Knit My Dog

There has been progress on the three current projects.... And I've been staying away from the felting. I think I have the obsession out of my system for now, although I could slip back into it at any time. The wool is still out of the stash, the size 11 needles are at the ready, the book is nearby. But I digress. I MUST finish the current projects on the needles.

First, sleeve #1 of Howie's never-ending sweater, 17.5 inches complete!!!

I feel like I've been working on this sweater forEVER. (It's really been off and on for about 8 months). I promised him I'd finish it before fall sweater weather. That's in September up here in Maine so I better get going!

Next, lacey baby alpaca scarf. One skein almost complete, one to go.

It's a gift, and there's definitely a deadline, so this is project #1 this week.

Third, picot edge, stockinette sock. First sock completed. This is my on-the-go project, simple enought to work on in the movies.

No real pattern, but I did have the foresight to write down what I did for each step so the second sock my actually look like the first. Yarn is Opal and I LOVE the colors! Who would have thought that orange, green, blue and purple would look so good together?

Photoshoot in progress on the hot tub:

Why does my knitting bag still look so full when all of the projects aren't in it? I guess it's time to clean it out.

Of course, Moebius joined me outside for the shoot (any excuse for a dog to go outside), but it was too hot to play ball. Although he did try to tempt me with this juicy looking tennis ball.

Posted by Brenda at 01:50 PM | Permalink

Because there haven't been any pictures of Moebius lately (Howie noticed the absence) and he is sacked out at my feet, I grabbed the camera and started shooting. This picture had the funniest expression.

I've been sitting on the couch, knitting and reading blogs. Now that I have the felting urge out of my system for the moment, I currently have three projects going:

1. A lacey scarf (gift for someone..) in chartreuse. Started this afternoon, about 2 inches completed.
2. A self striping stockinette sock with picot edge. Started on vacation earlier this month and abandoned for felting projects.
3. Sleeve #1 of Howie's never-ending sweater (also called The Afghan because of it's size and lap-covering qualities). About 16 inches completed so far.

That's about all that's going on over here on this hot and humid Friday. I think Moebius has the right idea.

Posted by Brenda at 03:14 PM | Permalink

I think I'm felting obsessed!

Bowls in various stages of felting. One unfelted, two completely felted (like the one to hold business cards?), and two after one trip to the washer.

I just can't get enough of this! The knitting is easy and quick. I'm not using a pattern so I can combine any colors I want and make it any size I want. And I love reaching into the washer after the cycle is complete to see what magic has happened.

The other felted obsession right now are these:

The image on the left is the striped slippers from Knit One, Felt Too with one glaring error - can you see it? On the right are the slippers pre-felting. They're huge. Giant sized even!

Then they went in the washer where the hot water-soap-aggitation magic happens...

After one washing, they were still a little loose...

Another cycle in the washer, and they fit perfect! They're thick, warm and cozy. The only problem was that it was about 95 degrees out when I was trying these on. My feet started sweating immediately. This from someone who usually wears socks all the time. (OK, maybe not when it's 95 out).

Posted by Brenda at 04:39 PM | Permalink

I've been wanting to felt for a while. Except for the roll-neck sweater of mine that my mother threw in the washer and dryer, I haven't knitted for felting. So I got together some feltable yarn and big needles, and started knitting. My first try was for this felted bowl. I love how it came out! Pre-felting it measured about 5 inches high with a 5 inch diameter. After one wash on hot, it measures about 3.5 inches high with a 4 inch diameter. I love how the colors blend, especiallly where I used on strand of each color. I love the fuzziness of the felted fabric.

I didn't use a pattern, just started with 4 stitches on 4 dpn's, increased one stitch at end of every needle until it was big enough (12 stitches per needle), purled one row, knit until it was big enough with one or two rows of decreasing to make the top a little narrower than the bottom. Then I threw it in the washer and hoped for the best. I'm very pleased with the results. I think these will make great gifts and they're quick to knit (about 1-2 hours).

My second attempt didn't work out so well. It didn't felt great, the stitches were still visible, and it's not much smaller than it started out. So it's in the dryer to see if that helps. If not, it'll go in the washer for one more round. Like I said, it's all an experiment.

Posted by Brenda at 07:03 PM | Permalink