Joining Motifs (A Bird's-Eye View...!)

I was joining motifs.

I used a size 6 crochet hook for the main motifs, but when joining them, I found it hard to pick up the stitches with a size 6, so I tried a size 5 instead.

For the motifs, I referred to the videos and blog of the lovely Moco-taro↓

For the yarn, I used REGIA bought in a great value lucky bag from Terai, and opal neon colors.

...Though I forgot to take a picture before ironing, the fabric was puckering, and the motifs were popping up.

I tried ironing it from above (by force)↓

...It got a bit better (flatter), but maybe I should have joined them without changing the crochet hook size. Oh well. It's too much trouble.

And then,

The two vertical lines on the left, the seam (the pink line) is on the back! It seems I joined this part from the wrong side (this is what happens when I do it while drinking). ...Oh well. I'll only use it at home anyway.

By the way, I didn't refer to any books or anything this time. I just kept crocheting motifs without deciding what to make, and when I got bored, I started joining them. It's nice to enjoy this kind of freedom once in a while, isn't it? I think I'll leave a hole for my head in the middle of the blanket and use it at home as a blanket-cum-wearable-throw.

Also, things like joining motifs or seaming... tasks where you have to properly identify the stitches, I'm super bad at them (exhausting). No matter how hard I've worked on a piece, the final result can be ruined depending on the finishing of the seams or joins, so that's probably why I'm bad at it—because of the tension. Even so, one thing I realized this time is that if you look at it from a bird's-eye view, it might go relatively well.

...No, it didn't go well, though...

But if you stare intently and only look at the small part you're currently joining, your shoulders get stiff, your eyes get tired, and it's not very fun, is it? And then at the very end, the stitch count doesn't match, and you try to force an adjustment, causing strange wrinkles in the fabric. I'm confident I've experienced all the common mistakes.

But this time, when I did it with the awareness of looking at the entire fabric from a step back, regardless of the quality of the finish, it felt much easier mentally. Since no one is going to stare at the work with a magnifying glass anyway, I figured if it looks okay from a distance, it's probably fine. I believe that for anything, the only way to improve is to do it many times, but if there's a mental hurdle, I lose the motivation to do it repeatedly, so this was a very positive realization for me!

...Well, I wanted to finish this piece by the end of the year, but thankfully, I'll be spending the year-end and New Year holidays in Europe this year. So, these motifs will be staying home until the beginning of the year. I hope I'll have the motivation again when I see them next...