Knitters, Crochettes, and Crafters - Oh My!

[inaralei]

Heh, not too personal. A bit off-topic at most.

I finished college early with a degree in elementary school education, specializing in English as a second language. I went to a job fair and saw a booth recruiting teachers for a missionary school in Korea and thought it was absolutely insane that teachers fresh out of college in Texas (of all places) would move across the world for a job. Lo and behold, a year of part time work and some research later and I was on a plane to teach public school English.
That said, I have had a love affair with Korean drama and music for almost a decade and I started formally studying the language six months before I left.
But overall, it's probably one of the best decisions I ever made. I loved it.

[Chu]

Wow, it's great that you got to do that then. It sounds like getting there was an adventure of its own too, haha.

The rules about staying on topic in threads don't apply in The Lounge, so I'm always going off topic... But, it'd probably be more accurate to say that I stay here because I don't have to stay on topic. xP I'll get back on crafting though.

Since my sewing stuff mysteriously went missing, I've had a lot of time to think about projects that I want to do. I found a little crochet pattern for a water drop or something, and I'm going to make my mom blood, sweat, and tear drops when I get the chance. She keeps telling me that I need to start making her presents like I did when I was a kid, so it's kind of a joke. Sweet, heartfelt gifts just aren't a thing between us.

[inaralei]

Bahaha, that sounds great!
I can't crochet off a pattern to save my life. I know the basic scarf and then sort of made something up two years ago for Christmas scarves, but that's the extent of my ability. I want to learn to knit.
Right now, I'm technically finishing a quilt I started in 2010. I left it at home when I moved and so now I'm back and staring at it's massive incomplete-ness. I'm praying for patience and fortitude.
I finished piecing the top and am currently sewing all the layers together by stitching around the squares and through the stuffing and back. Then I'll just need to finish around the edges. It takes forever... I don't know what possessed me to do this.
/grumble grumble

[Chu]

I have a lot of trouble picking up projects that I left half-finished. Somehow, the idea of finishing them is more daunting than just scrapping them and starting over.

Isn't knitting supposed to be harder than crochet, though? XD

Quilting seems so difficult! I know my mom did it for a while, but I don't think I'd ever be able to learn. Do you think it's more of a trial of patience or talent?

[inaralei]

I have far too many half finished projects. Piles of patterns and fabric and paint and canvas and, well, pretty much everything.

I'm left handed, so crochet is always a pain and a half because my hand positions don't fit the typical ideal. Knitting is more easily conformed to how I write.

The difficulty of quilting, I think, depends on the quilt. I made my own pattern and it was fairly big pieces. I used graph paper and plotted out a series of squares and rectangles with a standard border to make a slightly larger than twin sized top piece. I spent a few days cutting the fabric and then a week or so using my machine to sew them all into the top piece. Then I got out the filling and muslin for the bottom, centered it all, and made a giant * through the whole quilt with huge inch long stitches to keep it in place. Now I've got a hoop sewing around all the squares on the top so that the quilt will stay together and not be three floppy layers.
This is, as far as I know, not a traditional quilt making process. It's pretty much made up as I've gone along out of some silly need to have something to do.

Alas, I had quit halfway through the hand stitching.
I'd say it's patience more than talent, but I only say that because I have very little talent and refuse to give up.

[Chu]

Ahh, yeah, I can see why crochet would be annoying for you then.

Haha, by the way you describe it, maybe quilting isn't a patience vs. talent thing: maybe it's a patience vs. stubbornness thing. :P But if that's the case, I might be better at it than I thought.

By the way, I've been meaning to ask... What kind of sewing machine do you have?

[Freshie]

Ok, projects I'm trying to finally start on [someone kick me lol]:

Gift for my friend, aka sewing stuff.

Cutie Mark bottlecap pendants, for Bronyfest.

Tangled inspired glass bottle, already started.

Something Midorean related to auction off again. :D



@ inaralei;
Yay for teaching and Asian things! :D
I'm quite jealous.
I'm quite the painter and sewer myself. I'm also left handed. ^^

[inaralei]

@Chu: Definitely stubbornness! What a perfect way to put it.
I have an old Janome from.... a Hancock's sale that they no longer sell. I went once when they had the cheapest one on sale for $70 but were sold out, and the woman gave me the next step up for the price instead of writing me a rain check... Never figured out how that worked, but I'm quite pleased. That said, I learned on a Bernina and my mom has an ancient Singer.

@Freshie: Lefties unite! What kind of sewing project? (Sorry, that's prying, isn't it...) Bronyfest? Is that the new My Little Pony? I seem to have missed it's arrival... maybe I should look into it?

[Chu]

Ahh, nice. I can't afford to go shopping for one, but an old co-worker of mine gave me a Singer. xP I still can't figure it out, though. I need to sit down with my mom and have her teach me. She at least has experience with sewing machines.

[TerrenaAnimula]

I wish I knew how to sew. I want to learn how...I keep trying to get my mom to teach me but she won't. But now we don't have a place to set up one of her sewing machines until she cleans off the table of her stuff. But she used to sew clothes/costumes, make hats, and some other stuff for selling at US Civil War Reenactments...so she knows how to sew...and sew the cool stuff I like. XD

I don't know how to knit. I have one of those knitting looms that I need to look up on youtube how to use because I don't understand the directions on how to create anything with it. I can kinda crochet...but VERY limited as to what I can do because again...I don't understand instructions in books and stuff. I'm right handed though...and I can't even hold the stuff like you are supposed to for crocheting. But crocheting also kills my hand/wrist so I don't do it much...and I have actually never finished anything even though I have had like 3 projects going for years. XD

[Freshie]

@inaralei;
Right now sewing pillows and simple stuff.
And yup, its the newer gen4 My Little Pony, I'm not super duper into it [yet], but I enjoy it.


I know how to sew, both by hand and machine. Its only the severe lack of practice I have, thus my stuff comes out crappy. ;n;

[inaralei]

I'm sorely out of sewing practice. But I still love sewing.

Anyway I took a photo of my quilt progress!
[img]http://waygookin.tumblr.com/image/55557883194[/img]

[TerrenaAnimula]

The quilt looks pretty so far, inaralei! I love the colors and the patterns!

[Chu]

I confuse myself because I struggle with reading the instructions for crochet at first, but then something just clicks and I do it like it's second nature to me. It's really weird.

Your mom sounds awesome, Terrena. My mom mostly does crochet and knitting projects. She likes to do things for the couch and make little... I don't know what they're called. They're nets that hold flower pots from the ceiling? She loves to garden. She also made a gigantic net for my room when I was little once. It hung across a corner of my room and all of my stuffed animals went there. x3 I always wanted to climb up there and lay in it, but she wouldn't let me.


Inralei, the quilt looks great! I followed you on Tumblr, by the way. I hope you don't mind.


Freshie, you just have to keep practicing! My stuff doesn't look very good either, but it's mostly for the same reason, haha.

[TerrenaAnimula]

I know what you are talking about to hang plants! I don't know what they are called though. XD I like those. They're cool.

What I actually know about crocheting, my mom taught me from what little she remembered from what her mom taught her. Although I did teach myself that spiral thing...but I haven't done that in so long that I need to look it up to see how to do it again because I think I started doing it wrong...but doing it "wrong" is the only ay I can get those loose curls...otherwise they are very tight.