A Visit with The Folks

Last weekend we went to visit my parents, which is always a fun time. Mom and Dad are exceptionally sharp and active for their ages and they both have a great sense of humor. We laugh a lot! Dad is an accomplished woodworker specializing in turning wood on a lathe. He has been giving my husband lessons each time we visit. Now Bob is ready for his own lathe and we are going out this afternoon to start looking. On Saturday morning Bob turned a bowl. Meanwhile, I was knitting bowls (One Skein by Leigh Radford) to be felted and Mom was in the kitchen. Last September on our trip to California I helped Mom resurrect her knitting skills from years ago. Since then she has knitted scarves for nearly everyone she knows (and probably some she doesn't know.) So it was time she learned a new technique. When I could get her to settle down from the kitchen we got started on a hat for Dad, knitted in the round with Cascade 220.

I also started felting my slippers which took at least a half a dozen trips through Mom's washing machine. Since coming home I have also used my machine, which works better than I thought it would. I didn't think it would agitate the wool enough. I knitted 3 bowls, using bits and pieces of wool I had one hand. Last week I catalogued my stash on Ravelry (my name is PrairiePiper) and round some wool that would be perfect for felting. I also made a green bowl similar to the blue one. My favorite bowl is the Saw-Tooth Companion Bowl from 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders. I changed the pattern to avoid sewing the saw-tooth border. After knitting the border I picked up the stitches on the straight edge and knit downward instead of knitting upwards. The Saw-Tooth Edge can be displayed up or down. I used Kureyon for the saw-tooth border and a handspun given to me by a friend. (She purchased it while traveling.) The handspun was a scratchy yarn and I've been wondering what to do with it. I felted it in the machine and also by hand. I like the saw-tooth green bowl the best.

Folk Shawls and Felting

I have two new books in my Knitting Library. Knitting for Two has two or three patterns that I might use or adapt and that's ok. (Sorry, the photo disappeared.) Folk Shawls is fantastic! Instead of finding one or two patterns I would like to make it is easier to find the two or three that I don't want to make. The background behind each shawl and the country it comes from is fascinating. The patterns are at all levels of difficulty, mostly easy to medium range, which is fine by me. If you don't have this book and you like shawls and/or lace, get it now and you won't be disappointed.

The felting craze is beginning to hit me. Ok, I'm a late bloomer. The only successful felting/fulling I've done is by accident. When the boys were young some of their mittens made it into the laundry by accident and we liked them even more when they were thicker and fuller. Other felting projects I've tried do not felt enough or perhaps I gave up too soon. My latest attempt are the felted clogs by Bev Galeskas. My washing machine is a front loader, which for obvious reasons, does not allow one to open the door while the cycle is in progress. We're paying a visit to my parents this weekend so I figure this is a good project for Mom and me. These clogs have a lot of felting to do before they will fit my little foot!