Yay! I finally finished the felted hat for Diana! She’s home with a sinus infection today so she was really happy to model the hat without having to show her face!! I started by looking at the Fiber Trends AC-1 Felted Hat for reference, but in the end I deviated quite a bit to get sizing that was appropriate for a 9-year-old girl! I’m actually proud of myself that I’m getting to know enough about hats by now that I could figure this out pretty much by myself! I’m looking forward to the day that Diana will be able to wear this cute little hat! Plus, it was good to get back to making one of my favorite things, to offset the ongoing nature of some longer-term projects.
… and After
And here’s the hat after felting! Isn’t it cute? This was the first felting test for my new Kenmore front loader washer (nearly identical to the Whirlpool Duet) and I am happy with the results! Since my old front loader usually took three cycles to achieve a desired size, I decided to live dangerously so we set the washer on the “Sanitary” setting with a “No Spin” on the rinse cycle. I was so nervous when it came out of the wash; it looked like a tight little ball and smelled something like a wet dog! (wet sheep?) But with rigorous stretching and kneading, it took a nice shape fairly quickly. There’s a Gladware bowl underneath the hat for now as it dries, which happens to have the same diameter as my lovely child’s skull. I’ve been smoothing it every so often, and it feels a bit like working with dough!
So this was my first experience felting with KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, and I do have to say that so far I am pleased! This is a nice yarn to felt with and very inexpensive, too. Where it used to cost me about $30 to make this hat, I can now do it for about $10. I am still working on a garter stitch hat band, which will be embellished with a rainbow-colored butterfly pin. I’m sure this hat will be gorgeous! I’m doin’ the happy dance!
Well, hello all… sorry I haven’t written in weeks but I vowed this morning not to let a whole month go by, so here I am! Let’s see if I can get caught up on all that is happening in my knitting world.
A few weeks ago there was a lovely woman setting up a vending table in the lobby of my office building and she was setting out purses galore. I had my eye on a hot pink handbag for some reason, and was sorely tempted for a brief few minutes. (Who, me? I don’t carry a purse, really.) And then she brought out… THIS… BAG. Since I happened to be carrying along a big project that day, jammed into a too-small tote, I saw the possibilities immediately. It’s leather, lined on the inside, and unbelievably roomy!! My projects fit in it very nicely! It even has zippered pockets on the sides for smaller doo-dads so they don’t get lost, and a zippered closure at the top, which is good since I’m prone to dumping my project bag on a regular basis. And the price was great too! Yes, this is bag nirvana.
My lovely daughter, Diana, decided last year that she wanted a “grown up” hat made from my favorite pattern, 
And here is a photo of the hat in progress as of this morning. I have futzed with the size and numbers of stitches called for in the pattern since the full-sized adult hat is a wee bit big for Diana yet. So far I think the shaping is nice and I’m hopeful that if it does felt well, we’ll have a lovely new hat! Wish me luck!
This is Genny! She’s my cousin from “Heidy-Ho,” as she calls it. Almost two years ago I showed her a picture of my 
Ok, the purple scarf is getting longer, but time is getting short! I decided since the last time I wrote that this scarf would go to my buddy Carrie, who is as passionate about purple as I am. Carrie lives in Denver, but this week, she’s HERE! And we’re getting together at my house on Saturday. Yay! I am knitting as fast as I can so the scarf will be done in time!