wip wednesday: felting fun

Here’s a knitted purse I’ve been working on. This is two skeins of hand-dyed self-striping wool yarn (Noro Kureyon) before the felting, a bit over 17″ x 14″. It was so much fun to knit, seeing the different color stripes appear like magic.

After the felting I got a very interesting shape. It shrank approximately an inch in both directions at the corners, more in the middle. I could have kept going with the felting, but I liked this effect so I stopped here.
I’m planning to take advantage of the frilly edges at the top and bottom by having them fold over at the top like a wavy collar. That’s a cotton lining with a magnetic snap that I’m going to hand-sew to the inside and one of my handle options, a translucent purple lucite. The Yarn Deli, absolutely the most delicious place to buy yarn in all of Southern California, has wonderful leather purse handles/straps that you attach with a cute button. I’m leaning towards the leather straps because they’re floppy and natural, like the purse. I just have to bring my purse down there and choose a color.

breaking news: sari scarf completed!

The color has returned! My sari scarf is finished. Total length is just over 2 yards.

I was amazed at how quickly it came together. It was only a matter of days.

See more recycled sari yarn here. It’s a really neat project: development groups and cooperatives of women in India and Nepal make the yarn to support their families, some of it is spun and some of it is left as ribbons like this one. Click here to see how its made.

Have a colorful day! =(^_^)=

wip wednesday: sari scarf

Remember my sari yarn? After all that work on my website (click here to see the progress on my website) I needed a project that I could actually touch rather than just stare at the computer screen day after day, night after night. Preferably one that I could just relax and not have to think overly much about. Here’s how it’s coming, that’s 18 inches now. I’m quite pleased with how it’s turning out so far. I should have a lovely silk scarf finished by the time that autumn weather hits.

yarn-mania

I like yarn for basically the same reasons that I like fabric and beads: the fabulous colors and textures. Recently I’ve been busy with my yarn stash in an effort to make it all fit into one giant plastic tub.

First is a crocheted scarf that I started New Year’s Day 2007 (click here for archived post). Crocheting with novelty yarn is NOT much fun at all. I finished it off with an extra long fringe and called it a day.

Second is a chunky black knitted scarf. I wanted to see how long it would get if I used up the entire skein. Answer: 123 inches. You don’t get to see this one though because the photo shows nothing but a big black blob.

Third is what I call a scrappy scarf. This is where the resemblance to quilt-making really kicks in. Take all the yummy yarns in your stash, cut them up into little pieces and then tie them together to make a new ball of yarn for your knitting pleasure. (anyone ever been accused of cutting up a perfectly good piece of fabric just to sew it back together again?) I added only enough scrappy pieces for a few rows at a time because it tended to tangle.
Most yarns in a skein unwrap quite nicely. This (100% cotton) is the first time that I actually had to bother to wind it into a ball. Made me wonder why I’m so enamored with black fabric, black yarn, and etc. Oh yeah … because the bright colors look so awesome next to it; because black goes with everything. Reminds me, I think I’m completely out of black yarn now.
And here is the finished scarf!
I knitted most of the last scarf while waiting at the doctor’s office. As a carry-around project knitting seems to work better than quilting for me since there are no tiny pieces or sharp needles to lose. Now that the days are getting warmer I’m thinking of knitted or crocheted flower supplies to keep with me in my purse.
Although I used up over 4 skeins of yarn in my scarf-making frenzy, I’m guessing that I will still need another plastic bin. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It will just give me room for more yarn! =(^_^)=