lapghans?

October 3, 2026 by Leave a Comment

I’ve heard people call them this, but it feels like a weird word to me for some reason.  But I have in fact been making 2 lap Afghans out of ever-increasing crocheted granny squares, and I’d like to share them with you!

Each used 3 Caron Blossom Cakes, the first in thr Tropical Bloom colorway and the second in Azalea (which is also our kitten’s name).  I used an H-8 (5mm) hook because that is my favorite size, but I noticed something interesting: with the Azalea one I used an inline Susan Bates hook, and for the Tropical Bloom one I used the Clover Amour hook, which has a tapered head.  I know I’ve talked about which I prefer before, but get this: with the inline hook, my square needed more stretching on the sides to get it even with the corners when I was done.  With the tapered hook, the rows took up slightly more yarn but I didn’t have to do any stretching to get it to be a decent square.  Interesting.

I’m also working on a crocheted shawl and I’m sewing a costume and I’m crocheting a little cardigan thing, so stay tuned for those!  I hope you all are doing well, and thanks for stopping by!

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what’s in your essentials?

September 18, 2026 by Leave a Comment

My zippered pencil case finally gave up the ghost after many years of loyal service, but when I went to find something new I was a little overwhelmed with all the options these days.  I ended up just ordering this (and you can see my needle/hook gauge attached to the zipper):

So I have a separate little bag for my Clover crochet hooks, and I have separate storage bags/cases for needle sets, etc., but no matter what yarn project I’m working on, this comes with.  First off let me laud the fact that this case has an expandable zipper, like a suitcase, so if I ever go nuts with my supplies it can handle it:

But as of now I don’t, because my essentials fit inside:

A nice zippered pocket on the left for the small things, at “pencil holder” flap in the center, and space behind it is all I need!  In the zippered pocket I have some point protectors, cable needles, plastic yarn needles for sewing in ends, and extra grippers to slip on hooks (and yes, a plastic cable needle is broken, lol, I need to just throw it out):

The hooks in the middle are ones in sizes that I find useful for a variety of instances, including picking up knitting stitches if I drop one, or just extras if someone else wants to join the crafting fun.  And behind that:

Stitch markers for crochet.  Stitch markers for knitting.  A Cath Kidston measuring tape that has yellowed over time (but I don’t care), a 6″ metal ruler, some embroidery scissors, and my needle tin, which holds:

Thinner sewing needles, more stitch markers, safety pins, and a few bits of string.

And like I said, this goes with me every time I’m working on a yarncraft.  Do you have a container or bag like this that holds your essentials and sticks by you like glue, and if so, what’s in yours?  Am I overdoing it, as I suspect, or should I go all out, unzip the expander, and add all my Clover hooks to the back and combine 2 pouches into 1?  Is there anything vital that I’m missing that I need to add?  This stuff has been in my essentials fot years now, but it’s very possible I’ve missed something important!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!  I hope you are all doing well!

Filed Under: crochet, knitting Tagged With: ,

surprise, I’m alive and stashbusting!

September 4, 2026 by Leave a Comment

Not because I’m quitting crafts or anything — quite the contrary — I need room for more, of course!

I hope you’ve all been doing well, and I really hope to start blogging more with the stuff I’m making and stick to it this time (cuz I know I say that every time, and I do apologize).  I’ve still been sewing, crocheting, knitting, cross stitching, embroidering, jewelry making, and even doing more “eclectic” type stuff with bones and bugs I find outside, I just need to share it with you guys!

I will say I have been busy partially due to the fact that my bestie (who is an insanely creative crafter) and I are now running a craft vendor booth called Hyperfixation Station (click here for the linktree, and you can see some of the stuff we have for salethrough Facebook as well as our Instagram if you feel like following or just taking a peek at some of the crafts we’ve been up to and markets we’ve participated in).

So anyway, stashbusting.  My yarn was overflowing my dresser, I bought another set of storage drawers, and I still had trash bags and baskets and storage ottomans full, so I decided it was time.  I got rid of a ton of my worsted weight acrylic yarn by thrifting a large wooden picture frame and filling it with pompoms I made with the medium and large Clover pompom makers (I just used hot glue to stick them on):

It’s hard to tell the scale but it’s pretty big — I feel like I’m carrying a large waitress tray when I hold it — and it got rid of SO MUCH YARN, it was so nice!  I’m hoping to sell it at a market, as I don’t really have a good place for this in my house, but I think it’s a pretty quick and cute way to use up scraps!  One lady at a market commented that she used to make things like that in the 70s, and I thought that was pretty cool, as well, how things always seem to come back around.

Another kind of addictive way I’ve found to stashbust smaller scraps is by making “wind catchers,” which is just to say I’m using spiral crochet to make pretty decorative hanging things!  Here’s what I’ve got so far (and I intend to sell these, as well):

They’re fun, quick, and pretty!  Here are some closeups so you can see a bit better:

You can see some of them have more rows than others, some of them have crab stitch outer rows (which is probably my favorite border stitch of all time, honestly), and some of them look wound more tightly than others (which is dependent on your stitch count choices), so there’s a lot of room to play with these!

There are other projects I’d like to share, too, but I’ll just stick with these stashbusters for now.

Do you have any go-to or favorite stashbusters you’d recommend?  I may be out of most of my worsted acrylic now, but I’ll eventually end up with more that I don’t know what to do with (as well as other yarn weights), and I’m open to other ideas, too!

I’ll try and come back soon with more of the stuff I’ve been working on, but until then, thanks for stopping by and I hope your day is full of beauty and peace!

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happy new year!

January 4, 2025 by 2 Comments

Hello everyone, it’s been a while!  I have lots of life updates but I’ll put those at the end, cuz I have craft updates, too!

Firstly, I made over 30 crocheted hats in a week and a half as a Christmas present for the patients on my lodge at the hospital where I work, and I think they really liked them!  Now the staff are asking for them too, though, so I still have a few more to make and tbh I’m a bit tired of hats. 😅

I am therefore just futzing around making random stuff.  I started a crocheted doily from some leftover yarn but that’s not gotten far, however I was inspired by a good friend to knit some simple fingerless gloves!

This is me wearing them at work with my pretty keyboard setup (which of course I made because I have 5,000 hobbies), and unfortunately you can’t see the pink donuts on my sweater that the gloves match perfectly, but they’re there!

I’m using a leftover wool-blend aran weight yarn from my brightly colored ripple blanket, which is perfect for these gloves, but I made up the pattern and there are some tweaks I wanna make for my second pair, which I have started:

The completed gloves with the new one

I’m casting on the same # of stitches (36, because that’s my current age and because I have small wrists so it works) and using the same needles for the ribbing (4mm) and the body (5mm), but I did a long-tailed tubular cast on in 1×1 rib for the second version because it’s more stretchy (and I just love the way it looks, it’s my favorite cast-on even though having to do the setup rows is frustrating sometimes).  I’m gonna do a few more minor alterations, like changing where I put the increases and making a slightly larger thumb hole, but really I’m just winging it.

I did start trying to do the same with some Felicini sock weight wool blend yarn from KnitPicks, but I didn’t know how many to cast on and overestimated, so I had to do it again.  And now it’s still too large compared to the neon ones, so I have to do it again.

I know the neon one will fit, so the brown/orange one will be too big, I think.

I’ll keep going on it though after I finish the neon ones, even though it’ll take a lot longer since it’s sock yarn instead of aran, because it matches a blanket hoodie I got for Christmas from my partner’s mom:

It’s so cozy I’d live in it if I could.

And that brings me to the life update parts, which I’ll try and keep brief: I’ve been dating a new partner for a little over 7 months, and she just bought a lovely old home so we’re gonna move in together (as long as my dog doesn’t try to hurt her cats, so I’m quite nervous about that cuz I have no idea how my dog will do with cats).  I’m excited to get out of this tiny, dark apartment (not to mention it was kind of an emergency move to get out of a bad situation with my ex-husband, so it has some negative feels attached to it), and I’m thrilled to be able to slowly decorate my own home and make a place that’s really my own.  And guess what?  I’LL EVEN HAVE A CRAFT ROOM!  My crafts will all have a nice space and won’t have to be scattered all over the whole house, making things look messy, and I’m so excited about it.  I may do a post about that, assuming I get to that point without any issues with the fur babies.

Another update: I’ve been diagnosed as being on the spectrum and also having ADHD, and it’s been the best thing for my life in a long time.  It explains so much about me, which is helpful in terms of me accepting myself for who I am and understanding why I do the things I do and struggle sometimes with certain things, and I’ve gotten on medications that are making a world of difference.  It’s not quite perfect yet, but I feel better than I have in a long time.  On top of that, I’m going to therapy weekly with a therapist who is absolutely amazing, and we’re even gonna work on some of the ex-husband related trauma/issues before I move into the new house so this can really be a new start for me, and I couldn’t be more excited.

So yeah, my new year is starting off pretty freaking awesome, and I hope it is for you as well!  Did you make any resolutions this year?  I never do anymore but I love hearing about other people’s goals, so feel free to share below!  And as always, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again in hopefully a short time! ❤

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punch needle experiments

March 22, 2024 by 1 Comment

Hello hello! I hope ya’ll are doing well — it’s been a while!

I’ve been up to a low-to-moderate amount of crafting lately, and I just finished a project I’d like to share with you! It’s not from a pattern or anything, so it was a bit of an experiment and it’s certainly not perfect, but I’m happy with how it came out overall. Here it is:

Looking at the picture I might have to go back and adjust the fabric to get it to lay a bit more flat in the frame, but that’s okay. And the stars are actually made up of that plastic shimmery embroidery floss, it’s just hard to tell in the photo.

Punch needle is really fun for me. All I really had to do here was use a water soluble pencil to sketch out the luna moth and the moon, then I just had fun filling it in with color! It took much more floss than I expected — just the darkest yellow in the moon was like 4 or 5 skeins of floss on its own — but since floss is so cheap it wasn’t a huge problem to go back to the store and pick up more.

Have you ever tried punch needling before, and if so, how was it for you and what did you make? I’m curious to hear if people usually use patterns or just kinda make things up as they go.

Filed Under: other hobbies Tagged With: , ,
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