September Craft Thread

Thank you teddyw!

Will do!

I'm having a wee bit of a struggle with my hues. (Not surprising with scraps, right?)  Of the 5 1/2 blocks so far, a couple have some details too subtle to be read in a mirror from across the room. 

I'm OK with a few like that, as it is intended and encourages an up-close look, but the number of those blocks needs to be tightly limited. (Look at me, talking about limiting the number of blocks before I have any clue how big I'm even going to make each block, nor how many I'm going to make!)

These are not the specific colors I would choose if I were going in a more planned method.

I am, instead, picking a couple of balls up that look interesting together and then finding a block where the amount of yarn looks like it will work. THEN, I have to go back and find two more yarns that will work with what I've already done and I'm finding that reality changes things!  (Who knew?  )   While the colors themselves might work, they work up in new and... interesting... ways. Yep. That's my story. So far, trying to stick with it.

I'm either going to have a chaotic mess or brilliance in the end. I'm hoping for the later. 


This is how I cook, too. My family never, ever, expects me to be able to follow the most simple of recipes. Hence the reason SURPRISE! is the dish I make most often.  <100% true story>

You know what they say, "When times get tough, the creative get busy."

OK. Another thing that I just made up that I believe is 100% true.


Maybe I should take photos in the rapidly approaching evening light (i.e. yellow lamplight) which is when I tend to pick my colors vs what they look like in natural light. 

Because, apparently, simply choosing little balls of color isn't enough of a challenge. 

Lord, have mercy on me your poor servant. My parents had far more sense!

Sorry I didn't answer, leftturnonly. I didn't see your comment until now. I've never bought one of Lucy's kits either, so I am excited to get it!  

Nice!  It's good to see the variety in the patterns.  I think mosaic in the round would scramble my brain.  

I've just ordered the Attic 24 kit, please keep everything crossed that it turns up this time! I'm still completely mojoless but I'm hoping having a parcel of squishy goodness sparks something in me.

lainey I’m keeping everything crossed for you that it does turn up! 

I’ve lost my crojo for the past 3 weeks, when a visitor unintentionally spilt tea on my wip 😢🥺 totally took the shine off it!  I’ve washed my progress so far, the stain has come out -  it’s now in the naughty corner 😠😬

It was a surprise Christmas gift - her birthday is in July so I may revisit it in the new year 

Please keep us updated with your yarn shipment 

I started with the one that looked the most interesting to me, the diamond in the middle Amma Lola square and loved it. Then I tried the Amma Pora square with the compass star in the middle, and loved that one too. The Amma Maria square, with the broken stripes, is much more fun than I expected. I thought this might be my least favorite, but it's actually really nice.  The square with 4 little boxes in the inner corner Amma Tinna square - OMG! The lines of the inner square in the photos per the instructions wonk a little too much. You don't get to the mosaic part until you're way out to the points, so it shows that much more. I ended up breaking the yarn between each round of that inner square and joining them the same way instructed for the inner circle. I was telling myself that maybe I would only make one of those.    Now that I know what to expect, it won't be so bad next time. Took me way too much fiddling before I just cut the yarns and got on with it. (Not the way instructed.)

I still haven't done the one she suggests starting with, the Amma Saga square with the little heart-like shapes in the four inner corners. Now that I did the Tinna, this one will be a breeze!

Tinna won't begin releasing the videos for these until October. Her videos are really helpful. She has a full pdf just for photos of each square in progress which is really good. Another pdf of instructions including charts. A pdf of drawings... I guess they're so you can print them and color so you can plan (Figures that would be the last one I open!  )  A pdf for yarn stats which I'm pretty much ignoring, and yet another pdf just for her kits that includes color placement suggestion graphics (just seeing this now) that are really nice.

If anyone is curious, watch video one of her Fiesta CAL on YouTube. These Amma squares all begin the same way, so that video plus her detailed photos answer most questions you may have. (Except for that darn Tinna square!)


There is so much texture in those Amma Lola & Pora squares that they are really fun to do.

I'm making 3 of each square with roughly the same value placements, and then I'll make more with the darks changed around. 

At least I got to work in the bright yellow so that it didn't blare like a beacon by working it with a grey in the center of the Tinna, so I'm very happy about that!


In conclusion:

NOT for beginners. You really need experience making blocks in general and understand how to do the mosaic stitch first so you can focus on color and design instead.

I bet you would do just fine, gillyp. Pick one square and stick to two colors and you would really enjoy it. (Just don't pick the Amma Tinna Square.) 



Thanks! It's a bit of a strained pallete so far. I have some very happy brights and some very bold darks, greyed middle tones, plus a mish mash of lights-light medium yarns cut.

Working in those greyed tones and keeping the patterns easy-to-see is a challenge. The first few squares don't pop enough, but they're nice squares on their own. Guess I'll have to consider them as little zingers and be mindful of not making too many more.

I intend for it to have a scrap look and I want the colors spread out evenly, so that's the challenge to get without pre-planning everything out. Did I mention that I also intend to maintain either a diagonal order of pattern or a (more difficult to achieve) random distribution of pattern? That's why I'm making several tonal repeats of each square, so hopefully the diagonal will be more easy to achieve.

I have a really lovely grey that I may use to join all the squares if I don't border each one individually with the (in her photos) black border.  I just don't have black and not enough total dark to do that. I do have white, though.  I'm just going to have to make more blocks and see how they get along before I make those final decisions.


Yeah. No anxiety issues to work through here! 



EEEKK! 

I hope it looks good when it comes out of the corner and you'll be able to dive right in again. 

I made my sister an afghan for Christmas. I used a velvety yarn, and just as I was about to finish it, I noticed that the stitches were slipping in work that was done.    I was so very tempted to begin frogging, when (for once) common sense overtook me. Baby has been in the corner instead ever since. When the weather gets just a little cooler, I'll relook at it with fresh eyes and decide whether or not it's salvageable.  (Fingers crossed for both of us!)


Took the words right out of my mouth! 

Thank you!


The squares aren't as wonky as they look in the photo. They're curling a little so the centers don't look quite right. 

Oh snap! That's the one I did.

Except, I used some striped yarn I was tired of and cut it into colors, then mixed with the solids I had bought to go with.

I've got it near. Let me go take a pic.

Granny Stripe

Michaels Craft Smart 4 weight acrylic. Their old formula was stiffer than the original Red Heart Super Saver, but this is so soft and squishy!

Lots of little balls of color making this one, too, after cutting apart the different sections.  I used several different color skeins. This was one.