As Promised: Cluster Felt

A few days ago I promised photos of new felted stuff.  Sometimes I keep my promises . . .

Purple-Bottom Series:

  

Red Bars:

Bushy:

Pink & Green Handspun:

Indecision

Here's the problem:

I knit.  I spin.  I crochet (a very, very, little bit).  I have a bunch of yarn -- most of it my handspun.  I have patterns.  I have fibers, threads, beads, a spindle, a spinning wheel.  I have ideas.

I just don't know what to do next.  I currently have a pair of toe-up, two-circular socks on needles (we'll come back to that later - much later).  I have made one teeny-tiny baby slipper out of some of my handspun yarn.  I'm still working on my version of Mason Dixon Knitting's Moderne Baby Blanket - love, love, love log cabin knitting.

I could knit  I could put in some work on the socks -- we all know that's not gonna' happen.  I could make another teeny-tiny baby slipper to create a pair for some imaginary baby that one of my friends might, at some point, give birth to.  I could bind off and weave in the ridiculous number of ends on the Moderne, then begin the laborious task of finishing it with an applied i-cord.

Or I could start something completely new with some of my own, lovely, handspun yarn or something else I have stashed about.

I could spin:  I could grab some already combed and dyed fiber and make something chunky, or skinny, or whatever.

I could get out the hand carders and labor over cotswold and firestar and border leicester to create something truly unique and funky out of fresh rolags (don't know why, but I love this word).  I could overcome my fear, and try to make my first beaded handspun (shiver).

Or I could go to the movies.  Or clean my apartment.  Or take a nap.  I'm paralyzed!  Aaargh!

Whoo!  I'm finished with my little melt-down.

The socks are not gonna' happen.  That's a given.  I'll clean up a bit first to clear my head.  Then, I'll finish the blanket.  That's the plan.  Let's see how it goes . . .

Giddy Handspun

Giddy
Originally uploaded by flyngmunky

I finally got a chance to photograph the latest offering from my spinning wheel. I'm very excited about this one because it's the result of my first attempt at thread-plying. I also threw in some coils for good measure. (I think there's going to be a fair amount of experimentation for me in the coming months.)

This yarn started its life as a beautiful blue-faced Leicester (BFL) roving that I purchased on Etsy from Color Craze Fiber. She's offering some really beautiful colorways, and I'm sure I'll be visiting her shop again and again. I know that merino is very popular. I've spun with it a great deal myself. But, I am a huge fan of BFL. It's very easy to spin, and it is super soft (softer than merino, I find) with a subtle, natural sheen. Could be my favorite fiber to spin.

Giddy
Originally uploaded by flyngmunky

I have to admit that thread-plying was a little more of a challenge than I expected. The masters make it look so easy. But I'm pretty pleased with the very imperfect result. So pleased that I'm anxious to knit this up into something super funky for myself. The problem now is figuring out what it wants to be. We'll see . . .

urbanknit Giveaway

So, I'm cruising around Etsy today looking at some cool handknit stuff, and I come across a wonderful little shop based in London.  The shop is urbanknit, and the proprieter is Dolapo. 

urbanknit sells wonderful scarves/neckwarmers, and funky bags and purses fashioned from graphic, printed (many African) fabrics. Superb work. 

I decided to check out Dolapo's urbanknit blog, and learned that there is a giveaway of a luscious-looking, chunky, hand-knit, merino cowl. Once you see it you may feel the same way I do: Gotta' have it!

More Felting - With Pics?

This morning when I woke up, there was great, natural sunlight flowing into my place. In addition to doing fantastic things for my morning mood (I am NOT a morning person), it was also wonderful photo-taking light.

So, I decided to take some photos of some of my more recent felted pieces. I just love them. I also caught some images of the project that's on my needles right now. At this time it looks like a little pink, green, butter, and cream colored hat, but it will soon be . . . wait for it . . . another felted bowl!

This is where I share that I can be a little obsessive. I'll be all about felting for another week or two, then it may be hats. Or reversible cable scarves. Or exfoliating, cotton spa cloths. Or my first 10 fingerless gloves/arm warmers. One thing I know it will not be is socks (more on my bad relationship with socks later).

Anyway, you'll notice that there are no photos in this post. That's because my job - the one that supports my fiber habit and keeps a roof over my head - interrupted. So, the photos are still sitting in the camera waiting to be uploaded to the computer, then uploaded to the blog. Way too many steps, but worth it in the long run, I guess. Really, photos will come later. Tonight? Tomorrow? Hard to say, but they will come.

Word of the Day -- Felted

So, the word of the day is "Felted" (or, perhaps more correctly, "Fulled"). 

Once upon a time I thought this was a dirty word.  Not generally, mind you.  But the very idea of taking something I love (yarn), knitting it up into fabric, then "ruining" it by dunking it in hot water and rubbing it vigorously until it shrunk up into a matted mess was, to me, absolutely mortifying. 

Then, one day, I had a bunch of leftover wool yarn that I could not possibly turn into anything that I would wear, or give someone else to wear.  And I started wondering what the heck to do with.  While in this wondering state, I was flipping through projects on Ravelry and came across a felted bowl.  It was pretty.  It was artsy.  It was useful.  It was cool. 

Having nothing better to do, I got out some double-pointed needles and started knitting a little hat-shaped thing.  I knit until I had a floppy, little, round bowl. 

Now, I had no idea how to felt anything on purpose.  Never thought I'd want to know.  So, to the world wide interwebs I went.  If I'm gonna' do this thing, I'm gonna' do it right.  So I Googled "how to felt knitting."  The first page I came to explained in detail how to machine-felt my knitting.  Fantastic!  The problem was, I lived in an apartment with a coin-operated laundry machine . . . down the hall.  There was no way I was going to be able to use this method.

So I kept looking around and found some information on felting by hand.  In my apartment.  In my sink.  With just some hot water from the tap and some dishwashing liquid.  Yeah, okay.  That I could do. 

dunk. swish. swish. rub. squeeze.  rub.  rub.  rub . . .

Twenty sweaty, sore-armed, "what the heck was I thinking" minutes of this later, I had a bowl.  A small, hand-felted bowl.  That I made myelf.  You would not believe how excited I was about this little thing.  And I loved the process.  Watching and feeling the fabric transform in my hands was, surprisingly, one of my most satisfying fiber experiences. 

shaping.  an extra rub here.  a little stretch there.  shock with a little cold water.  back to the hot. 

Felted. 

I loved the process so much, that I made another little, hand-felted bowl.  Then another.  Then a couple o' cups.  Then a vase, and some boxes . . . 

Felted.

Word of the day.

Ten on Tuesday

Okay, time for a little bit of fun with Ten on Tuesday.

This week:  10 Ways to Waste Time on the Internet

1.    Ravelry - if you're here, my guess is you know what's up with this
2.    Etsy - online window shopping; it's pretty amazing what folks are cooking up in their studios
3.    Facebook - love my peeps!
4.    Flickr - i like to search the term "handspun" to see what other spinners out there are doing
5.    Slate online magazine - there is commentary on damned-near everything, here
6.    Daily Candy - simply fun (i'm partial to the washington, dc edition)
7.    You Tube - educational, funny, bizarre, gross . . . whatever you make it
8.    Rotten Tomatoes - because i just LOVE movies
9.    The Sartorialist - funny, i'm not into fashion, but i love this site
10.  Family Guy on Hulu - yes, i know this is wrong on a couple of different levels