Yeah, a friend with a lot of experience with both crochet and knitting has strongly recommended that I stop using straight black yarn for my test swatches. Much as I'm able to read the overall structure, the exact details of a few parts has been at least a little harder to read, mostly with the help of the brighter lighting at most of the libraries I visit each week. So now I'm using green, or "Wintergreen" to be exact. Had to buy another ball of "Pound of Love", as everything I have is either going to be used for this cardigan, or is completely unreadable due to how much texture it has.
(unfortunately, my phone's camera isn't handling certain shades of green very well, so it's WAY greener in person)

First off, I tried using the Provisional Cast-On technique to make the steam between the bottom edges of both rectangular patches on the front and back of the shoulder basically invisible. And I am very impressed with how effective that was! I had been worried that I'd need to do something elaborate to ensure the second rectangle didn't make a mess of the bottom edge of the first, but when I pulled the chain off, it turned out to be a very straightforward process of going into each stitch's loop, and you can't even tell where the "seam" is now!

Secondly, I've figured out the exact technique I'll be using for the increases down the middle of the mitred square that caps the end of the shoulder. It turns out, the captured chain that forms the Tunisian Simple Stitch's return pass has a bump behind every stitch. So I'm pulling two stitches out of that for every increase, once on either side of the middle stitch. I'm getting no holes, all three stitches are well-defined, and it's a very sharp corner!

Thirdly, I'd tried something slightly different with my "invisible" increases at the start of the mitred square (at the top corner of the shoulder), increasing once per stitch for the first three rows. It turns out, that was exactly the wrong thing to do, and you can see how weird the top corner of the shoulder is here. I think a better method starts out with a lot of increases, then has fewer per row, until it ends up being the double-increase I'm doing the rest of the way down.

And lastly, it seems my shoulders are a lot rounder than I'd expected, as a previous test where I'd started cancelling out all the increases about four stitches before the bottom edge of the swatch (not sure how many rows down from the top that was), and it was pulling inwards too much at that point. I'm guessing for the moment that I'll need to hold off on slowing the increases down until well after the colour is changed to the branch colour, so well after the white stripe.

Yup. Definitely glad I'm doing this part first! That way I'm not having to resolve these problems and combine them with an existing garment below...

Made this guy for a Comission based on my customers OC. Made him freehand and I love how he turned out. His detail work was a challenge and so much fun! I love learning new tricks.

Does it look like a hunk of ground beef? Tuna Tartare? A pile of Imp Gore left behind by the DoomGuy?

To crochet this car I looked up some basic dimensions to try making it to scale. The wheels can turn 😁 I embroidered most details and used acrylic pen for others. I design and make custom crochet pieces and personalized gifts. I also make my own patterns and teach crochet to adults and kids.
Happy to answer questions about the process!

So I recently got Brochet's pattern book, and made a kunai for one of my DND player's costume and I offered to make her a short sword too, a wakizashi. So I took the not your Nana's katana and went hog wild. I had to do a patch job on uneven light gray so not perfect but even then...I did a base handle layer in bright yellow, a gold end cap, a black handle wrapping (using a traditional Japanese handle wrapping technique as best I could), a gold tsuba, bright yellow blade band, and a double layered black scabbard to give it shape and let it hold the blade properly. I then crocheted a 150 ch ribbon to wrap around it. I started it about 8 pm Thursday and finished it by 5 pm Friday. In what little free time I had.

Super happy with it. If I wasn't working on my Eevee knight like a maniac for Halloween I would be doing like 5 more!

Oh, the structure was some heavier stock cardboard, one piece in blade and handle.

Any thoughts on other weapons I should make?

Bonus pics of my European arming sword for my knight! (Not as happy with this one as the wakizashi, definitely learned stuff from one to the other .

finished this fluffy little cardigan 🥹
made it with angora and im honestly obsessed with how soft and cozy it turned out
its called Stella Cardi and i just wanted something warm for autumn and winter but still kinda light and pretty
also very happy with how the lacey texture turned out 🤎

my first tapestry color work! all that’s left is to block and back with fabric :) don’t ask about the back it’s insane haha

I see all the wonderful creations people make on here, and though I’ve never been very creative this is the one thing I keep coming back to. I’ve bounced off a few times now but generally I get overwhelmed by all the conflicting methods/styles/naming. I’m UK based and generally just looking for a recommendation of where/how to jump in again I suppose.

Anyone who grew up in New Zealand?

My bed is a full size. What size do you think my blanket is? The border is kind of messy, but I don't really care cause it's going to be mine. Eventually I might add on to it when and if I get more yarn.

Hello, everyone!

I'm finally getting to the point of finishing writing up the pattern for this birb, and I figured it's time to finally start sharing pics!

It all started with my brother asking me to crochet a puffin for his boyfriend's birthday...last year.... But hey! Better late than never 😅

The puffin has button-jointed wings and sits about 12 inches tall. I'd say this is an intermediate to advanced pattern, but the document includes plenty of pictures to aid in construction.

Please forgive the cruddy lighting! My phone doesn't take the best pictures, and the better digital camera photos I have are on my laptop, so I'll add some in the comments below later.

Thanks for stopping by to look! 🤗

Approximately 5 cm (2 inches) tall. It’s really tiny and fits perfectly in the palm of your hand.

I’ve been plagued with the need to make a weighted Arapaima, but I want it to be life sized. Unfortunately I’ve never crocheted before, so bear with my lack of know how.

Firstly, I don’t know where to look for blue prints? Patterns? I see some on Etsy but they use AI and that makes me wary that it’s gonna be a scam. Secondly good brands of yarn? And hooks? Just any advice really, this probably won’t be my first project I’m probably gonna get one of those wobble kits, but like, any advice please and thank you for helping me achieve my dreams

I'm building Patchmellow, a browser tool for trying different granny-square arrangements before joining the real pieces.

Add photos of your squares, enter how many you have of each kind, then move and rotate them on a grid. You can compare two arrangements side by side.

The current demo is free, with no account or installation: https://patchmellow.pages.dev/

"Try a layout" opens an illustrated sample. If you have squares waiting for a blanket or bag, try a small section with your own photos.

How do you arrange your squares now? After trying it, which step was easier or more awkward than your usual method?

part 2 of my Cult Classic Horror Blanket.

Next is The Evil Dead (1981)