FO: Felted flower bowl

The final edition of a four day FO dump. Now I have only unfinished things to show you.

I'm currently involved in a swap, one in which you spend no money (except for postage) to spoil your partner. I dived into my stash and pulled out some yarn for gifting, but wanted to include something I made. As my sewing skillz are crap, I went to my strength. Knitting. I wanted to make something useful, but not a washcloth (especially as I have no cotton yarn), so I started searching Ravelry for a felted bowl that I liked.

And I found the felted flower bowl. It's cute, it's useful, it's great for odds and ends. And, I think, it makes a nice gift. This example is knit from bits of Lamb's Pride Bulky.


I seem to be in a bit of a felting phase. I love how quickly it uses up the odds and ends that had reached critical mass, combined with how quickly these things knit up. And the fact that stuff tends to look pretty awesome when it comes out of the washer - what's not to love?

FO: Ishbel.2

I finished my first Ishbel scarf at the end of March. Then I finished up spinning some merino/silk I had been working on. I ended up with about 350 yards of more or less lace-fingering weight yarn, with some areas so thin as to be threadlike and a couple of noticeably thicker slubs. It was enough for a project. And, while I usually don't like to knit the same pattern twice, Ishbel seemed just right. So I started knitting it. Then I stopped for a long time. But now it is finished.


The fiber spun up into a lovely mostly-blue-but-with-shades-of-greens-and-purples that I feel is quite nice. Because of the thinness of certain areas, I did not block as aggressively as I am wont to for fear of breakage. It seems to have come out intact.


I feel especially proud of this because I did take it from fiber to finished. It's my first project from my own handspun. Yay!

FO: Clapotis for me

Clapotis, possibly the most popular project evar. And also one of the best for variegated yarn. So I splurged, bought some variegated Malabrigo (in Plena) and made one.

I knit it with one less increase section, and used very nearly all my yarn. The thing turned out huge. The blocking pick a few posts down is the best for scale. It's probably a skosh over 6 feet long. There are no modeled photos of this because it was 100 degrees out when I took it and we do not have AC. Not gonna wrap myself in merino under those circumstances. The chair, however, I have no pity on.


I was a little surprised how dominant the golds are. But its really the outlier color, so I suppose it makes sense.


I am not normally a big fan of variegation at this scale, but there are a handful of techniques that I believe it's appropriate for. Mostly this and certain types of modular knitting. Also, it's going to be sooo soft and luxurious and warm. This winter. Not now. Too hot hot hot.

FO: Kitty Pi

I've been finishing projects like wild lately. I've wrapped up four projects in the last week or so. Here's the felted cat bed!


Sans cat:


The cat bed turned out a little on the small size. But the cat still fits, more or less.


Most exciting to me is the fact that the cat is actually using the cat bed! She got into it without prompting and hung out there till I noticed. But, sometimes, she doesn't look so thrilled...


A great stashbuster/odds and ends user upper. I think I'll be making a second.

New books!

Look what I got in the mail today!


Three books from Amazon - Knitting 24/7, New England Knits, and Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. And, as a special bonus, Miriam Felton's Twist and Knit.

Knitting 24/7 and New England Knits feature the sort of patterns I adore. Clean, simple, but interesting. From New England Knits, I absolutely must make the Augusta Cardigan.


From Knitting 24/7, I quite like the Grandfather Vest. I love a good sweater vest.


Twist and Knit was a must have. I've been a fan of Miriam's designs since I fell swooning in love with her Icarus Shawl. So of course I'm going to buy her book! First on my list are the Porifera socks, which are lovely.

And the Artisan Bread... well, I'm enamored of the idea of baking fresh bread. But my husband is skeptical. No trials this week though. It's going to be hovering around 100 for the next few days. Yeech.

Oh! And, on Saturday, I scored a copy of Sweater Design in Plain English for three bucks! I sure do love a deal.

Block(ing) Party

Woo hoo! Blocking party going on in the Spare Oom at my house!


Ishbel.2 and Clapotis blocking at the same time. Clapotis is being blocked rather firmly, and unevenly (yes, I know), while I took care to be firm but quite gentle with Ishbel.2. Ishbel.2 is made out of my own handspun, which is generally a laceweight, but there are a few places where is decreases down to fine thread. So I tried to be a little more gentle with it.

I started my felted cat bed. Turns out I have a lot of partial and odd balls in red and brown. But mostly red. And I've probably got enough more to do a second on in mostly blue... In fact I think I might just do that.


I think I'll finish the knitting of the cat bed today, most likely. And I've got the itch to cast on something new, but I have two brand spanking new books that ought to arrive in the mail tomorrow, so I think I'll definitely be waiting for those before beginning a new project.

Blue noise

I finished up a pair of movie theater socks a couple of weeks ago, but only got around to taking photos yesterday. (Movie theater socks are plain stockinette that I can knit in the dark of a theater.) I knit them out of Zwerger Garn Opal in a colorway that I thought might make thin stripes. Not even close.



It's frenetic and nonsensical. So I call these my blue noise socks. Like white noise, but bluer. I was surprised to find that most of the people I showed them to really like how the color way knit up, because I would not buy a yarn I knew to knit up in this way. But hey, socks are socks. I'll wear 'em.

I've been pretty busy this summer. Lots of getting out, and a fair amount of staying in. I've finished a clapotis and Ishbel.2, but neither are blocked yet. I have a bunch of projects on the needles that I don't have the mojo for, so I cast on for a Kitty Pi felted cat bed with scraps and unloved oddballs of wool from the stash. The cat loves kneading wooly blankets, so I hope she at least gets in this once or twice.

The real question is: Fringe yarn or no fringe yarn at the edge?

Road trip!

It's summertime! Well, it's supposed to be. June has been chilly and July has not yet heat up. But that didn't stop Mr. Husband and I from heading south to Oregon on the first roadtrip of summer. We drove down to Klamath Falls, OR which served as base camp. From there we spent one day at the Lava Beds National Monument which is fantastically awesome if you have any interest in caves. And we spent one day at Crater Lake National Park which is phenomenally beautiful.


Unfortunately, we went to Crater Lake a little early in the season, so most trails were blocked by snow. The only open trail is the Cleetwood trail, which takes you down the the water. So off we went! It was steep and swarming with more mosquitoes than I have ever seen before, but it was worth it. We hung out on some rocks and enjoyed the view. I waded a bit (just a little - the water is 38 degrees F), and then I pulled out my knitting.


Because, yes, I am the type to carry my knitting more than a mile down hill just for a photo op so I can post it on my blog.

The project in question is the ever popular Clapotis in deliciously soft Malabrigo.

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Sad news: My local yarn shop is closing at the end of the month. The Dancing Ewe has been a beautiful shop and meant a lot to me personally. A contest there pushed me into trying lace design, the weekly knit night was always lovely, and Cathy, the owner, gave me the opportunity to discover that I really enjoy teaching others how to knit or to learn new techniques. So thanks for everything. The Dancing Ewe will be missed.