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I made something small for my first try at felting knit items. This cuff is from Rowan 38. I have a front-loading washing machine, so the first tumble didn’t felt it at all. Instead, I sat in front of the tv with a bucket of hot soapy water and massaged, wrung, and pummeled the thing for about 20 minutes until it began to felt. It was quite the effort yet, as you can see, the rows are still visible if you look closely. To finish, I added a little crocheted edge with button loops and sewed beads in.
I also thought some of you might like to see what a Bartlett pear tree looks like in the fall – enjoy!
My mom and dad grow lots of great things to eat. Recently, my mom has been growing cayenne peppers, which she then strings together and dries. This year, we thought it would be fun to do a collaborative project, with her supplying the peppers and me supplying the packaging.
A few of the packaged chiles
Mom grew and dried the chiles this summer. I found a Canadian supplier of biodegradable cellulose bags, designed the tags (with thanks to Heather for font and label input) and printed them on recycled paper. We packaged everything up this past weekend – the chiles are so hot they made me sneeze as I stuffed the bags. All in all I think the end product is lovely. Next year, maybe we’ll try dried peaches and pears!
A few months ago, my dance teacher had a baby. I made these booties for the baby from nice bright Blue Sky Alpaca. Everyone likes them so much that I’ve since made two more pairs – and, chances are, I’ll make a few more because they’re so quick and soft to knit.
I recently finished knitting my first sweater ever. It’s a cool batwing style sweater that I knit in a pretty wool alpaca mix. I learned lots about finishing and seaming…but found I still have to learn about sizing. It’s a few sizes too large, and the chunky wool doesn’t help either. So this sweater won’t be modeled anytime soon, but here’s a peek:
Undaunted, I started on a cardigan called ‘Bianca’ from my favourite Rowan magazine. This one has beads and is knit in a lovely 4 ply wool. Let’s hope I get the tension right this time.
