Wool Felting and Cotton

Well, after a week of being under-the-weather and absolutely NO knitting taking place, I'm back. The sad thing is I've had these things done and the pictures snapped for a while now, and just no energy to get up and put them on the blog. Stomach-bugs are no fun...and they're even less fun when I think of all the work I need to catch up on now that I'm better! ;0

Anyhow...


This is my first foray in to felting; I used Cascade 100% wool, two strands on a size 7 needle. The trivet to the left is a straight garter stitch, and the one on the right is a stockinette stitch. The stockinette piece curled horribly as I was working it and I was quite nervous that it wouldn't felt right and lay flat. :0 So I ran a simple crochet single-stitch border around it, and I actually like the rounded corners, etc. If you've felted before, you may be aware that any tags, strings, or unfinished tabs you leave become safe to clip after felting; I had read this and discovered it to be true as well. :) Both pieces were roughly the size of an 8.5"x11" piece of paper prior to felting; I put them in a pillowcase (tied shut), and washed them for an extended time (about 25 minutes) with hot water and some other objects in the washer for agitation. I was pleased with the outcome, which lead to the next project. :)


This project to the right is essentially the same as the one above; it was knitted on size 7 needles with two strands of Cascade Quattro (variegated) 100% wool yarn. I did the same thing on the stockinette one (ran a crochet border around it), but the size of the finished products are slightly different than the burgundy ones; they are somewhat smaller. I don't know what I did differently or if it's because the yarn is slightly different from the dye process. Regardless, I like the final outcome with one exception: these two items smelled like WET DOG (!!) when they were drying! Exceptionally odd, that, as we don't have a dog and haven't for more than a year. I can only guess that it was something in the wool (maybe leftover lanolin?) that caused it. Dry, there is no odor, but wet....phew! Watch out! ;0



This dishcloth was my first attempt at knitting with cotton thread (Sugar n' Cream), and I'm rather pleased. Someone designed this pattern and I found it somewhat complex (it's called Twirling Triangles), but once I got a rhythm going, it wasn't bad. The odd thing is that I shortened the pattern by a third; I find this dishcloth to be a good size for washing dishes and general kitchen duty, but it was supposed to be even BIGGER. Which I considered to be unwieldy, so I just stopped it and finished up the garter-stitch border. ;) Ah, the beauty of patterns and knitting...! ;)






Now you'll begin to understand some of my intricacies and compulsions... I cannot stand the dishcloth to the right, yet, I felt compelled to complete it. I found the pattern at Sugar n' Cream's site (run by Lily), and saw a partial example of the finished product. It's knitted in Sugar n' Cream yarn (variegated), and the pattern was unnecessarily complicated, IMO. Instead of saying "yarn over" or "make one," they asked for a "yarn forward" that (apparently) created a new stitch where there wasn't one before. The complicated directions didn't stop there, though...the pattern called for one 2 (or 2.5) oz. skein of yarn, and was supposed to create a dishcloth that was even larger than what turned out. I used every last bit of yarn I had in the skein to do this, and found it amazingly wide and somewhat incomplete-looking without a set of scallops on the opposite side. Yet I followed the pattern to a "t," so I know I didn't screw it up on my own. Anyhow, this pattern hit the trash as soon as I was done with it. :0

Thus ends this post; I'm still working in cotton, but I have several different patterns I'm experimenting with regarding dishcloths. I have more grandiose ideas percolating in my brain, but first thing's first--plus, I already have the yarn procured for my current projects! ;)