I'm feeellllting.

There is just something magical about felting. About how you can take a pile like this:


Throw it in the washer. And have it come out like this:





The purse is a simple cast on however many stitches--in this case 64, but it is a little wide and short--knit in the round until you are almost out of yarn and bind off and sew together--or you can get fancy and three needle bind off. The cord is just 3 stitch icord.

The flowers were perhaps my favorites--the sea anemones are cute, but the flowers... Well the purple is cascade 220 and the pink are Ultra Alpaca and I think the ultra alpaca with the pebbly way it felts up just looks almost like I bought them at a craft store.

We don't know what were going to do with them yet, but I have this terrible urge to knit more.

felting (and jam notes)

Last summer I whipped up a few things out of a skein of Paton's SWS.


But I didn't felt them because it seemed like a waste to felt so little. So I set them aside.

In my latest eh what to knit phase I had a chance to knit at a playground while my kids ran around with gobs of other first graders and I did not have a sock started. In fact I had nothing started, so I grabbed a skein of Noro Kureyon and some needles. In less than a week I had:



Also not felted because after I finished that, I realized I still had some scraps of purple wool (cascade 220, I think and only realized because I used some to finish the strap) that I could maybe make another flower from. But I couldn't remember where I got this pattern... and I found another felted flower pattern (from 101 one skein wonders which is where I thought the sea urchins had come from.) and started one in purple. THEN I realized I needed one in pink and realized that I happen to have some leftover ultra alpaca in pink. SO I think it will be a while before I start felting.

On another note, I'd like to say that this blog has saved me! Last year I noted that I had made 3 batches of Strawberry jam (and one peach and 1 sour cherry). Well the jam came out perfectly in terms of amounts and this year Strawberry season is here a few weeks early. So after making 2 batches of jam which came out to this much:


I wondered--how much had I made last year because I have 2 containers left and that's about perfect (I like to give away jam too to pet sitters, teachers, etc). I looked in the archives and lo and behold last July I mentioned I had made three batches. So future self--I'll be making batch #3 of Strawberry sometime this afternoon.

felting

There is something deeply satisfying, to me at least, about felting something I've knitted. Take something big, perhaps unevenly knitted, perhaps with small holes where the color join didn't go smooth and toss it in the washer with hot water, a pair of old jeans and a bit of soap. Take it out and it has been transformed into something smooth and dense and completely unlike what went in.
I like to try new techniques on felted items, as I once told a group of new knitters, all the mistakes come out in the wash. To that end, I did my first colorwork on felted backpacks. I did my first attempts at continental style knitting on my felted yoga mat bag. And I suppose I probably should have done my first socks that way. Then I would have had, before now, this warm and cozy pair of slippers.

(yes, I know they don't match, I ran out of yarn)
I finally finished and felted yesterday, a pair of slippers from Knit one Felt too. Today, I am wearing them thanks to the fact that my house is incredibly dry. I've gotten very casual about the felting process and so now I'm not hovering over the washer waiting and sniffing wet wool. Instead, I throw them in, wander around cleaning things until I notice the washer is stopped, and then I run a rinse cycle, spinning out the rinse cycle really aids the drying process. I used to hang out, pulling the items out every 5 minutes checking progress. I like this new relaxed style better.
Just for comparison, here is the before:


Since finishing these, I've had a really bad burst of starteritis (in knitting, I added lest my family think I would be starting things for them like starting to do dishes or mop floors or clean the bathrooms). I re-started my kindergarten scarf, on size seven needles (as opposed to size five). I don't think it will be nearly lacy enough, but I'm going to just deal with it. I wanted to start a drop stitch scarf with some noro silk garden I have hanging around. I actually carted three projects to my MIL's house for 90 minutes of free time. At that point, I decided I wasn't starting ANYTHING else until I had the purple striped socks done--and I only have another 2 inches of ribbing. I'm glad I set a goal or I would have started a bunch of stuff last night.

Instead, I have a plan: finish the striped socks, buy yarn tomorrow for at least one teacher gift (possibly two depending on what I find, if I don't find what I need, I'll use the silk garden), then start teacher gifts and a swatch for the sweater I'm hoping to make from my frogged sweater.

I also think I want to make another pair of these slippers. Although I'll use leftovers and they may look even more motley.

more progress

I meant so much to write an entry before a week had elapsed. I even opened a file that I called "yarn store funnies", but I have no idea what I was going to write about.
Well, maybe I was going to write about how I took my girls to the yarn store with me, and these girls who will barely wear the sweater or socks I made for them were insisting I make them hats, socks, and purses. I am also a softee, because I figured I could make them each a felted purse. My pink girl wanted a "real" green. Purple girl insisted on a soft purple. I have LOTS of purple feltable yarn in my stash though, so I only bought green--well that and none "met her expectations about softness."

So when I knit this weekend--Friday through Sunday this is what I managed to get done:


You'll have to trust me that it is purple.

I did manage this week, to get nothing done on Glenda--although I'll be doing some hand sewing tonight during Heros because I found my Thimble. I also managed to get the zipper in on the purple princess. All I have left on that is the sleeves and the crown! (I also got some knitting on my socks done, funny how the debates have been great tv knitting time--and the irony of knitting purple during this debate is not lost of me--since I think most of the country would look purple if we could get every township to be either red or blue depending on how they voted)

We need to go and buy the materials for Glenda's crown , as I have just been informed that the crown is necessary. The crown for this princess is throwing me off--it calls for buckram and then gluing fabric to it--is there any reason I can't use double sided fusible interfacing?