knit1frog2

spot o' tea

Man, I really didn't mean to do a play on words...but here is my tea steeper that I adore, given to me by a great friend while I was recuperating from the hip surgery!

This contraption works awesomely!

And are you ready for my felting fun result?? Are ya??

Okay...here we go...

Here it is!Adore the blue here...Cascade 220 of course.

Okay it's wrinkly and crinkly...it's wet afterall...but I think it looks pretty darn cutie.  I didn't want to make a hat for it.  We have enough hats.  A hat for rain, a hat for sports, a hat to walk the dog, a hat for fun, heck my bladder even has a hat.  (when I get to know you better, I'll explain that one...^_~)  My tea steeper certainly doesn't need one.

Oh yeah.  Tomorrow morning, I'm sleeping in, brewing some tea and then heading out for a fully indulgent, pampering day.  85 minutes of foot and hand reflexology, a movie and a facial in the afternoon!  yay for free OOF days...I need it.

twirly tops

Have you ever seen these needles?

really, they twirl!

Have you ever been working on circulars only to have them kind of tangle a bit? These are so curious b/c they twirl...not a bad price either...I bought them from The Knittery in Renton.  If you know downtown Renton, you are ahead of the curve, I would have NEVER found the place by myself. 

A close-up of the twirly bit...

whee!

excedrin time

This...is giving me a headache.  That and I keep dreaming about work. THAT. Needs to stop.

another felting project!

Yesterday I went by Z's house to help her with some blogging basics...yes! She is starting a blog and I am very excited about this. She really needs to start her Noro project and post pictures and lovely jubbly details about it all...but look what she had for me, fresh from the Madrona fair for coming over!!

I'm interested in trying lightweight!

When I saw this in her post, I didn't think "...one of these things...doesn't belong" b/c it looked red...not HOT PINK! yes, I love pink.

Check out her blog...she was one of the lucky that got into Jean Wong's class...I SO wish that I had gotten in...sigh.  Though looking at the charting done, what was I saying about headache?

This just in...!  Just rec'd the photo, so had to post it. 

mitts off.  This one's mine!

This too, was at Z's house waiting for me.  The infamous pecan bar from Portland.  I just love that she labeled it with my name, so there was NO mistaking that it wasn't up for grabs in her house.  I didn't want to get too excited when she told me that she brought me one back...in case that someone ate it before I could get over...I should have KNOWN better.  hahahahaha.  She has tried 3 different attempts to recreate it.  I hope she keeps trying...

success

Tara is a good sport.  When I asked her to bring her coffee press to our dinner tonight, she didn't say that I was insane, she just brought it!  I had to see with my own eyes whether the coffee bistro warmer fit or whether I had to go back to the drawing board and start all over again.  I also had to take a picture so that you could see as well!

I hope tomorrow's coffee is fun!

She said that she might have to keep it out on the counter now :).  I say that is a successful project done, eh?  hooray! 

I also picked up a couple of these for her as well, she seemed to like them too:

15oz - good for lots o' coffee

Here is a closeup of the whole bobble & loop closure system in case you're interested:

This closure worked perfectly...

I still love that flower...I may need to knit one for me...even if it's just to hang out in the green bowl...

in plain sight

I'm so tired today.  Napped for a couple of hours when I got home from work.  <yawn.>

I wondered about what to blog about today...and then I looked over, and got my inspiration.

Sometimes I wonder how people store their yarn.  This is, by no means, the bulk of my stash, but it is some of it and there it is...out in plain sight.

what sits on top of your bookcase?

Yup. In the larger box houses 12 skein of the most lovely, Karabella soft brown tweed yarn. In the Tiffany's box atop houses a bunch of (what else) my very special cracksilk haze.  And so on and so on, and yes, actually IN sight is some STR just waiting to be knit into socks.  (I have 2 more of those glass containers that I just haven't put up there yet.)

all within reach

This by no means is my entire knitting library, but it has some of the things that I like to look at most.

next...!

As I was hobbling around my apt yesterday (ow-- my hip hurt quite a bit, first time in awhile like that!) I think I have found a new project...

love this tea brewer.

Right now, I wrap it with a kitchen towel every time I make tea.  Now that I've felted something, I feel the need to make one for this.

I did, however, feel something in my eye yesterday after I finished up the coffee bistro project.  I pulled a fiber strand over an inch long out from my eye that was sitting underneath my contact lens.  Felting is fun, but not the repercussions...that and the smell of wet wool drying, ack.  I'm almost happy that my nose is a bit stuffed up lately.

bodum is good, but now it's boss

Anyone who has tried the double-walled insulated glasses by bodum, knows they rock.  Case in point, I went to make some tea tonight, but heard the washing machine had stopped spinning, so I went to transfer the items to the dryer.  I came back to watch a movie and surf (b/c I can't just do one thing at a time...) and start this post when I realized that I had completely forgotten that I had made the tea!  I went back to the kitchen and it was still hot.  Love that.

I got to wondering why they didn't make more things like that.  I see they have an insulated version of their teapot now...very nice.  I may need to get one someday...they are on the pricey side...but I don't believe that I've seen a double-walled coffee press. 

$179.95.  eek.

This brings me to my latest project.  I have a friend who recently bought a replacement coffee press after her first one shattered into a zillion pieces.  The felting project proves two-fold.

1. It should keep the glass from flying all over the kitchen should the shattering happen again.
2. It should keep the ENORMOUS amount of coffee that she makes in her 8c press, warm.

Hover over to see the finished result!

Keep in mind, mine is much shorter than hers is...but actually, it fits mine quite nicely.  Hmmm.  Should I keep it?  No no, I'm supposed to lay off of the coffee for awhile anyway.  Besides, hers has tapered feet, so it needs to be shorter so it should work just fine (I hope I hope...I had to go by measurements off of the web.).  At first I thought the camellia was a bit big, but hey, they're a big flower anyway, right?  I think it looks so...ooh la la meets bistro coffee.  ^__^

The coffee press warmer (I don't like the word "cozy" -- ack.) is not a tube; are you wondering how it's being held together?  I created a little loop and bobble system...see below...

Look at the reverse side!  Still pretty.

I hope she likes it. 

flower power

Well well well.  After a doctor's appt yesterday, I stopped off at Whole Foods since it was basically across the street.  Look what I remembered to get!

$2.99

I had no idea they are insulated and have a zipped top!  It was also less expensive than the teenie weenie beanie container of blueberries that I was buying, so how could I not get one??

On the way back today from Physical Therapy, aka PT (which makes today a percocet day thankyouverymuch), I stopped off to pick up some zippered pillowcase protectors so that I could get started on the felting.  $2.99?  Two please...just in case...hahahaha.  Like suddenly if I start felting up a storm over here (yeah don't exactly see that happening, but okay...) and are you ready??

Here she goes!

La la la...about 36 minutes later...

You know what's funny? After opening up the pillowcase, my first reaction was "oooo!"  I couldn't remember what it looked like beforehand at ALL until I was cropping the photo to post!  It's drying now, but I will take a closer photo once it has dried.  I wanted it to have that fuzzy look, so I added a strand of mohair to it.  I am amazed that it worked--don't ask me why...mohair IS fuzzy afterall!  ^__^

There are a couple of other tweaks that I'm doing to the main body and then I'm going to toss it into the washing machine too...I'm sooooo close to being done and then I can show you what I'm up to with it.

edit: I couldn't wait, here's a close up shot now!

love it.

the zen of knitting

Once again.  Stressed at work.  Stressful workloads.  Head popping time constraints.  ugh.

I have been reaping the zen moments from knitting here and there.  Last night with the little time that I had, I started the camellia.  I read the instructions and thought, "what?  hmmm...okay" and plunged in...all in.  I started it and I reached mental clarity for the first time since December.  I finished it in one sitting even.  ahhhh.  nice.  The knit brought everything together.

Tonight I had to take a picture of the rest pre-felt.  I love the way it looks...just so happy.  yay.

all is not what it seems at times. stay with the zen.

I can't wait to see what it looks like once felted...

feeling the felt

Hmmm, after waiting wayyyy too long for my camera battery to recharge, I have to say that Carrie is right...felting is fabulously freeing!  You pop the knitted item into the wash (I put mine into a Woolite laundry bag, it has smaller holes than my Nordstrom lingerie bags)...wished I had a spare zipped pillowcase though) into the hottest water setting and let it go.  la la la, it agitates away while you're doing other things like sipping your tea.  I did check every 15 min just to see what it was up to b/c I had read other people had to check a LOT.  I have decided with my washing machine, I don't need to check much...no micromanaging needed here.

Anyone who knows me know that I do NOT like knitting swatches.  I know they're an integral part to knitting, but I really don't like doing it.  With felting, you just never know how much the yarn will change, there are so many factors...the yarn, your tension, the needle size...on and on.  Fine.  I knitted one.  Then I figured while I was at it, I'd knit another in a different yarn just to see what the different outcomes would be.  (I was complaining the entire way, wondering why I was torturing myself further.)  Oh, and size 11 needles were used for both swatches.

Here are the specs pre-felting:

A close up Cascade 220 swatch which was held double...interesting that it's almost the same as a single-stranded LP-bulky yarn.

Cascade 220unknown color darnit3sts/in L x 4sts/in H9.25" L x 5.5" H Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride - BulkyM-124 Persian Peacock2.75sts/in L x 3.75sts/in H9" L x 5.25" H

Now for the after...sooooooooooooo curious to me for some reason!

Cascade 220: 8.25" L x 4" H, 7mm thickBrown Sheep: 7.5" L x 4" H, 9mm thick

I had read that the purl side of your knit will felt better than the knit side. I was very interested to see this for my own eyes. I mean it makes sense, but it's cool to view actuality.

This is the knit side felted.(Hover over the pic to see the purl side felted.)

See?  It DOES look different.  At least for Cascade 220.   The Lamb's Pride bulky looked basically the same on both sides and was much more "hairy."  For my next project I will definitely use the purled side if using Cascade 220.

Let the felting begin!  Well, after I take my allergy med that is.  My eyes are really itchy at the moment.