Felting

Ah, yes, Erein reminded me that I did a little needle felting and forgot to post about it. The book I have doesn't have much on needle felting with roving, it's mostly about felting with yarn, and techniques for needle felting with a sewing machine. I wasn't really sure what I was doing, and the results we so-so.


The bag was felted in the washing machine, but the blue swirly thing was needle-felted on. The center looked a little sloppy, so I slapped some buttons on it for camo.

Details:
Yarn: for bag - Paton's Classic Merino in Aran, maybe 50 grams.
for felting - wool roving
Pattern: Clutch from One Skein
Needles: US size 15

The clutch pattern is really great though, I recommend it.

SneakySquirrel

I suppose if I'm going to ask you if you are on Ravelry, the least I could do is give you my username (above). See you on the flip side.

Trellis scarf and hemlock ring hankie

Latest finished objects! The Trellis scarf:

Details:
Yarn: Malabrigo Laceweight in Pearl, less than a full skein
Pattern: Trellis Scarf by Evelyn Clark in the Spring 2006 IK
Needles: US size 4 circular (with pointy tips)
Modifications: Not many - just added some lace repeats to make it longer - it's probably about 4 feet long.

It is so. very. soft. I bought the yarn on a whim for the feel of it. But it's cheap! Only about $9. Go buy it. Lots of it. As I said before, the 7 into 5 clusters were a pain, but about half way though I got the hang of purling really loosely the row before which really helped.

And the Hemlock Ring hankie:

Details:
Yarn: leftover Malabrigo, maybe a quarter of the skein
Pattern: Hemlock Ring Doily
Needles: US size 1 dpns
Modifications: I only got to about row 60 of the pattern before the yarn ran out. But it's still quite pretty.

This pattern is quite popular as the Hemlock Ring Blanket, for obvious reasons. I would still like to make a large version at some point, but I needed a pattern to use up the laceweight and I wanted to make something heirloom-like.

Anybody else on Ravelry?

I gave in and joined after hearing about it for months, not really knowing what it would be. It's quite interesting.

I've been thinking lately about getting more connected to other knitters (and the general community of Portland, actually). Knitting has always been sort of private for me - not that I don't like to share it, the blog is proof of that. But I've never felt the need for any company. Actually, that can't be true either, because I read tons of knitting blogs, and I feel connected to those people, they just don't know it. Damn shyness.

I participated in a knitting group for charity last weekend, but it was a bit of a disappointment. Not many people showed up, and the ones who did didn't seem very interested in getting to know one another. There also wasn't any feeling of connection to the people we were making things for. Got me thinking about what one could do differently to make it a better experience for the knitter and the receiver. If I knew some more knitters, I would attempt to get the ball rolling. Which brings me back to needing to connect with other knitters.

I have one friend so far on Ravelry, and unlike my usual blog skulking, I got caught! I searched for people in Portland and came up with pages and pages of people, none of who I know (of course), except for Marnie, whose blog I have been reading for years. Not even sure how I found it originally, although she has published a number of patterns, so maybe that's how I came across her in the first place. So I clicked and added her as a "friend." I wasn't sure whether it was like Facebook or something where the person had to confirm they knew you, but no message to that effect showed up when I clicked. A few hours later, I was checking Ravelry and there was a message: "Marnie has added you as a friend." Caught! I got caught! I thought I was skulking and I totally wasn't. Apparently, it sends a message to whoever you add as a friend. At first, I was mortified about getting caught, but then I realized: I have a "friend." I'm connected, however weakly, to another knitter. Which is good.

Alright, rambling over. I'm not sure whether to bother adding all my old projects to Ravelry or to just start with the stuff I'm knitting now. My page looks really bare. But it would require putting all photos on flickr and filling in all the details that are already on the blog. Perhaps if I'm bored some weekend.

Icarus

Like a phoenix, the Austermann Pharaoh has resurrected itself after the Print O' the Waves disaster. It is now the Icarus Shawl. I can't get decent pictures of this to save my life - Oregon is grey grey grey and cold cold cold this time of year so indoor photos turn out too flashy or blurry and outdoor photos are out of the question (yes it's 50 degrees and not 20, but I'm a big baby, so :-P).

But the shawl is really nice, take my word for it.

Details:
Yarn: Austermann Pharaoh in tan, 4 balls
Pattern: Icarus Shawl from IK Summer 2006 (and Best of IK, I hear)
Needles: US size 4 circular
Modifications: I had to leave out one repeat of the "body" of the shawl - it was clear I was going to run out of yarn. I think I have about 10 yards left in the end. I also wasn't liking how the last few rows of edging were coming out and the damn photos in the magazine were so blurry I couldn't figure out what they were supposed to look like. So I did a couple of rows of garter stitch and added some yarn overs to encourage the points, then blocked the hell out of them. Not as pointy as the original, but fine with me.

I like this thing. Will I ever wear it? Eh, who knows, but the important thing is that I didn't have a fit and throw it in the fire, as I was about to do with the Print O' the Waves. I consider that success.