Never Say Never

I vowed well --"vowed" is a strong word; possibly mentioned/thought at some point --that I would never have a blog, but here I am. There are a million of them out there, no one reads most of them, and it seems like a very self-absorbed thing to start doing in the first place. Ok. Acknowledging that I still think blogging is a sad sort of thing to do, I am moving on into a new era. Or I will never write in this again. Who knows.

Mostly, I decided to start a blog after reading the many helpful and entertaining knitting blogs that are out there. I don't know if this will turn into a craft/knitting blog, but I do feel much more comfortable writing useful information, mixed in with anecdotal fun. The alternative, of course, would be to comment daily about my thoughts and feelings, both of which are not that interesting, nor of any practical use to anyone else. (Disclaimer: I will probably talk about my thoughts and feelings.)

Moving along to things I want to write about. . .

I encourage any of you crafty folk out there with even the slightest bit of knitting ability to try felting (fulling) knitted fabric immediately. It is immensely satisfying, and works like textile ShrinkyDinks. Basically, you just knit the item of interest on large needles, and with a yarn suitable for felting, so that you create a very loose knit fabric. Then you throw that thing in the wash with hot water, and presto; you have transformed a slovenly, out of shape mass into a trimmer, fuzzier, more toned version of its prior self. This results in a relatively thick and substantial fabric, which makes it great for bags.

I completed my first felted bag in a few hours last night. I knitted the whole thing during the course of American Idol (shame) in Lamb's Pride Bulky on Size 17 straight needles. I made up a quick pattern based on several I have seen in stores and on Ravelry. On that comes to mind is "The Clutch you'll never give up" by Leigh Radford. I didn't actually use this pattern (it is in a book), but it looks very similar. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-clutch-youll-never-give-up

Pattern:
Cast on 48 stitches on straight needles. Entire piece worked in stockinette stitch (K one row, P one row, repeat)

Rows 1 to 3: (yellow) Work in stockinette stitch, starting with knit row
Row 4: (yellow) P7 , BO 10, P 14, BO 10, P 7
Row 5: (yellow) K 7, CO 10, K 14, CO 10, K 7

(red) Work next 9 rows in stockinette
(brown) work next 14 rows in stockinette

Finish by grafting bottom edges of bag together, and seaming sides with like-colored thread.

Be sure to weave in any loose ends.
(Note: This whole thing would have been much quicker if I had large double pointed needles, so I would probably recommend going that route. Pattern would not change except you would substitute all P‘s in Row 4 for K’s.)

Washing: Set your washer for a hot load (yikes) and add a bit of grated ivory soap or some such thing (I've heard mixed things about using detergent vs. soap, so maybe do your own research). Wash in a tied or zipped pillow case so that you don't destroy your washing machine with fuzzies. Throw some other clothes in too, to help with agitation.

I had to let this agitate in the washer for probably about 30 minutes total to get the desired felting. But you should check it at least every 10. Also, I have read that you don't want to let the item go through the spin cycle, but I am not sure if this is necessarily true or not. Anyone know?

Fun before and after pics below!


















I really like that you can knit fast and furious with this process, and the imperfections get smoothed over in the end result. This is one reason I think this would be a very fun project for knitters who are somewhat new, and/or less than meticulous or neat in their stitch work.