Round #Somethingteen:
Me vs. The Fine Accidental Art of Felting
I'm not sure if you've picked up on this, but I am by no means a master knitter. I'm still in the basic skill-building stages, actually. And at the moment I'm trying to learn how to felt objects. This is made somewhat difficult by the overwhelming amount of mostly acrylic yarns in my stash. What isn't acrylic is partially acrylic or 100% cotton and therefore unfeltable, so I've had to wait until I could afford some 100% wool yarn upon which to unlease my ineptitude.
My original selection for a first felting project was the Candy Stripers messenger bag from Stich N' Bitch Nation.
The new stitch pattern was mastered in a matter of minutes and the horizontal stripes posed no challenge. It wasn't until I started assembling the damn thing that I realised that the two different types of yarn I'm using might possibly have disastrous results when felted together. They'll probably end up felting at completely different rates and in different directions or something equally discouraging.
In a moment of genius I opted to look for an easier first felting project online and stumbled across these
adorable little things. They're knit in Noro Kureyon, which is 100% wool, gorgeously vibrant and variegated, and pricey like whoa. In the grand scheme of things $8.25 for a skein that will produce two little pouches is probably not that expensive, but I get paid by the hour and, promotion or no, I really don't get paid that much.
Whine, whine, bitch, bitch, whatever. I bought a skein of the Kureyon. It was too gorgeous not to. It's all vivid blues and violets like a morning glory and will most likely look fantastic once it's all felted up. At this moment I'm happily knitting my first little pouch, which I will probably felt by hand in the sink out of sheer impatience. If I finish another one and my messenger bag by tomorrow evening I'll take the lazy way out and toss them in the washing machine with my work clothes and pray for success.
Pictures later. I promise.
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After coming across a terribly informative piece on Knitty, I've been enlightened somewhat. The technique I'm learning is actually called "fulling." Felting involves the use of a felting needle, a block of foam rubber, and a lot of stabbing. Fun as that sounds, it's not my goal right now.
"Fulling" sounds quite possibly even worse than "felting," huh?
Trivia: Now that I'm about to learn a new skill I'm suddenly all in lust with all these felted projects. This happens every time I start focusing on a new technique. Suddenly I can't get enough of it! KNITKNITKNIT!
Me vs. The Fine Accidental Art of Felting
I'm not sure if you've picked up on this, but I am by no means a master knitter. I'm still in the basic skill-building stages, actually. And at the moment I'm trying to learn how to felt objects. This is made somewhat difficult by the overwhelming amount of mostly acrylic yarns in my stash. What isn't acrylic is partially acrylic or 100% cotton and therefore unfeltable, so I've had to wait until I could afford some 100% wool yarn upon which to unlease my ineptitude.
My original selection for a first felting project was the Candy Stripers messenger bag from Stich N' Bitch Nation.
The new stitch pattern was mastered in a matter of minutes and the horizontal stripes posed no challenge. It wasn't until I started assembling the damn thing that I realised that the two different types of yarn I'm using might possibly have disastrous results when felted together. They'll probably end up felting at completely different rates and in different directions or something equally discouraging.
In a moment of genius I opted to look for an easier first felting project online and stumbled across these
adorable little things. They're knit in Noro Kureyon, which is 100% wool, gorgeously vibrant and variegated, and pricey like whoa. In the grand scheme of things $8.25 for a skein that will produce two little pouches is probably not that expensive, but I get paid by the hour and, promotion or no, I really don't get paid that much.
Whine, whine, bitch, bitch, whatever. I bought a skein of the Kureyon. It was too gorgeous not to. It's all vivid blues and violets like a morning glory and will most likely look fantastic once it's all felted up. At this moment I'm happily knitting my first little pouch, which I will probably felt by hand in the sink out of sheer impatience. If I finish another one and my messenger bag by tomorrow evening I'll take the lazy way out and toss them in the washing machine with my work clothes and pray for success.
Pictures later. I promise.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
After coming across a terribly informative piece on Knitty, I've been enlightened somewhat. The technique I'm learning is actually called "fulling." Felting involves the use of a felting needle, a block of foam rubber, and a lot of stabbing. Fun as that sounds, it's not my goal right now.
"Fulling" sounds quite possibly even worse than "felting," huh?
Trivia: Now that I'm about to learn a new skill I'm suddenly all in lust with all these felted projects. This happens every time I start focusing on a new technique. Suddenly I can't get enough of it! KNITKNITKNIT!
VIEW 17 of 17 COMMENTS
yup, sounds pretty bad.