wearing my fingers out

My left fingers sure are tender between hexipuffing and guitar-playing. I didn't play my guitar too much last month, so now my fingers are letting me know it.

I managed to make another hexipuff today and I think I improved! I also managed to bind off, which involved a crochet hook... perfect. My comfort zone.

I'm not sure I'm doing the very last bit of the bind off right! But my knitting's often lumpy, so who knows?? I'll just keep practicing! Right now it takes me 4-5 hours to make a single hexipuff. I have seen people talking about making one in, like, half an hour. Since comparison is the thief of joy, I won't compare my time to anyone else's. I just hope no one out there takes their skills for granted.

Yesterday I also finished off this rust-colored slouchie hat. It's the fifth time I've made the pattern and I intend to do it again since I'm still so likely to muck it up! Gotta practice, practice, practice!

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hexipuffin'

I masochistically decided to learn how to make hexipuffs, which are certainly a popular thing to make. I've seen them around for a couple of years, and they are just so cute. I always like to look at the decorated ones, especially! But as they're knitted in the round, they are beyond my very low skill level!

Still, I found myself fixating on it during May and decided to bite the bullet, purchase the pattern, and get some double point needles. I was immediately in over my head! I wrestled with learning a new method of casting on (the long tail cast-on) and wrangling an extra needle, which was so much harder to actually handle than it was to understand. I also learned to increase, which I haven't done before; my skills really are very limited. But I messed up too much to get anywhere at all. After having to tear it out and re-try it a lot of times, I called it a night and took a break for a few days.

When I came back to it today, I actually managed to kind of get through it?? Well, it's a mess, but it's certainly is a lot better than I was expecting my first hexipuff to be! It's very crooked and has a gaping hole where I dropped a stitch or did not increase correctly, or something. I just didn't feel like starting over. In my opinion, the first few rows are the hardest.

Haha, I'm so terrible at knitting! Please don't make fun! But I'm really proud of myself. I expected it to take me so much longer and so many more tries to even get through half of one. Of course, I probably have many to make before I start making them correctly and neatly.

At this point, I have no real intentions of making a blanket or anything like that. I don't knit socks, so I don't have a stash of sock wool sitting around (I've never worked with fingering-weight yarn before). I do have a massive amount of polyfill, though, and I think practicing my knitting by making something that is so small and only takes one evening is a promising way to build my skills.

Mumble mumble I haven't actually bound off yet mumble mumble. I'M NOT READY TO INEVITABLY DESTROY WHAT I'VE BUILT!

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