[Added on 5/15] Work in progress: Star motif - snack mat

[5/15] After much hesitation in re-knitting, it's finally finished.

I didn't want to make the star motif one full circle smaller, so I left it untouched for a whole month.

I tried to find out if I could buy more yarn, but it's sold out everywhere I look.

The idea of knitting the edges with a different yarn crossed my mind, but in the end, I decided to unravel it and make it smaller.

I had recently been thinking about trying to shoot more videos, so I used video shooting as motivation to complete the star design.

It's just a video of me unraveling and knitting, but when you actually try making a video, you realize that the joy of "creating" is the same.

I've always disliked video editing because it takes so much time, but I've discovered that editing shorter videos offers a different kind of enjoyment.
I'm starting to feel like I can continue for a little while.

The star is now successfully completed, and it looks like we can move on to the next step.

[4/13] Star motif cushion

Once you touch this yarn, you won't be able to resist knitting with it.

Plump, round threads.
This yarn is so cute, it looks like a stuffed animal even when it's just thread.

I was knitting so quickly that I didn't want to waste any yarn, so I made the motif as big as possible.

I continued knitting, taking a gamble, and was just one corner away from finishing... but unfortunately, I ran out of yarn.
I don't even feel like making the motif smaller.

Even though I knew I'd have to unravel the edging, I couldn't resist trying to stuff it with just cotton.

When you stuff this yarn with cotton, it becomes surprisingly "cute!"
It really feels like touching a stuffed animal.

I suppose the right thing to do would be to buy more yarn and knit it bigger, but if I do that, I feel like I'd rather knit it in a different color.

For now, the test of the cushion with a star motif has been "passed."

[4/6] "Cyrano," the yarn for weaving the next star.

A melange yarn with a gray undertone, "Cyrano" by De Rerum Natura.
This is the type of yarn I'm always tempted to buy when I happen to drop into a yarn shop.

The yarn itself is so cute that anything you knit with it will look adorable.

This time, luckily, while I was looking at the yarn, an idea for how to use it came to me.

The day I bought this was my eldest son's entrance ceremony, as he was starting to live alone in the Kanto region.
The ceremony was over, and it had started to rain.

I went shopping with my friend, who hates shopping, to find shoes that would last a long time.

With the persuasion that it was only a 5-minute drive from here, I even went to a yarn shop I rarely get to visit.
I was excitedly choosing the yarn.

This is a town I often went shopping in when I was a university student.
It will surely be fun.

[4/2] A challenge around the stars

Stars are a compelling theme.

A perfectly symmetrical pentagon, with strikingly sharp angles.
I have a gut feeling that I can definitely make it, but it's a shape that forces me to rack my brains.

Rounded stars and sharply pointed stars.
There are many correct answers.

I've crocheted stars several times before, but this time I tried a different approach.

The goal was to create a star that could be knitted large with a sturdy knit fabric.

I've reached a satisfying pattern that might bring my quest for the stars to an end.

The knitted fabric is a bit wavy while I'm still working on it, but it should smooth out nicely with a steam iron, so I'll continue knitting a little larger.