Midway points
Posted by Lanea on Monday, April 23rd, 2007
I accomplished a fair amount over the last couple of weeks, but never got around to showing you. I finished the first kilt hose (what is the singular of hose? hosen? holy crap, have I just realized that “hose” has no singulative? now I have to go read some linguistics . . .)
I know it looks wonky, but I have clogger-calves, and relatively small ankles, and then bigger heels. It’s probably all because of percussive dance. Anyway, yes, it fits correctly. I feel like I’ve been knitting these since I was born. And that leftover yarn goes to the blanket. I’ve just barely started casting on for the second one–this is officially a slog.
Speedwell doesn’t care about the sock-yarn or the kilt hose-one. He just wants to chew on rodents outside. Speedwell is not authorized to make his own decisions.
I also made and felted a couple of bags, though they’re not entirely finished. The first one is just a simple red merino bag. This bag is going to have a particularly lovely spiral pattern felted onto it, if all goes as planned.
Yarrow finds it a bit too interesting. I had a feeling that his wool-thieving was going to rear its ugly head again with all of the Tuatha-supply creation going on. Well, this is just the beginning, but we’ll come back to this particular issue.
This is a good time for me to mention that felting is mercurial. Never believe anyone who tells you otherwise. I make felt swatches and keep notes, but sometimes wool gets tricksie. Like, say, in this Lopi bag.
Looks fine, right? The math said the body would look like that. And it said the handles would shrink to a certain size. You know what?
Wool just told Math to shut its pie-hole and stop trying to boss Wool around. See the cat in the background? That should give you a sense of scale. Speedwell is a relatively large cat, and that’s a relatively large bag, and those straps are out of freaking control. According to my swatches, the straps should have shrunken to 40% of their original length. Nope. The straps are about 7 inches shorter than they were unfelted, but they are thoroughly felted. And wonky. Good thing I’m not afraid to get tough with the wool. These are getting the big snip, and some rehabilitative needle-felting. And then some additional water torture.
And while I’m getting tough with the wool, I’ll also need to get tough with the Yarrow. I tossed the bags onto the table and went into the other room to do some laundry, and guess what I found.
I caught him wool-mouthed. Can you see the evidence?
Drop the innocent act, buster. I know what you were doing, and I know you’ll do it again.
Filed in felting,knitting | 9 responses so far
Marthaon 24 Apr 2007 at 7:31 am 1Sweets,
As a kitty mom, I appreciate how your feline furry family members feel about your yarn & fiber. When Jeremy sees mohair, he turns into the BIG HUNTER who must show that yarn that he is the BIG BOSS.
And as someone who is in the last stage of knitting two bags to be felted, I read your post w/great interest. Am on the 1st strap of the 1st one – the other one has an I-cord for the straps.
XOXO
Jaymeon 24 Apr 2007 at 8:57 am 2Hose has no singular because there are supposed to always be 2 of them. It’s defense against SHS which is a significantly worse condition than SSS.
rachelon 24 Apr 2007 at 10:19 am 3I love that there’s a cat on the table in almost every picture. To think, there are some houses where cats aren’t allowed on tables. These people have obviously not been properly trained by their cats. You have been mighty productive. Great stuff. I can’t wait to see what you do to that red bag–it’s already lovely.
anjon 24 Apr 2007 at 2:47 pm 4OK. Why is it I always end up laughing when I read you? (ok.. not always, but almost always…) I love the cat pics at the end (bad yarrow) and the hose and and and.. yeah THAT is why I keep coming back. Can’t wait to see you next week. HUGS!
Junoon 25 Apr 2007 at 3:34 pm 5Do you knit then full?
And is that SPEEDWEEL for scale? That’s a big freaking bag….
lellaon 27 Apr 2007 at 9:54 pm 6Oh do I feel your pain about felting purses. Can you back a Mack Truck over those handles a few dozen times while it’s in the driveway?
Enough about felted bags.. those high socks are tres Kewl!
Jinannon 28 Apr 2007 at 8:32 pm 7Wow! The kilt hose looks fantastic! (I see you have the feline version of the “Guardian of the Wool”!). I love the messenger bag! Are you going to have that at MDS&W?
Sue Wooon 08 May 2007 at 9:28 am 8I think the singular for hose is hoe.
Love your knitting and kitties. Hope you had fun with sheep. Sorry we missed you. There’s always next year, right?
Branon 24 May 2007 at 1:53 am 9Dude. The handle on the new Big Bag for me did the same damn thing. Math is out back sulking in the corner, and Wool has a sh*t-eating grin on it’s face. (And, like, a big plate of bacon or something. It’s immensely snooty at the mo’.)
Right now, during the ensuing reconstructive surgery, it kinda looks like Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas owns this bag. I’ll beat it up again after this weekend’s show; I’d like to use it, but I don’t think it would dry in time. Meh.