Are You Sewing? Knitting? Shopping?

... or all 3? I'm doing all 3 right now, or should be anyway. I'm not really into the shopping this season, but suddenly I will be. Remember those lists I mentioned in the last post? I've made one! Who I'm buying for... but the "bought" column is suspiciously blank. I'll get to it. Really, I will!

And the sewing? I'm on my second muslin of the Colette Pattern Macaron. I did the first muslin way back at the beginning of October, so picking it up this weekend, I had kind of forgotten some of the things I wanted to change. Nevertheless, a couple more tweaks and I'll be ready to start.

But remember the glowing ball of yarn? I really made it into something, and gave it away as a gift. To a knitter! I know that sounds crazy, but wait, there's more! I even felted it! With a front load washing machine! So, if you don't know about felting, basically, you knit something up out of 100% wool, and then shrink it in the washing machine. I've done it accidently to one of Roland's beloved sweater vests. Oops. And according to instructions for felting, you need a top loading washer so that you can stop and check the felting process.

But I don't have one. After searching around the interwebs, I found a blog, Fiber Geekery,  that gave me hope (and some instructions). Back to the beginning though. First, I followed a pattern in this book:

The pattern is to make a felted knitting needle case, and includes some sewing! I ended up first with this:

The finished measurements were what was required, but I didn't knit nearly as many rows as was in the pattern. I think I should have gone for all the rows, and not worry too much about the measurements.

Then I put it in a zippered pillowcase, and threw it in the washer with 9 tennis balls and 2 towels. I used my quick wash cycle on hot with a cool rinse, and no spinning. It took 3 cycles to get the desired effect, and even though it turned out a little smaller than I wanted, like Tim Gunn advises... I made it work.

felted piece, with a wooden button from Australia

 inside view, batik fabric plus 3 rows of pockets

 rolled up

More sewing, knitting AND even some shopping (which I won't be able to show you yet) to come. Have a great week!