Saturday, July 17, 2010

SOTD: Scentless Saturday and More Things To Do!


I have hobbies. There are the three blogs, two of which I neglect shamefully. And another blog that I'm supposed to be helping with. And the garden, where I mostly admire the efforts of Gardener Artist (Miss Mosaic). And I'm trying to read 100+ books by the end of the year. And there's the chicken frying. And the decluttering. And the unprecedented idea of exercise, on the tricycle. And the park sitting.  And we're watching all of Babylon 5 again, with friends. And I haven't taken the time to cook or sew or do anything with that box of beads that's around here somewhere, in a long time.

So I need another hobby, right? Of course I do!

Felted knitting it is. I've always liked the idea of knitting, but I only really like the masterpieces, the things that I might be able to create after, oh, thirty years at the hobby. I do like baby hats, but I don't know that many babies, plus I'd probably spend months reading up on Infant Hat Safety Guidelines before I dared to actually relinquish a hat to anyone with supervisory responsibilities over a baby.

So I tend to stop my projects before they're actually finished, after they demonstrate their first flaws. The fuzzy angora scarf with wide bands of several different colors is about ten years old and four feet long, but still not done. And Himself is still waiting for his sweater.

But I like felted wool things, both the difficult-looking things like hats, and the oddities like little felted balls. And I'm told that the felting process (heat, water, agitation, intended to produce what you produce accidentally when you throw a wool sweater into a washer on Hot) conceals many flaws. I knit many flaws, so this is good.

So I'm knitting (well, not while simultaneously typing; that would be impressive) my fifteenth row of a round of wool that is intended to be felted into an ittybitty gift bag, once I get another twenty-five or so rows on it and sew up the bottom. And felt it and block it and dry it and edge it and possibly also line it with some kind of gaudy silk, and add a cord. And then I'll...

OK, I don't actually know what I'll do with it; it was just the simplest project in the felted knitting book. Maybe I can use it to keep a perfume bottle feeling cuddled and secure. My eventual goal is to master felted knitted hats, but I'll probably work my way through glasses cases and potholders and tea cozies first. And inflict them on people.

Yay! I love new hobbies.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

5 comments:

  1. LOL! You sound very much like me! Is the book you have "Felted Knits?" by B Galeskas? I made those little strappy purses and then needle-felted designs on the flap!

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  2. Wow - that's impressive! My hobby list is seriously embarrassing next to yours. It looks something like this:

    Blogging (reading and writing)
    Playing with perfume
    Buying cheese
    Eating cheese
    Chanel surfing
    Thinking about getting more fit
    Wondering why I'm not more fit
    Talking myself out of exercise
    Eating cheese while watching Food Network

    Good luck with the knitting!

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  3. Frida! Yep, that's the one. :) And the yarn for the first project is almost exactly the same blue as that blue pillow on the cover, which of course tempts me to go get more and try to make the pillow. Oh, that's impressive - the description of needle-felting alarmed me. ("Very sharp" and "tiny barbs"? Run!)

    Howdy, Josephine! Well, I didn't say that I actually _achieved_ much on many of those hobbies. And we did buy a pound of cheese yesterday. (Irish cheddar. Mmmmmm.)

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  4. Oh, this is hilarious - I don't doubt for a moment that you will be preoccupied with Infant Hat Safety Guidelines, confidently extrapolating from your Perfume Postal Phobia.

    : - )

    And I chuckled at the notion of an individual perfume bottle feeling "cuddled and secure"! Perhaps if we all lived in individual felt bags many of the anxieties of modern living would fall from our shoulders.

    Also, being flaw prone rang a bell with me. One of my late mother's (rather ambitious) sayings during ill fated knitting projects was: "Oh, not to worry - it'll press out!" Two left sleeves, no hole for the head, it was always the same Pollyannah-ish refrain.

    And you have reminded me: Mr Bonkers and Lovethescent's two year old are still waiting for their knitted hippos.

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  5. Hey, Flittersniffer! Oh, yes, baby hats are not a good idea for me. The felt bag idea, on the other hand, sounds kinda nice. But it would be a lot of knitting. :)

    Hee. I like the "It'll press out!" assurance.

    Hippos! Hey, knitted stuffed animals could probably be felted too, huh?

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