I'm about ready to attach my second skein of this and finish. Man, 621 yards is a lotta little stitches on this smaller gauge. Sure makes for a luxurious feeling thing though. Unfortunate, the red border on it, but that's how it's gonna stay.
The dismantled sweaters have become great Cat pads and knee pads. I wasn't able to make satisfactory bags...the stuff is very very tough and did not take well to being sewn into a bag. I will be much happier with knitting a bag and THEN felting it. I will leave the dismantling and unravelling of wool to those more noble than me. They make excellent Cat Magnets and that's good enough for me, LOL.
Thought I'd try the smaller gauge. Like a typical newbie I selected a bargain boucle in mostly black ---- not the wisest choice for closer nails and no experience, but it'll be OK. The feel of the fabric is really wonderful.
Finally got this one wrapped up. I'm looking forward to wearing this! I did drop a stitch AND managed to pick it up albeit not in the twisted form, but I can live with it. It's the first time I've even gotten close to salvaging a thing like that.
In an effort to cut down on wool cost I picked up some cheaper, rougher stuff and made up a little swatch. So far it looks like the finer stuff needs to be doubled up, or better tripled. The dark was 3 strands, the white was 2. I threw in a couple resale shop sweaters to felt as they were as unraveling them is more of a process than I can really benefit from.
I lost my loom pick today what a TRAGEDY. Not really in the end....I was compelled to do stuff I'd been letting slide. Plus it gave me an excuse to go and spend a couple bucks on 2 spare picks and grab a book on felting that was 40% off and had lots of pretty pictures in it. Much nicer looking stuff than my 3 felting cats leave on my furniture. I also picked up a knitting gauge which all sources say I should have, which means I should figure out how to use it. Though I really don't care. This last month is the first time I have ever been able to do anything with yarn besides a crewel or latch hook kit. Knitting is beyond me, like the game of bridge is beyond me. My Grandmother tried to pass it on to me. She only needle knitted and her work was much admired. Spool knitting I got and could never find any use for so finding these king sized spool knitters has been helping me tie up those frustrated knitting inadequacies of my youth.
And FELTING! All my life if you felted something it was wrecked. Period. Felting would be a waste of great knitting skills really, so it's a perfect fit for me.
The stuff is a pain to work with but it does work up really well and looks better than I expected it to. I have to get something decent done up with some of this yarn I have so I can justify doing some more felting! For all I moaned through the bag, I really want to do more. But here's the shawl that I like more and more as it gets longer. I like it from both sides and I may just try a similar pattern with my nicer ribbon stuff that I still haven't unraveled.
The half dismantled sweater and spaghetti scarf pieces. I've decided this is the type of thing I need to process, finish and get OUT of here. I will attempt to use my millions of yarnlets in a felting project and leave the unknitting of sweaters to folks who are better at getting the long string than me.
The pink and blue spaghetti piece scarves need some arranging, but they are cute. My granddaughter gets overstimulated at the mere sight of those so I will try and snap a picture when she comes by next. I gave the blue-er one to her Mom, but It's gotten swung around to where it needs to be more firmly stitched in it's braid.
The kid also rates a "glamourous stole" which is being done in the lionbrand boucle I got on sale and some of the recycled sari silk. I'm doing it as a long flat panel but it will stay pretty simple -- I want it done fast while the 6yr old is in the theatrical mood.
This other piece with the Moda-Dia Ticker tape is going to be a challenge. It is fun and springy ribbon yarn and it looks really cute worked up, but it is totally a stinker to handle. I do dishes, but I know my hands are not as rough as this yarn makes them seem. The finished look might make it worth it though. I am a complainer about the little goofy stuff.
I marked some clear tape to remind me what to do with my stitches. After my last ribbon project I decided to go for a little more structure and I can't seem to find a pattern I am able to follow that I like the look of, so I decided to just try something.
Got a felted bag done. I absolutely tried to follow instructions, but went amiss someplace, as usual. It is widely documented that shrinkage usually is more vertical than horizontal, but my piece went the opposite direction. And it took a crapton of wool! Still it was a lot of fun and I can hardly wait to do it again.
I got some spectacular new yarn on my porch. My Grand-daughter says it's just too pretty. I'm real excited about both of them. Tempted to do another felting project except that they take so doggone much yarn to do and the results are iffy till the bitter end. These are pretty enough I could probably just mount the box on the wall and call it a done deal.
I went for the looms because I was able to produce something besides a large mess. I did a Christmas gift for a dog friend of mine and was inspired to try more. That this was even possible is a shock. I can only imagine how much better it can be with a quality loom. This looks to be a great year for lovin up on yarn for sure.
I used a pattern by loomlady found here:
http://loomlady.blogspot.com/2007/01/sock-it-to-me-dog-sweater.html
I liked this one the best, though I have some I haven't completely finished yet, namely a purple one, but I love this red.
Last year's worktable looked like this. I've still got some to process after my mega gourd year.
This growing season was not so great. I got a bunch of the minatures and a couple hardshells though so it wasn't a total loss.
I don't miss the maintenance of molding gourds in my basement this winter. I have my few outside this year.
The day my Fluke Ukulele arrived from Hawaii. I just stuck my head in the box and breathed in that Hawaiian air..... The ice stayed for a week.
Some of these experiments were more successful than others. I have a bit of un-knitting to do with this ribbon mess. It had fringe on it which made it cross between Stevie Nicks and a baglady look. It's a shame cause it's really nice stuff it's made of!
