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The Crochet Pile - May 2026
I definitely did not winnow down the pile this month. Oopsies?
Finished this month: 2
Finished from The Pile: 2
Added to The Pile: 6
So I did finish two things from the Pile, but I didn't finish any of the new things I started.
Three of them are things intended to solve a problem/fill a needed niche for myself.
Finished one market set! Of cat toys; made a bunch more little fluffy balls. And also finished a new cat toy for my own cats; a two-toned fish to go along with one I've already made them (thus why it's a finished project; it was for a pair) though I couldn't find the original one to take a picture of them together.
Handing Tachi the original, and the new one before I flung it to them - it's around somewhere, I actually saw it yesterday, so they haven't lost it entirely yet! (And I did see the very first one I made them recently as well; they just lose them quickly which I choose to take as a compliment. They aren't lost forever!) And they hold up well to the kitties, which is good.
Moving on to things started this month. . .
I keep my cats' water dishes (the two I keep in the kitchen, because his highness Tachibana is super picky about his water; there's a third on the bathroom counter) on a tray to minimise the mess, since Tachi also tips and thumps his little dish all around and spills water across the floor (which he will actually drink from, for some reason).
Anyway, while it hasn't been a problem in the past, I've noticed that some moisture has been slipping beneath the tray, so I thought a thick mat to allow airflow under there would be nice - make sure there's no chance for anything icky to grow under there. I could use a regular placemat, but I could crochet one to the right size and also make sure there's thickness/open weave enough to work for the airflow.
To that end, working cotton with an oversized hook in a very loose repeating pattern.
I did a double-chain foundation, which generally turns out almost the same size it will when worked (unlike a regular chain) but . . . it . . . didn't; that was supposed to be the short side and it's closer to the long side length I need. Oh well? (Also planning to do a row or two wrapping around it when I finish the rows, for stability).
I also started working a slip-pouch sized for my phone to contrive hanging on the outside of my purse (as I've had to switch everyday bags; my old one has been . . . wearing out for a couple of years now and has gotten into pretty bad shape. Specifically right where I grab it all the time, of course.
Anyway, thus far I'm using an old purse that is nice in general but does not have an outside pocket for my phone; it's funny seeing the differences in nice/midrange purse standard designs from purses in the last five years vs from twenty years ago.
Aaand I just found out that I am being forced to upgrade my phone so I can continue having phone service - the deadline was May 31, apparently. Which is when I found out. (I'm deeply annoyed, and I haven't got new phone in the budget, either.) I may be frogging this instead of finishing it, as it happens.
And the final one of the niche-filling projects I began is the third one I've started working out for this particular problem - maybe this one will actually work out! That would be nice!
My magpie deck is Large, and while I've been keeping it in an index card box, and it technically (right now/for now) fits, it's difficult to get out neatly and such. After I finished a sunflower lay-flat deck pouch for a mini tarot deck I was dubious I'd ever want to try one for a full-size deck (let alone an oversized one), but. . .
Well, that's what I'm trying, as it happens. Though with a larger yarn that will work up a bit faster - and isn't murder on my fingers like the cotton I used for the sunflower one.
I also started three others - one is a gift and an experimental evolution of something I've made before, one is another shijimi bag (a friend saw the first one I made for myself when I was talking about making more for sale and said 'when you figure out how you want to price them, I want one; just like yours, this size, this colour, everything' and I'm finally actually making it; if she doesn't still want it it'll go in my sale bin).
The final one is a new market set (or something), because I've had a handful of terrible acrylic yarn for ages, tiny little amounts of it. Started making roses in bright colours/combinations with some of the old acrylic stash to clear it out!
They're a bit smaller than my usual roses; the acrylic is closer to a DK I think. I also have a bright green in the bag, I'll use that for calyxes and stems until it runs out - I do have another green acrylic I can use if/when it runs out.
Hopefully I'll be able to finish a few of the new things (and/or old ones!) this upcoming month; also, perhaps, specifically the . . . now-two items I'm looking at for my own personal problem-solving? The water tray mat is kind of important (if not an emergency; there's not been any real problem thus far) and I'd like to more easily be able to use (and add to/refine out) the magpie deck.
So here's the state of The Pile currently:
Active WIPs: 23
(Subset that are market batches: 12)
Hibernating: 3
Total projects (complete, WIPs, everything): 155
Finished this month: 2
Finished from The Pile: 2
Added to The Pile: 6
So I did finish two things from the Pile, but I didn't finish any of the new things I started.
Three of them are things intended to solve a problem/fill a needed niche for myself.
Finished one market set! Of cat toys; made a bunch more little fluffy balls. And also finished a new cat toy for my own cats; a two-toned fish to go along with one I've already made them (thus why it's a finished project; it was for a pair) though I couldn't find the original one to take a picture of them together.
Handing Tachi the original, and the new one before I flung it to them - it's around somewhere, I actually saw it yesterday, so they haven't lost it entirely yet! (And I did see the very first one I made them recently as well; they just lose them quickly which I choose to take as a compliment. They aren't lost forever!) And they hold up well to the kitties, which is good.
Moving on to things started this month. . .
I keep my cats' water dishes (the two I keep in the kitchen, because his highness Tachibana is super picky about his water; there's a third on the bathroom counter) on a tray to minimise the mess, since Tachi also tips and thumps his little dish all around and spills water across the floor (which he will actually drink from, for some reason).
Anyway, while it hasn't been a problem in the past, I've noticed that some moisture has been slipping beneath the tray, so I thought a thick mat to allow airflow under there would be nice - make sure there's no chance for anything icky to grow under there. I could use a regular placemat, but I could crochet one to the right size and also make sure there's thickness/open weave enough to work for the airflow.
To that end, working cotton with an oversized hook in a very loose repeating pattern.
I did a double-chain foundation, which generally turns out almost the same size it will when worked (unlike a regular chain) but . . . it . . . didn't; that was supposed to be the short side and it's closer to the long side length I need. Oh well? (Also planning to do a row or two wrapping around it when I finish the rows, for stability).
I also started working a slip-pouch sized for my phone to contrive hanging on the outside of my purse (as I've had to switch everyday bags; my old one has been . . . wearing out for a couple of years now and has gotten into pretty bad shape. Specifically right where I grab it all the time, of course.
Anyway, thus far I'm using an old purse that is nice in general but does not have an outside pocket for my phone; it's funny seeing the differences in nice/midrange purse standard designs from purses in the last five years vs from twenty years ago.
Aaand I just found out that I am being forced to upgrade my phone so I can continue having phone service - the deadline was May 31, apparently. Which is when I found out. (I'm deeply annoyed, and I haven't got new phone in the budget, either.) I may be frogging this instead of finishing it, as it happens.
And the final one of the niche-filling projects I began is the third one I've started working out for this particular problem - maybe this one will actually work out! That would be nice!
My magpie deck is Large, and while I've been keeping it in an index card box, and it technically (right now/for now) fits, it's difficult to get out neatly and such. After I finished a sunflower lay-flat deck pouch for a mini tarot deck I was dubious I'd ever want to try one for a full-size deck (let alone an oversized one), but. . .
Well, that's what I'm trying, as it happens. Though with a larger yarn that will work up a bit faster - and isn't murder on my fingers like the cotton I used for the sunflower one.
I also started three others - one is a gift and an experimental evolution of something I've made before, one is another shijimi bag (a friend saw the first one I made for myself when I was talking about making more for sale and said 'when you figure out how you want to price them, I want one; just like yours, this size, this colour, everything' and I'm finally actually making it; if she doesn't still want it it'll go in my sale bin).
The final one is a new market set (or something), because I've had a handful of terrible acrylic yarn for ages, tiny little amounts of it. Started making roses in bright colours/combinations with some of the old acrylic stash to clear it out!
They're a bit smaller than my usual roses; the acrylic is closer to a DK I think. I also have a bright green in the bag, I'll use that for calyxes and stems until it runs out - I do have another green acrylic I can use if/when it runs out.
Hopefully I'll be able to finish a few of the new things (and/or old ones!) this upcoming month; also, perhaps, specifically the . . . now-two items I'm looking at for my own personal problem-solving? The water tray mat is kind of important (if not an emergency; there's not been any real problem thus far) and I'd like to more easily be able to use (and add to/refine out) the magpie deck.
So here's the state of The Pile currently:
Active WIPs: 23
(Subset that are market batches: 12)
Hibernating: 3
Total projects (complete, WIPs, everything): 155