Long Overdue Post

I'm finally sitting down and posting about a recent FO, a UFO that has become the bane of my existence, and my stash enrichment experience at the MA Sheep and Wool Festival.

What first? Let's go in respective order.

Recent FO -- Fuzzy Feet from Knitty!

Also known as Stashbusters, Part 1

These were a really fun, fast knit. The first slipper took about two days to knit, the second a bit longer because a little thing called work got in the way. I used some Icelandic yarn that one of ZMrK's co-workers kindly donated to my stash. I did a kinda/sorta fair isle on the top -- I would stitch with one color for four stitches, then switch to the second, so it would have a bit of a checkerboard effect.

This is how they looked, pre-felting.

Hilariously huge, right? I thought so too. They're also quite floppy.

BTW, this yarn sheds like MAD and I kept finding little bits of straw in it. The date on the price tag was 1/87, so I guess I'm knitting "retro".

Okay, four washes later, here they are in their fuzzy, felted glory:

They are still a bit big, so I may throw them in one more time when I'm felting something else. I had to take them out, though, because the cuffs were felting to a point where they were becoming too narrow to put my feet into, and I had to go inside and cut the carried-along strands from my kinda/sorta fair isle.

At the right is how they compare to a pair of perfectly fitting shoes of mine. You can see they aren't THAT much bigger, just a bit wider and a LOT fuzzier.

I'm not in a hurry to wear them. It's supposed to be near 90 tomorrow, and near 90 automatically excludes anything wool from my wardrobe. I'm hoping that I don't have to wear them until Christmas, but I'll probably be wearing them before Halloween.

Oh, and before I felted these, I made myself a 7 x 7 swatch to see how the yarn I planned on making my Kitty Pi out of would felt up. I'm very glad I did.

Okay, so blogger is being a motherfucker and won't let me upload my motherfucking picture. Imagine a picture here.

This is what it looked like, pre- and post-felting. To be fair, it is a little bit fuzzier post-felting. But no smaller, and not felted at all. It looks as though I have a new dishcloth, and I have a pile of pink and blue wool that just may be superwash. I'm not sure what Stashbuster project I will make with it. Maybe I'll crochet something with it.

Bane of My Existence!

Or, one reason Knitters may hate Sewing.

[link to the picture here]

See this? This is a top I am going to make. The fabric to the left is the bodice, and those little squiggly ferret-shit looking things on the right are to be the spaghetti straps.

Do you know how spaghetti straps are made, according to this pattern? You folder the piece of fabric, stitch it close to the edge, attached a needle and some strong thread to one end, and pass the needle and thread through it, turning it inside out.

When that works, it works well. But it doesn't work on anything longer than 5 inches.

I spent a couple of nights off-and-on trying to turns these things inside out. Last night, I said very calmly to ZantiMisterKnit, "See these things? Do you know what I would do to these if they were people? I would rip off their heads and shit down their necks." Shortly after that, he ordered that I stop working on them.

I tried again tonight, with forceps and with a safety pin. ZMrK tried with a fork. These spaghetti straps are EVIL. EVIL, EVIL, EVIL!

So, tomorrow, I am going to Winsor Button to purchase a couple of yards of black ribbon and the plastic loops that are used in bra construction. Fuck you, New Look and your spagehtti straps.

MA Sheep and Wool Loot

I did not have a yarngasm this time. It happens to everyone once in a while.

I did buy ALL THIS.

[you can now link to the picture here of four skeins of Cascade 220, a skein of purple wool ease, two skeins of luscious mohair, one in hot pink and one in acid green, a catnip toy, a bar of lemongrass mint soap, and a foam block for needle felting]

I think these are the ones people will be the most excited about.

Yarn Porn
[link to the picture here the pink and green mohair touching each other]

I'm not sure what I will do with these. I was thinking nice, long lacy scarves. There's 250 yards in each skein. I know, I should have bought more to make shawls -- what was I thinking?

The jade Cascade 220 will be for felting. It was really cheap ($2.50/skein).

The purple Wool-Ease is for a new hat for ZMrK. He bought it himself. :-)

The soap is for ME. I love handmade soap!

The catnip toy is, duh, for the cats. ZMrK bought that. He spoils our girls.

I leave you now with a couple pictures of the Sheep of the Knights Templar.
[imagine sheep in a hood here and here]

It's got something to do with shearing, but I don't know what!