I went back and made two more felted hats using Judi Meissners pattern and had success this time. One of them even looks good on me! I used Paton’s wool and found that it felted to correct size in 10 minutes. The first one I used a fancy yarn(not fun fur) around the brim. The second one I used a fairisle design but it does not really show a design-I believe it was because my tension was looser while doing this section. I am off to make more. I bought some black and grey yarns to try.

Nothing beats the cold like my winter hats. They are lined and have double ribs. The main complaint I hear people say about store hats is that they are too tight and don’t stretch. My hats will fit large heads comfortably. They are also wonderful hats for sporting events.

 My husband Jim has a girlfriend. Her name is Christine. She is a 1956 Oldsmobile 88 car that he is having restored. I have been listening to him talk about the make , the model, the  spinners, rocket tail lights and numerous other descriptions about her.  So, I got the idea to make a sweater using all of these words and what better way than a crossword puzzle. I am not that happy with the outcome though. I wish I had made blocks surrounding the letters so it would stand out more and I would have done all words in white. Of course, I am not going to make it again! I think people will get the idea. What do you think?

These whimsical christmas stockings were knitted on my standard gauge knitting machine. I bought the pattern  from Charlene Schafer of the Knit Knack Shop . On the stocking for my dog Rosie , I put her real dog tag on collar. (I haven’t made one for the cat yet-the dog was here first.)These stockings have hangers in the back and they are fully lined and open to put things in. As soon as we fill Rosie’s with goodies, she sits for hours looking up at it hoping we will give it to her soon.

On the 14th of September, I attended a knitting seminar in Westlake , Ohio given by Bonnie Triola Yarns. There were lots of fabulous yarns and goodies for both machine and hand knitters. There was a display of felted hats that drew my attention because my friend Linda keeps emailing me with pictures of hats and asks if we can make these.I bought a pattern by Judi Meissner. I liked the pattern because it was not knitted circular but it meant that I had to sew a seam. No problem . So I ran out and bought yarn and knitted it on my bulky knitting machine. It took about one hour including seaming. At this point I was going to turn over the felting to Linda. Instead , I decided to give it a try since I heard all kinds of tips at this seminar. How hard can it be? Well, these are the hazards I ran into and I should have known better on a couple of them!

#1. Only knit a hat like this with a solid color. See back of hat(seam)

#2. In sewing the seam I forgot that the brim is turned up and I should have sewn it from the opposite side for for the first two inches.(will label it “irregular”)

#3. I put the hat in a zippered pillow case with a load of whites with the hottest water setting. How pleasantly surprised I was when I opened the washing machine after 10 minutes and saw pink water with layers of bubbles!

#4. The worst hazard was that I was supposed to check this every 10 minutes up to 30 minutes. The washing machine was half filled with water because of the larger load. When I reached in to get the pillow case…oh, by the way, I used lots of detergent so there were all bubbles on surface and I could not spot the pillowcase……now my arms are almost up to the elbows in hot water and I ended up with third degree burns on my arms(well…it wasn’t that bad. It felt like they were burned!) I had to dunk for the hat twelve times by the time felting was finished and my arms looked like lobster claws.

All in all, I think the hat came out cute. I will try another one but I think I will leave the felting for Linda to do.  It’s kind of hard to knit with my arms in bandages.(: LOL

My second felting project was a pair of slipper socks-what else!! I knitted the swatch with a tight stitch so they would not felt too much. However, I would use a larger stitch next time because I like it when the knitting stitches don’t show. I am looking for warmth for my feet this winter. I think if they were felted more,they would wear better on the heel.

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These are sweaters that I knitted from Uniquely Yours. They are acrylic with duplicate stitches. There is a lot of hand work once  the sweater is finished but well worth the time. These three are my favorites. I received a blue ribbon at the fair for the snowflake sweater. I knitted the vest from alpaca for a woman that owns an alpaca farm and mill. I bet if I still had this vest at my house, my friend Linda would try to get her hands on this and felt it.

These are some of the children’s clothes I have knit from patterns. Acrylic yarn.

I knitted, Linda did the relief, bag design, crochets, assembly and felting.   

These elegant slipper socks are made from acrylic yarn that has a sparkle to it and you can machine wash and dry. The cuff is a scallop design and the body is part ribbing for fit and comfort. These make wonderful gifts for friends, neighbors, caregivers,family and loved ones in nursing homes and hospitals. I hope to be selling these soon on Etsy.

My friend and I created this scarf together. I knit it and she did the relief work and felting. 

It is shown at http://felting.craftgossip.com/2007/08/21/a-collaborative-effort-scarf/