The Frenzy Continues...

The felting frenzy continues at my house with another pair of felted mittens that are earmarked for my mother for Christmas, or maybe her birthday in October so she has them before the weather gets really cold.  I used this same pattern as I did for the pink pair with a few modifications:  I cast on only 38 stitches instead of 44 and made the child size for the inner cuff instead of the adult which seemed like it would be too loose.  My hopes were that having fewer stitches would prevent the belling out that happened on the cuff of my first pair, but alas it did not.  The purl rows I think are to blame and if I were to make a yet another pair I would omit them.  The yarn used for this set was leftover from a sweater I made my mom about 2 years ago and I have been meaning to make matching mittens for her ever since.  It's Jamieson's Soft Shetland, which, you guessed it, is 100% Shetland wool.  It felted quite differently from the Lamb's Pride used for the pink mittens.  It ended up being not as thick making it  easier to bend your hand and less clumsy, and oddly lots of fiber came off loose in the washer during the felting, which unfortunately clogged our washing machine.  Thus, if you felt yourself putting your items into a tied pillowcase would be a safeguard against this happening, which I knew but didn't heed - sigh.  The mittens were very fuzzy when I took them out of the washer so I gave them a judicious trimming for the smooth look you see above. 

This marks the end of the all the felting I think.  Now, I'm onto making a matching hat for the mittens as I still have more yarn leftover.  This is the pattern I'm using (the less slouchy version), but I will be knitting it with some mods that I used previously for this hat.  Namely, I'm lining the brim with angora yarn so it's double thick over the ears and then continuing with only the Shetland yarn for the crown.  I figured the hat should be just as warm as the mittens don't you think?

Now, I haven't forgotten about casting on for my sweater vest that I'm really excited about, but I'm equally as excited to finish my Christmas gifts by the end of Summer.  It's a bit of a push pull between the two.   But, I think the Christmas gifts are winning.

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.

YOP Update - More Gift Knitting

 

It was a good week for me in the knitting realm.  My baby gifts were finished and given to the recipient to much fanfare and applause.  The last minute knitted stuffed Elephant was the biggest hit as apparently there was an elephant in the movie Inside Out that her kids adored.  I may have to make a couple more for them or at least pass on the pattern to their mom who is a fellow knitter.  

With those projects being crossed off the list (and yes I added the elephant to the list just so I could cross it off as I'm like that) I moved on to finishing more of my Christmas gifts.  In the toy making yarn stash I had a lot of pink colored yarn.  Now, I personally am not one for pink being of a ruddy complexion it only makes me look redder in the face, but I have one friend who is a pink color fan.  I decided to try and make her some felted mittens from this pattern that I've had for some years now.  As you can see they start out huge, but after 40 minutes of felting they are more like actual mittens.  Have you noticed the color change?  The yarn I used for knitting toys was all plant dyed and my guess is that the laundry soap I used to help felt the mittens must of had enzymes in it which changed the color.  Some plant dyed colors are really stable like weld yellow and indigo blue, but others not so much.  I don't care for the resulting shade as much as I did the previous color so I'm going to show them to some friends tonight at my monthly scrapbooking meeting to get their opinions.  What do you think?  

The mittens are also a bit more stiff and clumsy than a traditional knitted pair, but they should be killer warm in the subzero temps we get here in Minnesota.  The inside cuff is knitted in an angora/wool yarn that will keep out the drafts while keeping the mittens from falling off the hand.  I want to knit a pair for my mother, but I'm not sure if I should adjust the pattern and narrow down the wrists some as they bell out a bit. 

In the midst of all this I was breathlessly waiting for the mail to deliver the yarn I ordered from Knit Picks.  It finally arrived on Friday and I wound up a ball and started swatching right away.  After I finish my mom's mittens I believe I will cast on and get chugging away on this sweater.  Who knows maybe I can finish it just in time to use it when Fall hits.

Check out the other Year of Projects participants here.  Have a great week everyone!

A Felting Frenzy

It's been Christmas in July for me this week as I am busily knitting and felting hot pads to give as gifts this holiday season.  I loved how my oven mitts turned out so it got me to thinking what else could I felt.  Then I ran across this pattern realizing I could get a pair of pads from each skein and thought "Perfect"!  It would be lovely to give everyone a pair of the mitts, but I don't have enough yarn to make a pair for each of my friends (or at least a good looking matching pair.)

The pattern is very simple where you cast on what amounts to the outside edge and knit decreasing towards the center.  I did make a couple of changes though.  I knit them on US 11 needles instead of US 13's as I don't have any that size and wanted to get started right away.  For the hanging loop I knit 18 rows of I-cord instead of the 12 the pattern states, and I'm glad I did as I think it would have been way too small a loop to be useful otherwise.  For felting, I threw them in my washing machine with soap and hot water agitating for about 30 minutes.  Then I let the wash cycle complete rinsing out the soap and wringing out all the excess water.  I tugged them into shape and laid them flat to dry.  

The yarn I used (Lamb's Pride ,held double, and Burly Spun) comes out pretty fuzzy from the mohair content so I do some judicious trimming with my scissors.  It's pretty quick to do and not much of a hassle.  The yarn felts so nice and thick I think it's worth the extra effort.  Since, I did knit them on smaller needles their finished size is a bit smaller at 7 1/2 inches rather than the 8, but still a good size for handling hot pots and pans. 

I've got three pairs done with only 2 to still knit so I couldn't be happier with how quickly it's all going.  I'm knitting a couple of odd ducks too with no matching pair to give away as thank you gifts when needed.  I'm just having so much fun using up all this yarn!  

On a side note, I purchased this lovely book of patterns by Veera Valimaki called Color Wheel Knits and really, really, really want to knit the vest called "Ground".  It looks very wearable with what I actually wear - jeans and t-shirts.  Not like all those sweater patterns you see modeled with that perfect shirt, you know the one you don't own and aren't likely too and would probably not wear because it's not comfy and needs to be dry cleaned?  So, I think I would get a ton of use out of it.  The only hiccup in this scenario is I don't have any sport weight yarn that the pattern calls for.  Meaning I would have to purchase some yarn.  Now I've gone about 67 days (as of writing this post) without buying yarn and am proud of myself as the last time I think I only made it around 30 days.  Thus, I am torn on what to do.  Should I just say no and keep knitting from my stash or do I knit what would be a very useful sweater for myself?  My husband said I should go ahead and purchase the Prussian Blue Malabrigo yarn, but I still don't know.  I feel I should wait some, but then I also like to "ride" these waves of excitement as I can get so much accomplished if I do.  Any thoughts?

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.

Making My Own Supplies

Thanks for all your comments on my last post!  Looks like a lot of you are interested in plant dyeing yarn so I hope to show you my progress after I assemble all my materials and begin actually dyeing.  Today, I purchased a single electric burner to use outside in the garage for heating up dye baths instead of taking over my kitchen as I did last time around.  When you have a son who likes to snack all day it simply doesn't work to use your kitchen for dyeing.  Even natural dyeing does not mix well with food prep.

I also needed some potholders in which to handle the hot pots of dye solution which brings me to the above photos.  See, I found some more use for the plant dyed yarn I used for knitting my stuffed toys - felted potholders!  The pattern is called Out of the Frying Pan and it is very, very simple.  The hardest part is waiting for the oven mitt to felt to the proper size.  In my case it took 4 long wash agitation cycles (I would reset the washer each time before it got to rinsing until the mitt was the size I wanted, then I let the full wash cycle run.) in my top loading washing machine.  I mention that my machine is top loading because it is best for felting to have your item submerged in hot water while agitating.  You probably still could felt in a front loading machine, but my guess is it would take a lot longer.

One of the best things about felting is all your knitting mistakes shrink up and disappear as the wool tightens and felts.  My "mistakes" in this case are the "ladders" I always get when knitting with double pointed needles.   Experts all say to tighten up your knitting, but I already knit pretty tightly and get the ladder affect not between the 2 end stitches, but in the middle of the knit V of each end stitch.  Make sense?  The join between is tight but the stitch on either side of it is loose.  I loosen, I tighten it simply doesn't seem to matter - I get ladders.  Thus, now I knit my socks and other small circumference items using the 2 circular method, but I would love to one day conquer the double pointed needle technique. 

The colorway I used on the bottom of the oven mitt was one of Judy's experiments which she gave to me with one of my larger orders as a gift.  It was so sweet, but sadly I didn't really care for it and so it languished in my stash for some years until now.  I didn't have enough for a pair (yes, I am currently knitting the second one) as I wanted so in comes the canary yellow I used for knitting rainbow teething rings.  This mitt is very bright which probably means I won't lose them!   And since they are just going to be for dyeing it simply doesn't matter how they look  They will do their job keeping my hands protected being super thick and just the right size to easily slip on without being too big that they become clumsy.  Hmm, seems I have a lot to say about oven mitts!

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm and Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.

Rainbow Rattles and Teethers

I'm finishing a wholesale order of rainbow baby rattles and teethers and thought some before, middle and after photos might be fun for you to see.  I did forget to take a picture of all the knit pieces before they were sewn together so you'll just have to image that part. 

Here they are freshly knit and all assembled.  

My "before" shot.

 

This is after three cycles of agitation in my washing machine with hot water and olive 

oil soap (do not use detergent when felting.)  

My "middle" shot.

And lastly, we have the finished product with all the fuzzy bits removed and the wooden 

rings rubbed with my beeswax/olive oil finish.  

My "after" shot.

 

For the first time I dried the teethers and rattles in the dryer on low as I am pressed for time to get them finished.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the wood in even better shape than when I let them air dry.  

You can always learn more don't you think?

There you have it natural wool felt and wood toys for the baby in your life!

WIP Wednesday - I-Cord Rug

Do you remember this post on what I do with my yarn scraps?  Well, this project has been on hiatus for a while but now I'm back at it.  My intention is to make a rug out of felted I-cords made from all my scrap wool yarn.  All my super wash wool and cotton yarn scraps go to my son Sam for his creations.  Lately, he's making Popsicle stick "God's Eyes" as well as knitting bean bags. I just hate wasting such beautiful yarn you know?  But back to the rug.  Here are a few photographs of my 29 1/2 yards long I-cord wrapped up into a rug shape before felting.

 

 This is the shape I'm going for only a few feet bigger.  Yes, this will be a long term project.

 

 Here's a close up of all the pretty yarns.  I did a 5 stitch I-cord.

Now, I washed the yarn cord in my washing machine with soap (not detergent) and hot water agitating it for 30 minutes then I let it finish the full cycle. Well, it came out of the washer a tangled felted mess!  Ack!  I sat down and untangled it and noticed it felted rather erratically.  Where it was tightly tangled it did not felt well and where it was loose it felted just right.  Should I cry now?  All that time and effort and it looks a wreck.  I could have thrown it back in the washer again, but instead I decided to braid it hoping to even out the thicknesses and here is the result:

 Sorry for the fuzzy pics it's a very gray day today.  It measures about 15 inches in diameter.

 The braiding also evens out the colors giving them a more muted effect.

 I'm relived now that it isn't a total loss, just a different look.  Hopefully I can find a book at the library on how to sew braided rugs together.  Have any of you done that and if so do you have any tips?  But, in the meantime it's back to I-cord knitting my scraps.  60 more yards of cord should make a decent sized throw rug for besides a bed or in front of the kitchen sink.  I'll keep you posted!

What do you do with your yarn leftovers?

Venturing in the Realm of Footwear

Fancy title huh?  Yes, I am venturing into the realm of footwear via felted slippers.  Slippers are required in my son's kindergarten classroom as the children leave their shoes and boots outside the classroom door to keep their carpet clean.  And, since I LOVE to knit I decided to make his slippers myself.  I used this awesome pattern by Fiber Trends simply called Children's Felt Clogs (there is an adult version too) in which you first knit the slippers and then felt them in your washing machine.  It's a very easy to follow pattern, but lots of counting is involved so I worked on them after my son was asleep in order to concentrate.

My son picked out the yarn from his school's store where I volunteer two afternoons a week:  Lamb's Pride worsted weight wool yarn in bright orange.  While I was knitting the slippers I realized I didn't have enough yarn to make both of the outer soles and being the weekend I wouldn't be able to purchase any more yarn until Monday when school was open.  So, I decided to make a bold decision and frog (knitter's lingo for rip apart) a sweater of mine that I had knit with Lamb's Pride yarn and reuse it for Sam's slippers.  Strange decision to make, but it wasn't a very practical sweater and I'm trying to pare down my belongings in a BIG way (more on that in a later post.)  That yarn was blue which complemented the orange beautifully.

Now the issue was what to do with small bit of orange and a large amount of blue yarn I had left over after finishing Sam's slippers.  See, it just isn't an option to let them lay around waiting for a future project as I also LOVE to use up every little scrap of yarn from my current project, before moving on to the next one.  It's a just a weird little quirk of mine.  Then I had the idea, seriously it just popped into my head, to make some smaller pairs of slippers and sell them in my shop.  I have no idea if they will sell well, but I thought I'd give it a try since it fits into the Waldorf philosophy that also inspires my toys.   Below is a photo on how they turned out.

 

My son wanted his trimmed of all the fuzzy mohair, but I left these fuzzy as I think it looks so cute.  Have you ever noticed simply shrinking items makes them cute?  Well, they are now for sale in my shop soon to be followed by many other blue pairs.  Now I'm eying a pink sweater I don't wear so much  maybe pink slippers are in order?

What to do With Felt Scraps

As you may imagine I have LOTS of felt scraps from making my wool felt wands. I don't like to waste or throw away anything that has a possible use left. This value leads to a house full of stuff unless I can find a use for me or give it away to someone else to use. So, far I've made smaller items like my new head wreath band, composted some (as it's all natural it can decompose, but this takes awhile), saved the tiny tiny shreds to stuff a pillow and lastly given some to my son to play with. This last one is the one I want to talk about.

Here's Sam's array of color felt scraps for threading.

My son is forever wanting to sew or knit like his mama, but as he's only 4 so it takes some thinking on my part on what he is able to make. Of course because he's 4 he doesn't want help and the project needs to make "something" (gone are the days of just stitching through fabric in an embroidery hoop - sigh.) I picked up this project from my friend Teresa, who is an early childhood teacher, of making necklaces out of small felt pieces and wooden beads. It's so simple but will keep Sam occupied for at least 15 - 30 minutes, and for a busy active boy this is a LOT of alone time. I just threaded a tapestry needle for him with thick cotton floss tying a big knot on the end and he just starts threading away. Because the felt is thin it takes some time to make a full necklace that will fit over your head. The wooden beads help speed things along if your little one gets frustrated.

Sam ever so carefully threading the felt into a long strand.

I had to add this last shot as Sam took the photo himself. I really like the angle.

Do you have any other suggestions for felt scraps? I'm always looking for ideas on how to use left over yarn, fabric and felt so please send me your ideas!

Sheep Shearing Day

On Saturday we went to Misty Meadows Icelandic farm in Minnetrista, MN to watch the sheep get sheared, the fleeces skirted, and play with wool! Here are a few photos of our day.

This woman who did the shearing was amazing. She was gentle, firm and quick. Just a few minutes was all it took her to shear off a fleece and all in one piece!

Dan with the HUGE pumpkin!

Dad and Sam at the" helm" of the tractor. Where are you going Sam? It was so great to have a warmer sunny day as Fall here in Minnesota has been cold and wet this year.

Time to go home. It was a fun day and mom bought lots of yummy fall wool to make wool felt for our Centerpiece and our Nature Table. Here are the results.


This was such a fun and EASY project. We had just learned how to felt in our Parent/Child class "Seedlings" held at Sam's school Spring Hill Waldorf School in Excelsior, MN. I might do a tutorial on it for when I make some felt for our winter displays.

Felting a Knitted Horse

I'm just starting on a new project this week that I'm very excited about. I'm taking a knitted horse pattern from Freya Jaffke's book "Toymaking With Children" (a definate must for any Waldorf Family) and adapting it to make a felted horse for my son Sam. My hope is that it will be more sturdy and durable then the knitted version.

In my first attempt I'm doubling my knitting needle size and the pattern size using a basic worsted weight yarn (Fisherman's Wool by Lion Brand Yarns.)

The horse turned out huge as you can see above, measuring about 15" wide by 12" tall. The smaller orange horse shows the pattern's original size. Now to sew it up and loosely stuff it with wool.

Here is the horse after agitating in the washing machine for 2 cycles. I had a little trouble with the back seam busting and some of the wool stuffing coming out and then wool just shifting around more then I would have liked. I think if I did this again I would stuff the legs more firmly than I did this time around.
This photo is after a bit of hand wet felting and some shaping. Overall I like the shape, but wish the legs were more uniform in shape. I'm guessing he won't be able to stand alone, but hopefully that won't matter to my son!