybe before that because the cloth was very tight in the middle. I plan on making a second one with the leftover yarn to see if that was the problem or it was just tension.
The Queen of Hearts washcloth went relatively well. I had to make do with an extra cable because I lost my stitch holder, but it seemed to work out okay. I really liked the way it turned out and will probably be making more. I’m already making another one for one of the other kids.
I also got the 2019 Moogly square #21 done. The square didn’t look as good to me because of the Americana Super Saver that was chosen for it. I’m sure my daughter won’t really care in the end. It also seemed like the square that never ends because each round I seemed no closer to the 12″ mark for which I was aiming.
Other progress
I was working at least some on my Butterfly Days blanket. I wasn’t happy with the progress. The new rows looked different despite using what I think was the same hook. I’m guessing maybe my gauge was off, so I’ve gone to using a slightly bigger hook. I’m starting to lose heart in working on the project because of the change in look.
For the Pine Ridge Pullover (sweater) I’m working on sleeve #1 for the first victim, er child. The youngest lost my hook to it last night, so I’ve called up my reserve hook to finish on time.
I made a lot of progress on the Spa Basket I re-started this month. I really wanted to finish it so I could have another place to store my works in progress. Unfortunately, as you probably saw if you follow my Instagram, I ran out of yarn (or I will) so I had to put it off to the side. I’ll start it again when I can buy yarn again. The pattern isn’t on the Yarnspirations website, so you’ll just have to wait until I finish it to see it.
Everything else I worked on at least a little, except my music quilt. I haven’t touched that for over a year now. I’m hesitant to do so because I did such a horrible job cutting up the blocks. I’ll have to assess the damage to that soon.
September 2020 plan
This coming month I plan on getting a lot more done with my blog projects. That being said, my goal is still to finish 3 projects minimum. I want to have 2 of the Pine Ridge sweaters done by the end of the month so I can have all 4 finished by Thanksgiving (and colder weather). My big goal is finishing 5 non-blog projects.
The 7 projects I’m currently working on:
Small (3 hours or less)
- knitted heart washcloth for kid #3: Queen of Hearts pattern
- toaster cover: Polka Dot Toaster Cover pattern
Medium (right now, anything over 3 hours that isn’t a blanket)
- a sweater for kid #2: Pine Ridge Pullover pattern
- a knitted shawl: Simple Lace Triangle Shawl pattern
Large/Blankets
- our Moogly CAL blankets: one block at a time, simultaneously working on blankets for all of us, 7 in all with 1 not started yet so 6 for now
- for our oldest daughter’s blanket I’m currently working on square 2 from 2017 (it’s a bobble, which I don’t like as much but everyone else in the family does)
- a baby blanket/sweater set I first saw in Crochet World magazine: Butterfly Days Baby Set blanket pattern, keeping on it even though #6 has already outgrown it, sweater is done
- music lap quilt: Yellow Brick Road pattern
Note: I used kid #X in my descriptions just so you understand where in the order they are. I know it could come across as unloving and I don’t mean it that way!
What are your crafting plans for September? Did you reach your goals for August?
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