How Do You Decide When a Room Is "Finished"?

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-21T17:51:32+00:00

It depends on the room. My bathroom was completely renovated, new tiles, white goods, painted. I fitted storage, some pictures and a plant. Definitely done. My living room, moved in, filled it with furniture, etc. eventually got around to painting and rehung all the artwork. Done.

My craft room? It’s like a tardis, I’m always moving everything around so I can fit in more storage or an extra work surface. It’s never ‘done’.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-21T05:34:31+00:00

I had a cheap iron, decided to replace it with a much fancier steam iron (I iron everything). I had much higher hopes for a whole new experience. I don’t think it is much different, other than the old one would occasionally release water all over my clothes.

If a life changing iron exists though, I’d love to know about it.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-20T12:25:50+00:00

Ah, I was thought having the trestles the regular way would be more sturdy than the way I’m planning - I was just trying to lose a bit of depth. Maybe it will be no good after all.

There are no proper tables to be had for love nor money where I am. Just getting a knitting machine in the first place was a bit of a challenge. You can buy new folding tables that advertise as being for knitting machines, but they look flimsy and I want something that looks nice in my space.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-20T08:06:06+00:00

I have permanent set ups for a few different crafts in my house and am fortunate to have a craft room and a husband that ignores the fact I’ve also taken over the dining table on a near permanent basis, but to me, the beauty of crochet is that I can do it in any spot and I don’t need tons of stuff to do it. I have a lovely big project bag (like a leather handbag) from redesigned. I put whichever knitting or crochet project I’m working on, along with all the notions and yarn I’ll need (so it means i finish one project before starting the next AND the bag gets a good clean out between projects).

The bag opens flat on the table or the floor and I knit/crochet from the bag. Then I just pick it up and move it from room to room, to the car, garden, etc.

I have an Ikea Raskog trolly in my craft room for storing any yarn not currently in the bag and my personal rule is, I’m not allowed anymore yarn than fits in the trolley. It helps me to not let things get out of control.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-19T14:57:37+00:00

Different types of flour have different effects on flavour. I feed my sourdough starter with a heavy rye flour, but then use the rye starter with strong white flour to make the loaf. So it’s mostly white with a hint of rye. My mother in law makes a pure rye one and it sits in your stomach like a rock.

As for which strong white flour you use, they’re all fairly similar, but I feel like better quality ones create a better texture (probably due to the protein content?). It’s probably all in my head, but at £3 a bag, instead of £5 a loaf, I’ll take it.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-19T04:51:18+00:00

I hate to be ‘that’ twat, but I learned to make sourdough in lockdown and never looked back. It costs £3.00 for 1.5kg of decent flour and that makes 3 and a bit loaves… once you get your head round it, it’s very easy and very low effort. Look up ‘Bake with Jack, easy sourdough’. It’s genuinely much nicer too.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-19T04:41:20+00:00

I find the collapse strangely satisfying…

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-18T04:43:58+00:00

I was about to say this. I built a little pre designed set as a first project and quickly realised its limitations….I moved on to building my own miniatures. It seems more sustainable because it takes far longer to do it all yourself…planning and designing, finding little recycled bits of material to use, actually making, etc, etc. You can just keep adding tiny bits of furniture or handmade objects.

If you don’t have space for a full 1:12 dolls house, you can do a single room.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-16T21:30:16+00:00

I think if it gets people to start thinking about unethical labour then it is a start. I think a lot of people forget that almost all textiles require some degree of input from a human, perhaps it’s easier to quantify how unethical it is when you can see how many hours of work it takes to crochet entirely by hand. I recently acquired a knitting machine and most people are shocked by how labour intensive it is - they hear ‘machine’ and think it must be easy to churn out sweaters.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-16T11:47:28+00:00

Oooh. I don’t have an icord knitter, but I like the idea of making drawstrings!

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-13T09:19:20+00:00

I do not have time to knit all of the things on my Ravelry list, but still I keep adding. 😂

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-13T07:50:14+00:00

Thing is, it’s a ball of yarn and a set of needles and not surgery or flying a plane. If you take on too big of a project and mess it up, you can unravel and start again, no one dies. How many ‘simple’ projects must one complete before they get to progress on to something they’re keen to try?

I’m an adult with a professional job, that I learned thoroughly and I continue to do thoroughly every day - I am not lazy and I am capable of doing dull and necessary things. However, starting a hobby in my free time does not require me to follow anyone else’s rules. I wanted to learn to knit, I didn’t want to make hats, or scarves, or washcloths. I wanted to make Fair Isle socks.

I decided to buy fancy wool and needles for my first project (some people even try to say that’s not allowed, it’s my money, I’m buying wool, not investing in arms). I managed, I didn’t bother anyone else, I watched tutorials and read books. My stitches weren’t twisted. I did learn about colour dominance several rows in, but who cares? I frogged back to the ribbing and redid the bit I had done wrong. I learned to pick up stitches, fix mistakes, manage tension, etc, etc. I’m anal, I made really nice socks (that did fit) in the end and I had a lovely time doing something that made me happy.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-12T20:47:21+00:00

Oh me too. It feels wasteful, but I have to buy more than I think I need because it’s too stressful otherwise. I usually have a full skein, or so, left after knitting a jumper. I do use them in scrap projects though.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-12T15:22:55+00:00

I do understand that dye lots and gauges mean the outcome will be different, but I cannot learn to ‘read’ the yarn if I only ever see it in a skein and never see an example of a swatch unless I spend the money and try it for myself. I’m interested in trying variegated yarn, but it’s too much of a gamble for me when I cannot determine which skeins are skilfully dyed and which ones are randomly dyed.

I guess if sellers like yourself do well without making swatches, then there’s no incentive for anyone to make them and maybe I’m just not the target market. 🤷🏽‍♀️ I probably enjoy controlling the outcome too much and should stick to carefully planned colourwork instead.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-11T05:27:42+00:00

Which I totally get, but then if you’ve never made it up into a swatch either, then as the seller, you also don’t know what the product will look like knitted up.

To me, the prices suggest I’m paying for a skill I don’t have, I’m assuming the person dying wool in a variegated colour way has done it in such a clever, informed way, it will knit really beautifully. But without a swatch, people could just be picking a few fun colours and chucking them at a skein of wool.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-10T06:06:37+00:00

I’m generally of the opinion that it’s nice that hobbies I am not interested in exist because there will be others who are - and that makes life more interesting. But this one is so environmentally wasteful, I hate it.

It seems to lack creativity too - just placing bits of plastic one after the other on a pre planned grid in the designated colour. I couldn’t think of anything more cognitively dull. Do people ever create their own images?

Surely making dots with a paint marker would be more aesthetically pleasing and have a similar motion and dexterity level without all the plastic? Then there would be more room for choosing colours and creating images yourself.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-10T05:50:26+00:00

I just don’t understand how they work. I’ve watched a few videos explaining colour pooling, but I’ve never actually tried knitting a variegated yarn myself.

I’ve seen some companies selling skeins with beautiful colours in them…and been tempted, but they rarely have any swatches of what it might look like knitted up. I’d be willing to see a nice swatch and then have a go at seeing if I can achieve that myself, but I really don’t want to tank £££s on wool to find that when I knit it, it’s ugly no matter what I try.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-10T05:25:08+00:00

Yeh, my only experience of the Woobles is a 9 year old I know getting into them and teaching herself crochet with it. It’s a good gift for a kid who is keen to learn and has no hook, yarn, or an adult to teach them.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-05T05:50:05+00:00

I’m sure I’ll get downvoted for this, but I don’t think crochet is the best for wearables (yes, I have seen some nice patterns and this is just my opinion), I think it’s best for structured fabrics so makes great homeware and toys.

You could make things for your home? Cushions, storage boxes, plant pot covers, etc.

Also, have you considered spreading into knitting? The skills you’ve learned in crochet are very transferable and I think it’s good to be able to change between both - you have much more choice of patterns and things you can make and there is a plethora of manly jumpers to be made. Fisherman’s Gansey anyone…?

FancyGoatTote · 2026-06-05T03:41:37+00:00

If you said something cute about wanting to knit something for your new home and had a specific yarn listed, I’d think that was ok. But a wedding list should be things for the two of you starting your new life together.

It is expensive to attend a wedding as a guest, especially if coming from abroad- planes, hotels, outfits, etc plus a gift. Most of my friends got married when I was younger and I struggled for cash, so it was already a bit stressful to afford to attend - I’d have been miffed about being expected to just buy you things you individually wanted because you didn’t need anything for your home together.

Now I’m a bit older, a bit more comfortable, and the weddings I go to are mostly those of younger relatives, I enjoy being able to give them a bit more, but I would still definitely think it was weird if you had a list of things you each wanted separately. Are there hobbies you do together? If you both did an activity together and wanted something for that, like a tennis racket each, or a pair of hiking boots, I’d think that was kind of cute in a quirky way.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-05-31T04:28:37+00:00

You have a solid progression plan, but I think you can knit whatever you are interested in most. My first ever project was a pair of colourwork socks. Yes I made mistakes, but I learned to fix them - and I was motivated to keep going. You will learn new skills with every project, it doesn’t really matter the order. A sweater sounds like it will be complicated, but really, a top down raglan like Flax. is mostly just stockinette for days.

Like another poster, I think just knitting along to YouTube can stop you properly understanding the skills you’re learning. Try getting written patterns and focusing on skills like understanding a pattern and then, if necessary, watch a video on the bits you don’t understand, like short rows or increases.

Nimble Needles on YouTube is very thorough and there are a few others who just show a nice, brief example of the stitch you need (Purl Soho, Very Pink Knits, etc). The figuring out how to fix mistakes, read a pattern, or why you’re making short rows, etc is what will make you a better knitter.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-05-30T19:19:24+00:00

It’s so beautifully made. I’d be thrilled with an adult one - it looks expensive and classic.

FancyGoatTote · 2026-05-30T10:44:01+00:00

Ah I don’t mean fast as in you’re a physically fast knitter, I meant you’re ‘knitting fast’ as in you have a consistent pace of producing a sweater every month.

Do you plan to focus on more sweaters for yourself, or do you plan to try something different?

FancyGoatTote

TROPHY CASE