More Spherical Craziness

I made a larger version of Sharon Dreifuss' Dumpling Bag by casting on 8 stitches between the handle sections. It turned out a little too big. My ideal size is somewhere between the small size and this size. With the same needle and wool, I think I can do it if I want to. But I'm not sure I would actually carry this bag. I mainly wanted to make it for the sake of making it. I really enjoyed the embroidery on which I spent at least as much time as I did the knitting. At least one reader of this blog (I'm talking to you, Joy) should know that that the wool used for the embroidery was a handspun, hand-dyed wool purchased at Knitting Camp sometime in the late 80's. It has been hermetically sealed for a few decades. Note: overspun wool makes fantastic French knots.



The Squishy Balls are from Susan B. Anderson's Itty-Bitty Toys. I used remnants of Cotton-Ease, which worked quite well.



There are about two more spheres I want to knit, although the Learn-Along is officially over, but they may have to wait as I have started a lace project that will probably consume me.

These will probably be left somewhere for The Toy Society.

Crow and Star Felted Bag

The basic pattern for the bag is Pink Lady Bag by Designs by Shelly. The bag turned out rather small and also seemed to be crying out for embellishment. Maybe it is the piper in me that sees the need for adornment; we pipers embellish notes with movements called taorluaths, birls, doublings, and grace notes. These are part of what make pipe music sound like pipe music...but I digress.

Remember those wool pincushions I made back in February? I used one of those patterns to make the crow and star patch. My kind sister had given me a bag of wool scraps (she makes traditional hooked rugs) and there are several times that I have been so glad to have this fabric reserve.

To close the bag with a magnetic snap presented a problem. A vintage button from one of my button jars looked perfect but how was I going to attach it to the felted tab? The snap definitely had to be covered. This was a good example of necessity being the mother of invention. I cut a piece of wool just a bit larger than the button and sewed the button shank to the wool. Then I used blanket stitch to sew to the wool piece/button to the tab.

I used wool from the motherlode in my stash of Paton's Classic in the color "Denim". As these felted projects are mostly done with the wool doubled I am watching this pile of blue denim wool shrink at a relatively fast rate.

Having a Ball

The first spheres I knitted for Rachel's Knit Cents LAL were from the book Knitting for Baby by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas. The pattern is called Baby's First Ball. Ok, I got a little carried away and finally stopped at 10. This is potato chip knitting at its finest. The first 5 or so were made with remnants from my wool stash. It was fun using up every bit of wool of a particular skein until I realized I needed something to sew the hole up with after felting. (I forgot that the end piece would felt also. Knock on head.) Noro Kureyon makes the best colors but some of the best felting wool is plain. Dark wool tends to felt more quickly than light wool. Why? I have no idea. Maybe a spinner can tell me.









I like the looks of the colors in one of the big salad bowls hand turned by my dad.





Billiards, anyone?

Learning experience: In the photo with two green and purple balls: the ball on the left was knitted with alternating segments of Noro Kureyon and Cascade 220. (green). The ball on the right was made only with Cascade 220. These were knit on the same needles and run through the same wash together. Since the Noro did not felt as quickly as the Cascade, the blended ball is nearly twice the size of the Cascade ball. These two balls went with my friend Carol for her little grandson in California.

There are many lovely balls, but I'm partial to the colors in this one.

It's a Dumpling Bag

Rachel of the Knit Cents podcast has an LAL for the month of May. LAL means Learn Along. The concept is to learn something new and share. Knit Cents is becoming one of my favorite podcasts. Rachel has a pleasant voice and the show is informative as well. I chose one knitting theme and one less-knitting theme.

For My Learn Along...

1. Knit different spherical shapes.
2. Learn more about my two
   cameras and Adobe Bridge.
   Since much of my photography is for my blog and Ravelry, this is the less-knitting related.

Dumpling Bag by Sharon Dreifuss has been in my queue for a while. It is in the Fall 2008 Interweave Knits. I'm not sure how often I will actually use this bag but it is spherical so it seemed like a good time to try it. It only took a few hours to knit and an hour or so to embroider. For the embroidery I used handspun and hand-dyed wool that I bought ages ago.

Knitting spheres turned into a lesson on felting wool as well. I've not been very successful with felting in the past. In the two weeks that I have been felting I've learned a few things.

1. Felting works best for me when I don't care what size the end result is.
2. My front loading machine DOES work for felting. Yeah!
3. My favorite wool for felting is Paton's Wool Classic. This is an inexpensive wool that I bought on sale at a chain store. This wool was actually in my stash and somewhat of a buyer's remorse issue so I am thrilled that it works well for felting. It only took one time through my front loader and the stitch definition was gone. I put the bag in a pillow case with a few tennis balls. An old pair of jeans was added to the wash, outside of the pillowcase. I used a little bit of Tide.
4. Hot water, heavy cycle.
5. Try not to mix wools in a project. They felt at different rates and that can affect the product. I actually learned this while knitting Baby's First Ball which will come up soon.

Modifications to pattern:

• Eliminated the rings on the handles. Just looped the long handle through the little loop.
• Made the long handle 22" instead of 13".

I have since made a larger version of the Dumpling Bag which will be photographed soon.

This was a fun, quick project and would make a great gift for a younger person.

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!