Tag: felting

Last Hat of 2016

denisemor 0 December 31, 2016

It was going to be a quick one.
But felting with a variety of handspun yarns can be kind of a crapshoot.

It knit up fast, but then didn’t felt down quite the way I’d hoped.
The ribbed edge actually grew by about 3 inches. Maybe more.
Crazy.

So I had to take a step back and redesign on the fly.

Thankfully (?) the section just above the ribbing didn’t really felt very well, so I was able to carefully snip and pull out a row to remove the ribbing and leave felted but live stitches above to work with.

Picked up the stitches, and knit down corrugated ribbing on smaller needles. Finished off with Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn “Better Bindoff” so it has a little give at the edge.

Whew! Finally sized for a normal-sized human head 🙂
And it’s felted down pretty hard through the body, so should be super toasty.

Which is a good thing, because it’s supposed to get mighty cold again next week.

Happy New Years everyone!

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s

denisemor 2 December 6, 2016

A Pod!

A CatPod, to be more precise.

Boo Kitten seems to be a little suspicious of it right now, but I’m hoping that once she curls herself up in there she will find it comfy and cozy.

I really should have gotten a pre-felting photo of it for before/after effect, but as you can probably guess, it was like a great big crazy floppy thing.

Felting is always kind of a crap shoot when you are using a bunch of different kinds of yarns, but I did a little math and planned the decreases anticipating about 30% lengthwise shrinkage, to bring it back to a roughly spherical shape.

Worked out pretty well I think!

Was kind of hoping that it would be firm enough after felting for the opening to not require reinforcing, but it needed a little help, so I repurposed a 7 inch diameter embroidery hoop to provide structural support.

Voila!

project notes:
size 13 needles
cast on 66 stitches
stitch pattern: knit 1, purl 1 rib (perfect for practicing the Norwegian Purl technique!)
knit about 3 inches in pattern
increase 11 stitches in next round (77 stitches)
knit about 3 inches in pattern
increase 11 stitches in next round (88 stitches)
knit about 3 inches in pattern
increase 11 stitches in next round (99 stitches)
knit 3 inches in pattern
increase 11 stitches in next round (110 stitches)
knit 5 inches in pattern
decrease 11 stitches in next round (99 stitches)
knit 4 rows in pattern
decrease 11 stitches in next round (88 stitches)
knit 4 rows in pattern
decrease 11 stitches in next round (77 stitches)
knit 4 rows in pattern
decrease 11 stitches in next round (66 stitches)
knit 3 rows in pattern
decrease 11 stitches in next round (55 stitches)
knit 3 rows in pattern
decrease 11 stitches in next round (44 stitches)
knit 3 rows in pattern
decrease 11 stitches in next round (33 stitches)
knit 2 rows in pattern
decrease 11 stitches in next round (22 stitches)
knit 2 rows in pattern
decrease 11 stitches in next round (11 stitches)
cast off remaining stitches, secure ends
felt felt felt felt felt!

final dimensions: 7″ diameter opening, 33 inch circumference, 14″ length

Fun with Leftovers

denisemor 0 July 3, 2016

When life gives you yarn leftovers,

Just add KoolAid! (and/or other food dye)

And BAM!
Now you’ve got something splashy to play with!

Those fun and fruity leftovers, plus a little bit of peachy orange from a previous dyeing adventure, came together as a big floppy hat

Which then spent some time in the washer and dyer, and resulted in

As the Kool Aid Man would say,,,,”Oh Yeah!”

I Felt That!

denisemor 1 September 20, 2015

This week’s hat, pre-felting

and on my head for scale.

and here it is after a trip through the washer and drier-

It’s got a soft fuzzy halo from the mohair in the yarn, and the multicolor yarns “cook” down so nicely.

Working with these fun colors this week got me inspired to do a little more dyeing.

Teal, yellow, moss green and red should give me lots of nice blending options.

II especially liked the range of shades I got in my red batch.

That will be a lot of fun to play with once it dries, but in the meantime here are the beginnings of next week’s hat. Gotta have something on the needles!