Fake Isle & Felting

Hi Ya'll!

Life has been hectic lately. Between teaching, momming, (soccer practice, chess club, play dates, etc.), and taking care of the homefront, I haven't had much time to knit or blog. I have been trying to bust my stash. I made all those little baby socks and hats, then moved on to a simple 2x2 ribbed scarf using Knit Picks Wakashan Alpaca (left over from Cardi #19 VK). I keep having urges to order more yarn, but after listing it on Ravelry, I realized I have enough yarn for several projects and I need to use it up. My stash is by no means large. I just can't stand having stuff build up. I am NOT a hoarder.

One of the more enjoyable stash busting projects has been Fake Isle from Magknits November 2006 by Amy King. Elabeth had a couple of pictures on her blog of the same hat, and I fell in love. It's a great little knit, if anyone is considering making one. I used Elann Peruvian Highland Silk, a wool/silk blend that is great to work with. I bought 3 balls of the stuff on impulse and it sat in my basket for about a year before I knew what it should be. Here are the 2 results:




I must admit I've fallen in love with a new craft. It's knitting related, though. A couple of weeks ago the family went to Books A Million after dinner. The boys played with the Thomas set and read books. I sat in one of the parents' chairs watching, with a stack of books to entertain me. One of the books I picked up was this:



I enjoyed looking through it, but figured I'd come back and buy it later if it stuck with me. Well, it did. I couldn't stop thinking about the pictures and the projects. I went to the Salvation Army and found a few wool sweaters, and through my own wardrobe and found old sweaters with moth holds and other problems. I started trying to full them in my uber-gentle front loading washer. (Dang modern technology). MIxed results. I tried lots of things, but 2 pairs of Levi's + a tennis ball did the trick. Anyway, I ended up with a pile of fulled sweaters, and no book.

I went back to BAM looking for the book, but I couldn't remember the title or the author. I looked through their sadly disorganized needlecraft section, book by book, but couldn't find it. I was discouraged, so the sweaters had to wait. Yesterday I went back and lo and behold there it was just waiting for me. This time I bought that sucker.

Today after my classes were over, I went back to the Salvation Army and found a few more sweaters and put them through the wringer. I sat down with my book and chose a pattern. I figured since I have limited sewing skills, and even more limited embroidery skills, I'd start off small and simple. I chose the eyeglass case because it fit the bill, and my sunglasses are perpetually scarred from rattling around in my purse.

The pattern in the book has a big heart motif, but I decided to go a little more subdued and just put some leaves on it. Here's the project in progress:



And here is the finished product. It looks amateurish, but it'll protect my sunglasses. I think if I make a couple more, I'll get better at my stitching.



I'm looking forward to trying some of the other projects in the book. The photographs are truly inspirational, and the patterns have a lot of pictorial potential.