Diamond Painting

Back in 2020, I picked up a new hobby while we were all in lockdown. Why did I pick up a new hobby when I already have so many? Because I burned myself out on spinning, knitting and crocheting, but it did keep me sane for a while. We'll talk about that another day though.

My first big diamond painting. This one was finished January 1, 2021

That new hobby was diamond painting. If you somehow haven't managed to hear about diamond painting, a good way to think about it is cross stitch meets paint by number with sparkles! You have a canvas with adhesive (either poured glue or double sided tape) with the symbols right on the canvas. The drills, or diamonds, can be either round or square in shape and come in bags with the number on them. You have a key that will tell you which color is which symbol and then you can go to town and start working.

I heard about it because YouTube suggested that I might like a video about diamond painting and after watching it, I figured, why not? And promptly ordered a small one from Amazon. I think I finished that one in 3 or 4 days.

A close up of the canvas. Most of the time you don't have similar symbols next to each other. I was just lucky.

And a new addiction hobby was acquired.

Are there currently about 26-27 in my stash and 5 of them currently in progress at the same time? Yes. Have I only actually completed 6 of them and given of those away? Also yes.

Flower Delivery v2 by Yuumei Art from Diamond Art Club

This is the current active WIP that I am working on. It is 27.6" by 40.2" (70cm by 102cm) with square drills with 82 colors and it has a total of 114,929 diamonds (drills). 

I work from the top to the bottom and keep the bottom of the canvas rolled up and in my lap or hanging off the desk, depending on where I am working on it. Occasionally, I will work on the very top upside down so it is a little bit closer to me. I used a light board under the canvas and I have an overhead lamp as well. This is my set up in the craft room where I diamond paint most often.

I'm hoping to get this one finished in the next 2 or so months then finish up one or two too the other WIPs before I start a more recently purchase. I make no guarantees.

WIP Wednesday

I have a few, ok, more than a few projects in the works and of course I have many more planned as well. These are a few that I am slowly working on an dope to finish before the new year.

The african flower blue and white blanket will need 106 more hexagons if I want to get it to be a nice lap blanket size. It might be smaller if I get bored or run out of yarn before I get that far, but since I got the giant balls of yarn I'm not too worried about running short.

My third attempt and an OWL for the HPKCHC (you do have to have a Ravelry account to see the fun) and the only one that I haven't finished. The fiber for this is a merino/silk blend that was somewhat compact and had to be redrafted quite a bit to make it spinable, but I still have four ounces to spin and ply before I can cable ply it with this bobbin. Hopefully I can get this done before Yarn School in October because it is taking up my bobbins.

And my last spin that is hogging a bobbin at the moment is red silk hankies that I'm going to chain ply with beads. I finally got the beads so all that is left is plying. There is a bit more to the singles than what is shown in the photo, this was just to show that I did spin with my miniSpinner in the car while on a road trip.