Felting up a storm

I've been felting stuff like crazy!
These are the felted projects I've completed & am still working on.

Felted kitchen set for J...no trivets (we don't use 'em anyway)


Half-sized wool dryer balls (to de-wrinkle & de-static J's shirts since I stopped using dryer sheets). Gotta wind on and felt some more. Instructions to make are found here. It's taking 3 turns in the hot cycle to felt as much as I like cuz it's Shetland wool & very durable.


Mini wet bag...holds three of Owen's diapers :)


Still to do...tooth fairy pillow for Serena from felted yellow sweater, another purple wet bag, an orange wet bag, a yellow wet bag, fishing reel bags for Gary (from the brown & autumn harvest sweaters)...and I need to find some time to make more diapers & crochet a pony for Serena...AAAAHHHH!!!!

A Ltttle of Everything...

Oh man have I been working on a BUNCH of projects all at once!
Here's the run down...in no particular order (cuz I don't remember :)LOL

1) Listed annual & lifetime cottage licenses on etsy of for my knit pattern.
2) Been selling some old clothes on ebay.
3 & 4) Won some black BFL & ordered some undyed BFL too.
5) Wrote crochet versions of Munchkin Rumps Soaker...I have 2 very different versions.



















6) Dyed two skeins of yarn for crochet demos to sell.














7) Got a Little Meggie (Mother Marion) kick spindle from www.heavenlyspinning.com & started spinning the gray BFL/Corrie batt :)











8) Been disassembling sweaters & felting.





















9) Owen helped me frog...and is walking now!















10) Knit Owen the "firestorm" shorties...FINALLY!


11) Still plugging away at Nate & Ann's socks...











12) Celebrated Serena's 5th b-day at Chuckie Cheese.











13) Found a baby painted turtle in the yard at the end of May & relocated him to the fish pond.














14) Then ~3 weeks later found an adult & put him in the pond too :)

Can you spot the adult & the baby among the lily pads??
Hint: look in opposite corners :)

15) Gotta get back to it...LOL

TORTUROUS baby blanket!!

I must keep knitting...I must keep knitting...I must keep knitting...I must keep knitting...I must keep knitting...I must keep knitting...

I have to keep repeating that to myself as I work on this blanket.
I offered my knitting services to make a baby blanket in a charity auction in February.
I had some worsted weight acrylic yarn that could've worked for boy & another for girl...the winner didn't like either. Luckily, my MIL gave me a TON of pastel baby yarn that had been crocheted into a huge unfinished blanket. Frogged it and got 9 medium sized balls of yarn to work with. Checked with the auction winner...it was a "go."

Ok so on April 1st, I cast on...frogged, cast on, frogged, cast on. Ugh!!
I think I cast on about 6 times before continuing on for a bit.
I originally was working with the yarn double stranded (on size 5 needles) cuz I liked how the colors popped out more from the white. After about 4" I couldn't take how tight the stitches were on the needles (there's lots of switching from purl to knit & back again so I wanted to make sure I was keeping the yarn tight enough). I changed the heads of the needle to size 4 to see if it got better, it didn't >:P
Frogged it all again!!
Cast on AGAIN!
This time single stranded on size 2, but still pulling pretty tight. Looks good...I'm happy about that :) But it is taking FOREVER!! The yarn is ~sport weight...good for socks (they're small) not good for blanket (it's big).
The auction was in February & the intended recipient of the blanket was maybe 4-5 mos pregnant then...I MUST finish soon!! I have finished all other knitted projects & have to constantly remind myself not to cast on anything else until this is done!!
If it was wool...maybe it wouldn't be so hard for me to keep going.
If it was for one of my own children...or someone I knew & cared about...ugh!

I'm about 3" farther than what's in this picture...so torturously slow!!


I must keep knitting...I must keep knitting...I must keep knitting...I must keep knitting...I must keep knitting...I must keep knitting...

Bag open...Cat out...

Well, I spoiled the surprise.
I was gonna wait until after I gave Sally "the surprise" before writing a post about it. But since Owen was sick the day I would've seen & given it to her...and then I read her comment about teary eyes while seeing the sweater in pieces...I just had to tell her.
I saved one repeat of the cable pattern from the front & back sides of the sweater & made them into a stole as a keepsake for her (cuz the sweater was a gift from her grandparents).

Unraveled to the last pattern repeat.


Binding off the live stitches.


Separating the waist ribbing...boy was that easier said than done!


Bind off lower loops & repeat for back panel.


Seam together, weave in & trim ends.


Since the wool used was chosen for its durability, it is not as soft as I would like. I tried REALLY hard to soften this stole for Sally to use comfortably. I did an overnight conditioning soak with LOTS of "smoothing" hair conditioner. I did a light lanolizing soak ("light" so it wouldn't be sticky) with lavender scented baby wash & eucalyptus oil for a nice fragrance. Afterwards, I "test-wore" it around my neck for an hour or two & it wasn't horribly uncomfortable...so I think I succeeded as much as I can. Hopefully she'll like it.

The "Aran Sweater Adventure" begins

So my friend Sally gave me a box of sweaters a while ago...donating to the wool-covered-baby-butt cause...and in the box was a HUGE Aran sweater! Actually a men's medium. Undyed & in great shape. Ooh I just had to have it :)
Here's a pic


If you're reading Sally, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

It has some pretty extensive cabeling with some pretty big holes in the design as a result...didn't think it would work to cut it up & definitely didn't want to felt it. So the alternative...unravel it and reknit the yarn...I started yesterday.

Now I'm glad that I spent all that time figuring out how to unravel the cotton sweater (which yarn I have hardly used) cuz this one went much smoother. So far the only trouble spots have been where there's a bit of felting at the seams...not sure how that happened since I don't make sweaters.

Anyway, I got all four pieces apart...2 sleeves and front & back panels and weighed them all...
1 lb 13oz! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

The part I disliked the most was the tiny crochet chain to bind off the tops (really the last live stitches) of all of the pieces...I actually haven't taken it off of the sleeves yet. Four chains from all the shoulder edges was enough for one day. Then I started unraveling and winding into a center pull ball on a paper towel roll. Then I stopped.

I had thought about washing the sweater before I started...but that thought crossed my mind weeks ago & was since forgotten...I was too excited to get started yesterday. As I was winding I thought...ya know it's gonna be REALLY hard to wash unraveled. Hmmm...off to wash.

I kind of like washing wool :) It smells a little funny, but I REALLY like clean wool especially when it smells like the lavender baby wash that I was using on it.

I was really surprised at how dirty the wash water was. I know Sally said that she'd had the sweater for about 20yrs but that it's hardly been worn...seeing how HUGE it was compared to little Sally, I believe it. I had to rinse each piece about 4-5 times before I was okay with what was left in the water. A quick spin in the washer & it was time to figure out WHERE I was going to lay it out to dry...oops didn't preplan :)LOL

I came up with this...

On one two-piece section of "baby-fence" on top of the glass table in the sun room. The fencing is about 5 feet long & it still wasn't big enough to hold it all...the sleeves were hanging off the sides a bit.

So it's still there right now...the ribbing was still damp last night. It is a lot brighter now after the wash & I can't wait to get back to unraveling :)

In the meantime, here's some pics of the cabeling