I received an order for a large tablecloth through my Etsy shop.
It’s going to Australia.
The customer sent me their pattern request—it’s considerably simpler than the previous one. Naturally, I want to follow the instructions. This time, it’s a written pattern in clear English.
That way, I’ll really get the hang of English crochet terminology.
Fortunately, there’s a picture too; I’m relying on that more.😊
I started crocheting. I actually have a month to finish it, but I want to get it done much sooner. Looking at the results of the first day…
September 23rd
Yeah… no comment.🤨
Day 2
Approx. 55 cm in diameter without stretching.
Overall, I’m happy with today’s progress. I’ve completed about 55 cm (unstretched), so there’s still around 100 cm to go. It might not sound like much, but each round takes increasingly longer to complete.
Day 3
I’ve been crocheting for about 8 hours. 15 cm done. Crocheting the 25th round took 50 minutes. So far, 29 rounds are complete—9 rounds in total today. But the day isn’t over yet; I’ll have a snack and keep going. It’s only 6:45 PM
Right, the clock shows 12:20 AM and I’m finishing up my crocheting. I’ve probably crocheted for over 10 hours in total today. My fingers are sore.
Taking shape
32 rounds completed, approx. 78 cm in diameter.
Day 4
I started at 8:30 AM. Internal inspection arrived immediately.
Yarn quality and workmanship checked.
Today’s first round or rather, round—was number 33. It took 58 minutes.
Evening is here—or rather, a new day already, since it’s 12:15 AM. Today was a crocheting marathon. In between, I went to the store, cooked, and ate. Let’s say I didn’t crochet for 2 hours; that means almost 11 hours were spent on continuous crocheting. A total of 42 rounds crocheted—10 rounds today. On average, a little over an hour per rounds. Rounds with more stitches take longer. My fingers are sore. The diameter is approx. 100 cm. 60 cm to go, but since it’s a circle, that’s effectively 30 cm. Maybe I’ll finish tomorrow—though I doubt it—but in any case, I’m on the home stretch.
Crocheting the final round—the 42nd round—took 60 minutes and 27 seconds today.
Day 5
It’s 8:40, and I’m starting to crochet.
I placed a stitch marker so I could see the end of the round.
Well, that’s that. All motivation is gone.
A blunder—a huge one.
How did I not notice it against the previous round. It couldn’t be fixed; I had to unravel two round. That means four hours of wasted time. I’m so angry—a helpless kind of anger directed at myself.
A depressing day. First, I had to unravel my work, and then I had to attend to other things. So, I crocheted a total of 5 rounds today. No, actually 6 rounds, but two had to be undone. Consequently, my productivity for the day amounts to just 4 rounds. A DEPRESSING ACHIEVEMENT.
It doesn’t even look like more than yesterday…
Something feels wrong to me. Why is it holding its shape like that? Maybe blocking it will fix it?
Day 6
I started late. After ten o’clock. And it seems some people thought there was collusion during the previous inspection (suspicion of corruption?), because today an older, slightly hard-of-hearing inspector arrived—constant surveillance. He dozes off occasionally, as befits his age, but when awake, he watches intently. And he doesn’t budge from his spot. A real pain in the neck.
It’s 1 AM and I’ve finished Day 6. If I read it correctly, the goal was to complete the 55th round.
The diameter is about 130 cm.
I laid it out on my table. My table is 108 cm wide. I can see that this piece needs a good stretch, and I’ll have to make it a bit larger than the pattern indicates. It actually specified 60 inches, so 152 cm. I’m crocheting it to 155 cm and will gain the rest through blocking. It’ll end up a bit bigger—fine by me, as long as it doesn’t turn out too small.
I suppose I’ll have to starch it, too. Gently—not too stiffly—just enough to hold its shape. But if I pack it away and it stays folded up for weeks, what will it look like then?
Day 7
I got a late start today. Around half-past nine. Today’s first round has the highest number of stitches so far; it took 77 minutes and 23 seconds to crochet.
Didn’t get much done today, either. All sorts of other things to do. And I have to go to work tomorrow…
Day 8
Back at work. I crochet during downtime. I’m not taking orders, so there’s a lot of just sitting around. But the work isn’t really progressing much.
I’m standing at the Tallinn bus station.
Only 2.5 rounds.😕
Day 9
Things are getting worse as the days go by… in terms of mistakes. And the worst part is not discovering them right on the very next lap.
It wasn’t until the third lap that I realized what a mess I’d made.
I started unraveling again and got carried away—I unraveled a round and a half more than necessary. But now the final version has changed, too. Before, I was thinking of making a spiderweb-like pattern in the gaps; now I’m making leaves. Just like everywhere else. I’m actually still thinking about it, but since this mess happened… well, I’m thinking. A round and a half’s worth of time to think. 🤨
Wrapping up the ninth day of crocheting. It’s already 1:16 AM. I’ve stuck with the decision to do another round of leaves instead of the spiderweb pattern. I won’t manage to finish it tomorrow, but it’s very close to completion. I’ve lost track of the number of rounds and don’t want to count them—at least not right now. There are two rounds of leaves and their stitches. First, 12 stitches per leaf, then 16 in the next round. And there are 20 leaves in each round.
Day 10
It’s progressing—slowly, but progressing. From here on out, it’ll be more fun, since I finished the round with the highest number of stitches yesterday. All the leaf stitches are done; next come arches made of chain stitches, with stitches worked only between them. I’ll take the work with me, even if I don’t get much done.
Day 11
I did manage to do a little bit. There’s so much else to do—we bought kitchen furniture, and the afternoon was spent on that. I’ll do a little more now, and tomorrow I’ll spend the day at home crocheting. It’s unlikely I’ll finish, but every round I crochet brings me closer to the end.
Day 12
Today is a crochet day. Not a marathon like at the start—I’ve taken breaks to cook, eat, and walk the dog. Honestly, crocheting is getting a bit painful now because the spot on my finger where the yarn slides is sore.
It feels like a cut; the yarn keeps rubbing against that same spot.
The end is quite near—about 11 rounds left. So, roughly another 11 hours of work.🙂
Day 13
It takes 77 minutes and 24 seconds to crochet one round. The rounds are getting bigger and bigger. 9 rounds to go.
Day 14
A few more rounds to go.
The diameter seems to be around 150 cm. But it still needs stretching…
Day 15
The end draws closer with every round.🙂
Day 16
I was hoping to finish crocheting today. But… a slip-up—a big one. I have to unravel 3 rounds. There’s no way to hide the mistake. And I didn’t notice it right away—like on the very next round…
What can you do? You live and learn… There’s no one to blame but myself, of course.🤨
Oh, the joy of unraveling…😐
Day 17
Actually, I could have had it finished by now. No point on getting carried away.
I crocheted one extra “pineapple” or “leaf” (depending on what you call it). The diameter was already getting close to 190cm. So, overzealousness isn’t a good thing at all. I got so angry with myself—I think I could have finished three days ago—but anyway, I stopped crocheting, sat down at the computer, and started playing World of Warcraft.
Day 18
I’ve got so far that I´mdeciding whether to do two more rounds or just one. I’ll think about it once I finish one. But the end is in sight. That’s enough for today; maybe tomorrow I’ll get enough done to wash and block it.🙂
Day 19
Didn’t get any crocheting done today. Figuring out the last round took time—experimenting, checking, practicing, and trying again. I finally made a decision and that’s how I’ll do it. Hopefully, I can finish that *last* round at work tomorrow. It looks like this: lots of stitches, so it’ll take a bit of time.😁
Day 20
Really? It’s finished!!!!!
And just like that, it was done 🙂
A quick calculation. The price is 200 euros. The client used a coupon, so they paid 160 euros plus 15 euros for shipping. That means I should have received 175 euros. But I received 140.42 euros.
I also miscalculated the shipping cost; it’s going to be more than 15 euros. I’ll know for sure once it’s sent, but it’s estimated at 21.50, plus packaging materials, of course. If I deduct the 22-euro shipping cost from the amount received, I’m left with 118.22 euros.
Shipping cost was 14.95 euros, and the cardboard box was 1 euro. The weight was actually 525 grams, but I kept sighing about how every gram costs money, so the nice lady at the counter rounded it down to 500 grams. But the yarn didn’t come for free, either; I spent 20 euros on it. So the payment for the work came to €104.47.
I crocheted 72 rounds. I estimate 45 minutes per round; the initial rounds took less time, but from somewhere in the middle onwards, a single round took an hour or more. By my calculations, it took 54 hours to crochet. This means the hourly rate for the work was €1.93. It’s not exactly a way to get rich, and I’m wondering if it’s even worth doing.
Day 21
The package has been sent, and I included a small souvenir. It’s a magnet of a little Estonian girl with blonde braids, wearing a folk costume and blue-black-and-white socks; it has “Estonia” written on it somewhere, too. That adds another five euros to the expenses, so I’ve earned 99.47 euros—that’s 4.97 euros a day. Damn, I’ve never had such poor earnings before :)😁
The client was very happy with my work. I don’t care that my fingers are aching and stiff. I am absolutely thrilled.😁