Wet Felting July 2017 Series

I am showing you the last piece from this series first. I had a group of yarns I combined to knit all these pieces. When I knit this one last the shape was determined by the amount of the different colors I had left.

These are all 6 of the pods and bowls I made.
You may remember when I asked if you knew what these were on a blog post a while ago?

They look quit different now as the the colors blended and the texture tightened up so much. You may know I hardly ever follow a pattern. If I do I change it to fit my needs. These are a VERY LOOSE  adaptation of some directions I found.

I love how these three look with this piece or art. I never make things for a specific place/use but so often this happens.
I could never have envisioned these would have these colorations in the finished vessels.
It’s all about playing and what I have saved in my brain from a life time of living, whether I am creating a quilt, ice dye, knitting project, or other art.

Wet Felting

I do two kinds of felting: Wet felting and Needle felting.
Yesterday I showed you some pieces I knit and then wet felted using my washing machine.
I am going to share some others I’ve done in the past while you wait for me to finish this series of pieces I am currently working on.

One of the things I did was finish two felted purses. I made them several years ago but never attached the straps. I added the straps and it was so easy I don't know why it took so long.

I finished another felted bag. This one is slightly larger than my previous ones.

This is what it looked like before I felted it.
Before felting this measured 29 1/2 inches high and 24 inches wide. After felting it measured 21 1/2 inches high and 19 inches wide.

This sweater was the inspiration for the pattern on the bag.

These are the slippers I knitted and then felted. I forgot to take a picture to show you how big they were before I felted them. They are knitted with Noro Kureyon yarn.
For yarn to felt it must be 100 percent wool and not be treated to keep it from shrinking.
I do enjoy seeing what happens as this felts. There is no way of knowing exactly how much or how quickly it will felt. It is important to keep watching it as you do the felting process in the washing machine, taking it out and checking to see how far it has come.

Knitting, Felting

This may have been the longest time I have gone without posting to my blog.
I have been making things but haven’t been documenting them.
I find knitting to be one of the most relaxing things I can do.
In the foreground you see a Pod I knitted.
In the background a little tote that still needs the handles attached.
Laying flat is a small purse.
Each one of these was felted in my washing machine.
I put off felting them as I wasn’t able to use my top loader in the basement.
It has been said that things felt better in a top loader so I believed that.
I decided to use my Asko front loader and the results were amazing.
The fact that I can turn the water temperature up to 205 degrees is a big help.
In fact when I opened the machine and the temperature was 205 degrees I couldn’t even touch the pieces.
Yes, I do have to open, close, open, close, drain, rinse to make this work and stop the felting when appropriate.
I have to say I am quite thrilled with the results.
As I write this I have a scarf in the washer doing light felting.
I will be doing a lot more felting in the next week or so as I have many pieces ready to work on.
I only do one or two at a time as I need to make sure I can do what I need to so that they are properly shaped after washing.

Serendipitous Pouch For Olfa Cutter!

When I posted this and asked why it had such an unusual shape this was NOT the answer as I was creating it.
I had created a bargello rectangle and from it I cut the back of a vest. This was the small amount of patchwork that was left at the top. It had this unusual shape created by the cutting line for the shoulders and neckline.
I decided to just use as much of the leftover scrap as I could to make an irregular pouch.
When I shared it and asked if anyone knew why I made this unusual shape several people thought it was for my Olfa cutter. Once I thought about it, I decided it was the perfect shape to carry it and that is why you see the above photo.
I have such smart people reading what I share!