Felt this; no fulling.

I've never been overly interested in felting until I decided to make my friend a felted crochet case for Christmas. We had been looking over web sites in the Fall during one of our sew days & came across this great free pattern from Berroco called Kluster.

Of course you have to start by using 100% wool. There are other fibres that will felt, but I'm not going into that now. Also, there's disagreement on what the process is actually called.

According to: Llamapaedia's Fiber Glossary

Fulling -- A finishing process in which the woven or knitted cloth is subjected to moisture, heat and friction causing it to shrink considerably in both directions and become compact and solid. In heavily fulled fabrics both the weave and the yarn are obscured, thus giving the appearance of felt.

Felting -- An ancient technique that produces a non woven sheet of matted material which is most frequently made from wool, hair or fur created by the entanglement of a mass of fibers that takes place when heat, moisture and pressure are combined.

I pretty much made the pattern as it was except that I made it an extra inch in length & 1/2" in width. Sure wish I had taken pics of it after it was done, but thankfully MA took some of it in use (open & closed) so I could copy them. I have got to remember to take the finished project pics before I send them off; sigh.
Anyway, the Berroco site also has a free pattern for a felted knitting needle case (or should I say fulled, lol) called Kable.

Now on to finish the famous fulled clogs; more about that later.
Peace out, Boop

Fingerless in Fenelon

It's been so dang cold here the past month that I just can't seem to keep warm for any length of time. I sometimes try going back to bed after the kids get on their bus. Not for the sake of sleeping, but just to sit under the electric blanket for a while to get warm. It's also a good way to get my thoughts organized, make my chore list for the day & catch up on my emails.

The basement, where I theoretically have my studio, is so cold that the laundry that I had soaking in a bucket froze solid the other day. Imagine my surprise when I went to change over a load & put the bucket garments in the wash, lol.

So, I got looking through free patterns online whilst doing the obligatory T.V. watching/ hubby bonding time. I figured that some form of fingerless gloves would be advisable if I was going to be productive during this cold snap.

The result was a freebie that I got here:
http://fpea.blogspot.com/2006/08/free-pattern-friday-raging-fingerless.html
You just gotta love the Net.

Peace out & stay warm, Boop

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you all have a nice day. If you want to know more about the history of St. Valentine's Day, just click on the link.

Peace out, Boop

Little Red (actually Turquoise) Beret.....

Samantha so wanted a Beret to go with the beautiful turquoise cloak that she was gifted last Fall. We immediately fell in love with a pattern in the Winter 2006 Interweave Knits magazine.

It worked up easily on my new Knit-Picks options needles (which I am in total lust with & shall never knit on anything else from this day forward, lol). The pattern makes really neat diamond shapes near the bottom of the hat that appear from the increases & decreases.

And Sam, well she loves it as you can see here.
Peace out, Boop

Just can't get enough sox.

It's true. I don't think I'll ever tire of making socks. I love them so much that I made up a cheesy poem:
......................................................................................................

Ode to Socks

Socks how I love thee,
I can never get enough.
From the tips of your toes
to the top of your cuffs.

You are my foundation, my past-time, my love.
If I mess you up,
you can always be a glove.

You’re cheery & warm, comforting & true,
Whether solid or stripes, variegated or blue.

How subtle & mysterious or outrageous you can be.
Oh socks I just can’t get enough for you so captivate me.

There are so many ways that we work this land,
Whether on sticks: straight or double, circular, machine or hand.

You are portable and compact;
the perfect travelling buddy.
Plain, textured, bulky,
or a little bit nubby.

How can I express how much you mean to me,
For I just can’t get enough or stop making thee.

by Kym Ranger (aka Boop) Jan.3, 2007.

..............................................................................................

Peace out, Boop

Back to Business: Knitting & Harry Potter

So, onto more knits. Firstly, I just love illusion knitting. It is worked by knitting (and purling to a chart) 2 rows of colour "A" followed by 2 rows of colour "B" & cont'd in this fashion until you get the size garment that you want. It's kind of like intarsia without the colour changing; all you're doing is knits & purls.
The pattern is achieved by the way the knits & purls are viewed at certain angles. When you look at the garment straight on you only see stripes, but once the angle of view is changed "viola". Isn't this cool?
This particular skull & cross-bones pattern is from a friend's own design. However, there is an alien illusion scarf pattern in the "Stitch 'n' Bitch" book by Debbie Stoller. Also, there's a free "Ravenclaw illusion scarf pattern" on The Leaky Cauldron site for all you Harry Potter fans.

Speaking of which, they announced the title of the last book Jan.1st. It is going to be called: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". A few days ago, J.K. Rowlings announced that the book would be available July 21, 2007. This will come only 8 days after the 5th movie "HP & The Order of the Phoenix" will be out in theatres. I declare July "Harry Potter Month", lol.

Anyway, that's it for now. Peace out, Boop

Happy Blogiversary to Me!!

Yup, Feb.2nd, 1 year of doing this crazy blog. It has been quite rewarding for the most part. An opportunity to share & be heard.

If I could change anything though, it would be to get everyone to leave comments. Not that I need validation because that's not it. It's more a curiosity thing: to see what others found interesting, helpful, entertaining, useful, etc. Does anyone actually use or look at the links I put on the sidebar?? Does anyone go to the sites or how-to's that I've linked in the blog entry itself?? Has anyone checked out the pictures on Flicker (the funny flashing box on the right side)?? These are all items that take time to put into the blog template itself, but are they of any use?? These are the types of things that bloggers want to know.

How to make a comment: it's quite easy actually. After the blog entry, you will see the word "comment". You just click on that. Then a pop-up box will open showing any previous comments (if there are any) & show a box for you to enter your message. Below that it will ask you to sign in (if you have a google or blog acct) or just leave anonymous. If you're using the anonymous option, you can add who it's from in the body of the message itself. It will then ask you to type in some letters (or numbers) as they appear in the box. This is called "word verification". This isn't some scam to track down your identity, it's so that one doesn't get automatic computer generated comments that can sometimes be inappropriate. So, this is for safety issues, nothing more.

I hope you have enjoyed the past year. I will continue to blog about knitting, crochet, spinning, geocaching (in the good weather), animals, art dolls, polymer clay, altered art, CQ & anything else that strikes my fancy.

Have a great day & we'll talk to you all soon. Peace out, Boop