About a year ago I had an idea for my next YouTube video. I had knit some covers for my water bottles ages ago, but I love them and use them all the time.
Once upon a time I wrote it up as a pattern. But it is kind of complicated. It would make an excellent video.
I started filming October 20th (2024). I finished the last clip on June 17th. In between, I had to rip out and redo it a couple times. I made some glaring errors. At one point I had a cold, and you can hear me sniffling on camera.
It's finally been edited together (by my amazing brother), and I just uploaded it to my channel. Here it is.
It is over an hour long, so only sit down to watch it if you're interested in knitting yourself one. (They are fun. It's worth the effort.)
I finally did it. I finally got that video I'd meant to get uploaded uploaded.
A few years ago I decided that I wanted to create a YouTube channel of me making various of my yarny projects. But, I have no real video-making skills. Well, the best way to learn something is to do it, even if I do it badly, so I began.
(My brother has been kind enough to do the editing, so at least they're put together well.)
Summer 2023 I had some time to make some videos. Three of them. The first two were uploaded over this past summer. And the third is here, now.
What am I making? I call it the tablet buddy (you can purchase the pattern either on Etsy or on Ravelry). It's a thing to prop up your cell phone, your ereader, or your tablet. They look like this:
At least, this is like the one I made on camera. This is the small size. The phone can be leaned against the pyramid, and there's a line of bobbles to keep it from sliding down.
Anyway, here's the video:
It is an hour and thirteen minutes long, so I don't expect anyone to watch the thing all the way through (unless you plan on making one of these).
The next thing I need to do is to create a good title image as none of my videos have one right now. Little by little I'm getting this channel up and running. (I have started shooting a new video, but at the rate I'm going, it'll be a while before I get it finished, let alone uploaded.)
It's that time again. The between major projects time. I don't know what big thing I want to make next now that I've finished the big thing I've been working on for a while. So, I did a bit of this and a bit of that.
I did some clearing out of my closet, and I found my six-year afghan...
I made this in the '90s. I found the pattern in a magazine. I bought the yarn from WalMart. I thought I'd finish it quickly. But, I got bored and busy with other things, so it became one of those projects that I worked on off and on until I finally finished it.
I've mentioned it on the blog before, but when I went to look for pictures, I didn't have any. So, when I pulled it out of my closet, I knew I had to take a quick picture before I packed it away again.
I pulled out some yarn and found patterns, but not much has gotten started.
I did, however, start making a video. Another one. For my YouTube channel. Considering how long these things take me, don't expect to see it for months, if not a whole year.
I think this outtake is short enough that I can post it directly here:
I counted the stitches. I was going to transfer some to another needle, but then I dropped the needle. And I decided I could do another take without dropping the needle.
I had a great outtake where I totally dropped a stitch, tried to put it back on the needle, and failed. And failed again. But that one was too long for Blogger without going through YouTube first. Sigh.
What am I making? I'll tell you when I get the whole video finished. It's nowhere near complete yet.
But I do have a completed video to get uploaded. I'd love to say I'll get to it this week, but who knows? I pledge to have it uploaded by the end of November. (I think I can manage that.)
In my summer of getting random projects done, I actually got myself a new computer. I ordered it a week ago, and it arrived on Wednesday. This is the first blog post I've written using it. (It's a Lenovo, and I know nothing much more than that other than it has a touch screen and a working keyboard.)
And now, if I want to keep my YouTube channel active, I need to figure out what to make on camera next. (I have one video being edited, but nothing coming after that.) I've been toying with the idea of doing the Christmas ornaments, but otherwise I'm out of ideas. Any thoughts?
Anyway, here's the video:
It's about 33 minutes long, so I don't expect views from any except crocheters. I hope you like it.
About a year ago, I made three videos. The idea was to edit them into something coherent and then post them to YouTube.
The first video is finally ready. (I sent them to my brother who knows how to edit video. He kindly did the edits for me. It took me forever to watch and ask for fixes. And then to watch again to make sure it's ready to be posted.)
It's a how to make this thing:
I wrote out the pattern about decade ago and posted it to this blog. But last summer I had this idea of making it on camera. So, I did.
And here's the resulting video:
It's about a half hour long.
Hopefully I'll get the next two uploaded sometime this summer. That's the goal, anyway.
I'm still figuring out this whole video thing out. This shows the steps to make the thing. (Pattern is written out here if you're interested.)
While I would really love to have someone who knows how to do the whole video editing thing (and filming thing) help me out, as long as I'm doing it myself, it's going to be a bit before these get any better. Practice, right?
It took me a while to get all the components I needed and then to find the time to film it. Then I got busy working in July, so I didn't have the mental bandwidth to figure out how assemble the clips into a full video. (It wasn't hard once I sat down to do it.)
It's a beginner attempt at a video, but it shows all the steps to making the lip balm holder:
The written instructions are here if you want to have a go at it.
When I started the thing, back in 2013, the intent was to knit myself a lightweight cardigan. Instead of finding a sweater pattern, I found a stitch pattern I liked, and I decided to wing it. I know roughly how a sweater is constructed. I've knit sweaters in the past.
I swatched. I found my gauge. I figured how many stitches I'd need to cast on to make it sized for me. And then I cast on.
I figured it'd be a couple months, and then I'd have to figure out how I was going to attach sleeves.
Seven years pass...
So, a couple weeks ago, I found myself between knitting projects. And I remembered the cardigan. I figured I could knit a few rows on the thing until something else catches my interest.
Only, a funny thing happened on Tuesday or Wednesday. I looked at how long the thing was, and I wondered. I pulled out a t-shirt for comparison, and yep, I'm just about there. It's almost long enough to need to figure out the sleeve portion of the project.
Suddenly my sweater is looking like it might get finished.
I haven't bound off for sleeves yet, but I'm close enough that it was time to do some calculations. I actually have a sleeve plan. Barring any weird distractions, I should be ready to get the sleeves started this coming week.
The picture of the thing doesn't look much different than last week. I completed about half a pattern repeat.
But, in an experimental mood, I tried filming myself knitting. (I'm planning to film some videos of me making stuff. Figuring it all out is turning out to be more complicated than I expected. So, baby steps.)
There is no sound. I'm knitting one pattern repeat on row three of the pattern. It's slow. I'm a more confident knitter, really, but dealing with having the camera set up slowed me down.
It was a first attempt. I'll figure out how to set it all up eventually.
