Years ago I knitted an oversized sweater using skeins and skeins of expensive Noro. The fit was “generous” to start with, and knitted loosely, using large needles. A throw-it-on-over-anything sweater. But it elongated and elongated and elongated with each wearing, until the body was so long I couldn’t reach to the bottom of the pockets with my arms held straight down, and I had to roll the sleeves up in huge cuffs.
I thought, “Well, what do I have to lose? I’ll just wash it and see what happens.” To make a long story short, I succeeded in seriously felting it.
Now, you just can’t throw away that many dollars-worth of Noro. (I can’t anyway.) I packed it away and forgot all about it for years. Then during a serious de-junking frenzy last Fall, I ran across it. I still couldn’t just throw it away. It was, after all, nice felt … surely it could be used to make a purse or hat or something.
Then serendipity happened. I was at Marshall’s, just trolling for bargains. I saw a charcoal sweater. Actually, it wasn’t the sweater that caught my eye, it was the detachable collar.
I wish I had a photo of the sweater before the felting so you could see how really huge it was. But here it is after felting.
I put the collar next to it, and color-wise and size-wise, it was a match. But when I put it on the sweater (now a felted jacket in my eyes), it was still sort of … strange. So I got out the scissors and did a little trimming …
I cut the pockets loose from the side seams and turned the whole jacket inside-out so the cut edge would be inside, just like an ordinary side seam.
One sleeve was longer than the other, so I trimmed about ¾ inch off the longer arm.
And tried this… and that …
And after some rounding and softening of cut edges of what used to be the pockets, ended up with a sort of a double-breasted buckled look.
Thank you, Miss Lucy. You look quite smashing, and it’s definitely one-of-a-kind!
I can hardly believe it’s been over two months since I’ve posted anything! I have been knitting, and have gotten some things done. Here’s a fun little project. It’s called a scarf-lace and the pattern is free from Needlework Unlimited. It uses a single skein of Noro Daria Multi. I thought “anthropologie” when I saw it. Okay, I also thought, “hmm, that’s sort of … odd.”
Here Miss Lucy models it with a brown lacey empire-waisted blouse and simple drape-y vest. Add khaki capris and a pair of cute turquoise sandals.
Whew, I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on several projects: a new take on a teddy bear I've knitted before, the Apre Surf hoodie I've been working on for, oh, about a year, and a pair of men's socks! Photos coming soon.
I showed Andrea a pair of socks I’ve been working on and she said, “There, you should blog about that,” pointing to the rubberband I use to hold my double-pointed needles together and keep the stitches from falling off when my project is getting tossed around in a project bag.
So, folks, here you go. Just take any ol’ rubber band, line up your dps (working needle and the ones with stitches on them), hook the rubberband over the tips on one end of your dps, give it a half-turn as you bring it over the stitches, and then stretch it over the tips of the other end.
Recently a friend was “de-stashing” (we all know about that, right?). Among other things, she tossed a ball of her first attempt at Navajo plied handspun yarn on the table and blathered to the knitting group, “This is so seriously overspun, it’s awful, if someone doesn’t take it, it’s going to be tossed out … blah, blah, blah.” (I just love the word “blathered” and couldn’t resist using it … no offense intended, D.)
It was pretty seriously overspun, no doubt about it. But her control of color was good and there are lots of uses for tightly-twisted fibers, right?
My brain went immediately to the Stow Away Shopping Bag pattern by Oat Couture, which I bought at Double-Ewe Yarn. The plan from the get-go was to surreptitiously knit it up and then give it back to her.
I didn’t have quite enough of her handspun so I Navajo-plied a bobbin of emerald green I had already spun and used that. Still not enough, so I took a little leftover reddish-orangeish-pinkish-purplish-with-sparkly-bits handspun I used to finish of a little cap, called That Hat, pattern also from Double Ewe Yarns. And here’s the finished product.
I have to say, this bag is such a great little project. I made one for my daughter before her trip to The Czech Republic. It folds up into a pack about the size of your two fists…
… and tucks into its own built-in pocket. Toss it in the back seat or glove box, or in a suitcase, and hit the road … easy-peasy.
(If you're interested, here's a good short video on how to do Navajo plying.)
The pattern calls for Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted but I used Cascade 220 and it worked just fine. I decided to use Cascade 220 because I had leftover colors from Eva's Christmas stocking, and thought it would be safest to use all the same yarn since it was going to be felted.
While I was knitting it I thought, “huh, I don’t get it … how’s that going to work, shouldn’t that be attached to something … oh, angsty, angsty!” But I followed the pattern in spite of my doubts, and tossed in the washing machine with my fingers crossed. It felted in no time, and like magic it turned into a … a frog!
With a kiss, will it turn into a handsome prince? Now that would be magic!
Felted stocking for Eva, with Harry Bear (pattern free from Berroco) and earflap cap with matching mittens (photos of both below).
First the stocking. Felted, a little fair isle, a little intarsia, nothing too ambitious but I’m pleased with the result.
I knitted the stocking using Cascade 220 (single strand) and size 11 needles, using just a basic sock pattern for proportions.
(A note about the intarsia section: When I came to the tree section, I put the stitches involved in the intarsia on a straight needle, leaving the rest on a circular. I worked the tree rows, left them on a holder, worked back and forth on the stitches on the circular needle until I had the same length as the tree panel, then put all the stitches back on the circular needle and continued in the round. When I was all done, I just stitched the panel in place and the seams disappear completely in the felting.)
(Oh, and just for the sake of documentation in case I ever want to make another, I did an afterthought heel.)
I took some photos along the way because the shrinkage during felting always seems like such a guessing game. So I wanted to record just exactly what happened.
Measurements before felting: 28" long x 10" wide at ankle
Measurements after felting: 20" long x 7.25" wide at ankle
And stuffed inside a fluffy white Harry Bear, about 7 inches or so long,
Eva's Christmas stocking, before and after (click them for bigger versions):
Bad lighting on the "before" shot notwithstanding, I'm very pleased with how this turned out! I was worried the stocking would be way too ludicrously huge, but it became appropriately huge after felting. And here's a little closeup on this gorgeous yarn (Plymouth Boku):
And, wait a minute, what's this under the tree?
A present for me. This is one of the Fiber Trends felted clogs that I finished knitting almost two years ago and never got around to felting. After I pulled Eva's stocking out of the washer, I was so high on felting I threw the clogs in the washer immediately. And now that they're all felted, my very warm and happy feet are mad at me for not doing it much earlier. These slippers would have made maternity leave a little more cozy.
Felting is fun! I have two more Christmas stockings to knit and felt (though that probably won't happen until after the holidays) so I have something to look forward to.
I have been finishing up projects like crazy but not getting much blogging done! Here are my Lace Panel Gloves, designed by Lisa Hoffman and published in the Fall 2009 issue of Vogue Knitting. This issue has lots and lots of pages with little yellow sticky-notes marking patterns I would l-o-v-e to make!
I used Wollmeise. I had never used this yarn before but it is very beautiful and so easy to work with, and I think the gloves have a very nice fluid drape to them, which you really can't see in the photo of course. I'm so very pleased with myself ... this is the first pair of gloves I've made. Thank you, Deb, for introducing me to this yarn.
