A Trip to my LYS (local yarn store)

Well today was a day I had been looking forward too.. I was going to go to my LYS! I had some volunteering to do at the public library (art show); and since the yarn store is right by the library it looked like it would be the perfect opportunity. I had a gift certificate (thanks to the greatest sister one could ever have) and some ideas of what I may get. Let me just tell you it was a successful trip. The choices were hard to make so many beautiful feeling yarns to choose from.. a true yarngasm experience. I ended up getting supplies for four (4) projects.

• 2 skeins of Cascade 220 (for brea bag)
• purse handles (for brea bag)
• 3 more skeins of Cascade 220 (might be a sweater)
• some size 5 double pointed needles (a scarf I want to make needs these)
• a skein of Tofutsies- the yarn with shrimp and crab shells (i've always wanted to try)
• oh and a scarf kit -couldn't pass on the price or the ease of pattern

The scarf kit contained 2 skeins of metal wink (a true novelty yarn) each priced at 6.75 and a skein of Patons Katrina at 9.00. I got it all for 19.95. Oh and all you need to do is cast on 12 stitches on size 17 needles and just knit away. The novelty yarn is white while the patons yarn is a soft blue.. I can't wait to see how it comes out.

Now all I have to do is finish some other projects and I can start on these. But who knows I might not worry about my WIPs and might just start on one of these; I'll just have to see.

My Felting Experience

Well I've officially felted! What can I say about felting... it has its ups and downs. One thing I did enjoy about this project was the ease of joining in the ends of my yarn.. I was able to do that 'felting join' don't know what you would really call it. Though it's when you wet the two ends of your yarn and then use the friction from your hands to join them together... that was pretty amazing. Oh and I also tried a new bind off that I highly recommend. Learned it from a Knitty Gritty http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/shows_dkng/episode this week. Basically, you knit 2 together and then slip the stitch back to the left needle and knit 2 together again.. and just repeat till the last stitch. Okay enough about that back to my felting experience.

Here it is before any felting what so ever...





Okay so the washing machine that I use is a front-loader so I always thought how would I be able to felt... well in the most recent Knitty http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall07/FEATfeltingoldway.html I found this article on felting before washing machines so I gave it a try...








The article doesn't lie talk about tiring work and messy. So I decided to stop on felting this way and decided to felt in the washing machine. Thank goodness for modern appliances. Thankfully I had found another article on felting in a front load machine http://www.woolcrafting.com/felting-in-a-front-load-washing-machine.html and it worked




All that is left is some drying and then a little icord and a button.

Felting something I'm glad I've learned to do. One more technique tried.... so many more to come.

First Felting Project

Knitting... is something I truely love; and have been doing for a little under 2 years. Well I have decided to enter the world of felting my knitting projects. So I've decided I'll write about my felting experience. I am attempting an "Accesory Bag". As of right know I've done a majority of the knitting only about an inch more to go and will then attempt to "hand felt". This is going to be interesting. I am hopeful that it will work out and can't wait to share my experience.