Playing Catch Up!

I need scarves like I need a hole in my head!  LOL  A friend at church made scarves like crazy for me and for my mother.  My daughter started knitting and gave me some wonderful scarves.  When Mom went to be with the Lord I got all of her scarves, thus, I don't need any more scarves!

But in the creative world does the word "need" even exist? I doubt it!  If it did would we buy more yarn, more needles, more paints, more paper, more fabric, more stamps?  Would we buy another journal before the last is filled up?  You see my point - "need" has nothing to do with it. Joy is the right word!

If I'm going to learn to knit then scarves must be made!  I made bowls but one can't live on bowls alone!  I made my cowl (see finished cowl below). This will always be my baby as I spun it, dyed it and knitted it.  No the fiber isn't from my boys  - knew you were going to ask!

My first scarf was this one in a rasta yarn.  It's so soft and bulky and I was able to use large needles, but finished it was just too wide!  I connected the two ends and made it into a long cowl, but just wasn't happy.  So I took it apart and redid it as a narrow long scarf. I have a long black coat and I believe it will be beautiful hanging way, way down!  See the pretty handle hanging on the door knob - that is my new knitting bag my friend Deb made me .  I will be showing it off in a blog all it's own!  Stay tuned!

Then I learned to make a design  when I made this skinny little scarf.  I like it, but probably won't make another.  It still needs to be blocked - someday! I used the variegated yarn that I used for the bowls.  I love the surprise of the colors!

At knitting group one Sunday a woman came in with a little skinning scarf and I just loved it,  So I bought some sock yarn  - doubled it and so far, I have this scarf done and one almost done and I will still have yarn left!

I took a class with Diana North on wet felting an art batt and making a scarf. It's beautiful, but I'm still going to needle felt some more embellishments and add some beading.

 Last week I took another class on making knitted jewelry and it included the unbidden boa.  I made this one in class.  Love the yarn, with sequins and beads spun right into the yarn.  I love how we knitted in bobbles and that I had the perfect beads to add to the ends when I got home!

I made another one last Sunday afternoon.  I had yarn I bought months ago from Diana and it was perfect for this boa.  I love it because it can be done in a couple of hours!  No time to get bored before it's done and no two scarves will ever look alike because they're made with art yarn.  The yarn will greatly influence the look of the finished product.























I've been making other things too, so I'll be back to show those off in a day or two!  Until then, remember this good advice:  

And the Bowls Keep on Coming!

Before the felting!

Have you ever had so much fun doing something that everything else just fell by the wayside?  Well, knitting has done that for me!  I just want to knit.  I now have so much understanding about my mother and my daughter, both of which were and are avid knitters.

I reduced the yarn down to one ball and pulled from the inside and outside, reduced the number of stitches and rows to half the number of the full size bowl and off I went.  I've now made four of them and I might add they all felted to a different size.  This neutral colored bowl is the first one I did and I loved the size and shape.





I knitted three more in various colors and felted them all at the same time.  I placed each one in a pillowcase, placed them in the washer with hot water, soap and some towels and agitated them for exactly the same amount of time and once they were rinsed and spun dry - I had these three bowls!  Go figure three very different sizes and all of them different than the first one.












It's a mystery!  It could be that all of the wools were a little different, but I used the same brand of yarn, same size balls, knitted the same and felted the same!  All of them are cute as buttons!

I don't think these particular "bowls" even needed to be set, although I did use some cans, as they seemed to be complete when they came out of the washer.  I had them standing straight as in this picture, but rolled the top down and think it makes then look completely different and very cute.  They can be used either way.

This is such a simple pattern and so much fun.  I love that I will always be surprised by the end product.

The First Felted Bowls

I have become obsessed with knitting and wet felting bowls. Since I started my knitting lessons a few weeks ago, I soon started knitting bowl shapes that are then washed and felted them.  They're knitted in the round and I quickly learned to love circular needles, too.


The first one I made was with a multicolor yarn.  You use two balls for each bowl using two strands knitted together in a very easy pattern on circular needles.  The next yarn I chose was a dark green with some chartreuse in it and since those are some of my favorite  colors it was an easy choice.






Both bowls came out to be exactly the same size and shape and my Fiesta chili bowl fit right inside to help set the shape.  I think it might be able to be used with the bowl as an insulator, keeping the contents warm.  Below you can see one of them knitted waiting for it's bath and then felted and almost ready to shape!

Knitted - ready for felting!

Checking the progress - ready to rinse and spin!

So here they are without the bowls inside! Great for keys beside the front door?  Don't know their use, but do know they will go to someone I love!  Too cute to keep - can't wait to see who choose what color!

So much fun, there will soon be more!

First Hat

My first and only hat!  Yet!!!!!  I do have plans for another, but this one was fun for a firsty and I got to use my art yarn spun by Diana North.  Diana taught my first art yarn course and her yarns are soooo yummy.  I checked this yarn out for weeks and then grabbed it before someone else beat me to it.  I still have some left and will add it to something somewhere down the line.  I used the yummy yarn for the trim and then another great bulky yarn for the rest of the hat.   The pattern says the "1 hour hat"!  That did not prove to be true for me, but maybe when I've a little more experience I will make one in that "warp" speed!

Started knitting on some really large straight needles, but switched over to size 15 circulars - a much better fit!

When my sweet husband saw this hat on me, he sweetly suggested that it might be a great hat for our 10 year old granddaughter!  Yes, I believe he is right and so off it will go to Austin as the weather turns cooler!  

And so the last of the hat pictures is to the left!  Looking forward to a hat class at WC Mercantile, so that the next one is a little more suited for me!