cherishables

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

The Science of Felting

The first time I saw a handmade, felted, item I decided this was something I wanted to make. I started to read everything I could about felting. I was fascinated!

One of the main things I kept hearing (or reading) is that felting is an art, not a science. Sure there is definite science involved. After all, you take 100% wool, agitate it in hot water & you make fabric. It's not magic that felts the item. It's science.

Still, I understood what they were saying. Felting is unpredictable and it will appear differently depending on how much you agitate the yarn, how heavily it is agitated, the composition of the yarn, the temperature of the water, etc. However, after felting well over 100 items, I was feeling confident. After all, I have this down. I knew exactly how long to agitate the item. My results were pretty consistent.

Then I got an order for 30 flower pins. Instead of felting a few at a time, I decided to make the whole batch & felt them all together. Sounds like a good idea, right? I've felted multiple items in one batch before. Usually purses. Which are bigger than flower pins. And, apparently, they don't move around much.

I did everything the same as I always do.

Hot water. Check.

Tiny bit of Ivory detergent. Check.

Half the flowers in one zippered pillow case. Check.

Other half in the other zipper pillow case. Check.

Towel for agitation. Check.

So far so good. The flowers should come out like this:

Before felting on the left, after on the right.

I'm ready. 30 flowers, let get this done!

Two cycles in the washer later, the flowers were felted all right. They were also very fuzzy! I never saw anything like it. Each flower needed a hair cut.

This flower looks like it's been camping for 2 weeks. Haircut! Stat!

So I spent the next hour trimming each flower until it went from the picture above to this:

Much better!

What do you think happened? Too many pins in one pillow case? Just a quirk in the felting process?

I would love to hear if this has ever happened to you and if there is something I can do to avoid this in the future.

Happy Crocheting Everyone!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

D'oh

My brother's birthday is today. I wanted to make him something special. He loves The Simpsons and he was expecting slippers. No slippers today, Bro. Today's it's all about the Homer Hat. D'oh!

Inspired by a picture I found online, this is completely my own design. It's my first time creating something from a picture. I'm pleased with how it came out. More importantly, my brother really likes it. :-)

I even remembered Homer's comb-over.

Side view

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Headbands!

Now that the holidays are over, I have made a resolution to finish all my 2012 Christmas gifts by the summer. I had such good intentions. I bought a pattern that I wanted to test out as I thought it would be a great gift for all the chickadees on my list. I can't share the pattern here, b/c I don't want the surprise to be ruined, but it's a great pattern. I love it! The problem is, the new pattern got me thinking about other things. Mainly...headbands.

Yeah, I know. Who thinks about headbands? I guess I do, b/c once I got started, I couldn't stop. In fact, I'm still making headbands and I just listed 5 on my Etsy shop.

Here they are, one by one:

White with shades of blue made with Sheep(ish) wool-blend yarns.

Bobble stitch in light gray 100% wool yarn.

Pink & light green in a wool-acrylic blend.

Almost all the wool-acrylic blend colors I have. :-)

X-stitch in woodrose 100% wool yarn.

I'm very proud to say these are all are my own design. I just picked a stitch that I liked (or that looked like fun) and crafted away. There were a lot of ends to weave in, but that's because I usually wanted a main color & accent colors. That makes for a lot of work, but the result is fab!

I should also point out that the headbands made in 100% wool are all Patons Classic Wool. The wool blend yarns are all Sheep(ish) by Caron. I LOVE the colors in this line. When it first came out, I didn't think I would ever buy it b/c I usually use only natural fibers and wool is my fave. I bought some yarn anyway, b/c I like the colors so much. I'm so glad I did b/c I love this yarn for headbands. It's soft, yet warm and it works up so well. The yarn is such a good quality, you would never guess (by looking) that it's an acrylic blend. Can't recommend Sheep(ish) enough!

I do see myself making more headbands. They're a fun, quick project. But, unless I end up giving headbands to EVERYONE on my list (guys included!) I'd better start making other things. LOL

Thursday, January 5, 2012

New crochet app

There is nothing more frustrating than running out of yarn when you're working on a project. Sometimes it's hard enough to find yarn in the same dye lot when you're starting a project. It's nearly impossible to match dye lots when you're in the middle or, deity forbid, just about finished. So most of us buy too much and hope to use the yarn for another project. This works well if your projects are small, or if you have a pattern to work from.

What if you don't have a pattern? Or if you want to substitute yarn? Or add a fancy stitch border? It would be great to be able to estimate the yarn you'll need for substitutions, changes and new designs. Apparently, there's an app for that!

Get it here from iTunes

This app is available for iPhone and iPad users. It's called Crochet Handy and it is designed to help you determine how much yarn you need for a project. This could be handy if you would like to substitute yarn for a project or if you're designing something new and would like an estimate on how much yarn to buy.

It's available through the iTunes App Store only, so only iPeople can use it. Perhaps a Droid version will come out soon.

Full disclosure -- I haven't purchased the app. While I have an iPhone, it is for work. Since I don't carry it in my non-work life, I didn't take the plunge to purchase the app. In all honesty, it's only $0.99 so I might buy it soon. I will definitely get it if it ever released on Droid. Also, the only review isn't a glowing one but, like most apps, I'm sure it will evolve over time as more data is added and customer feedback is received.

If you are an iPerson, and you fancy an app to help you estimate yarn for a project, hop on over to iTunes for your copy. If you do, please leave a comment letting us know how well the app worked for you.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Secrets Revealed

I received a reminder today (thanks, Patty!) that I haven't yet posted about the Christmas secret. I had a few this year. We'll start with the gift for my sister.

Pattern inspired by one created by Uneek Handbags.

I wanted to make her a purse she could carry every day, but was still suitable for work. I decided on the houndstooth pattern, but in a different style and color. I made more of a bucket-style in brown and white, instead of black and white. The inside is lined in cotton with pockets and it closes with a magnetic snap. I think she likes it.

Next, is the purse I made my Mom. First I made the Midnight Sun hat (in Onyx) found on the Lion Brand website. I made it in Onyx, like the trim on the purse. When it was done, I had a lot of the Onyx Fun Fur leftover and decided she needed a purse too.

This purse is my own design.

Last Christmas I made my Mom purple fingerless gloves trimmed in this fun fur. This year I decided to use more royal purple yarn to make a medium sized bucket bag, trimmed in Onyx Fun Fur. To get this type of ruffle, do a couple of rows of single crochet in the same number of stitches as the bag, then switch to 3 single crochet in each of the stitches. Do this until you have the ruffle you want and/or you run out of fun fur (but be sure to finish the row.) When the bag is felted, the fun fur will not felt. Instead it will create this fun ruffle. Be sure to use a large hook (I believe I used an 'N' for this ruffle) as it makes working with this material much easier. My Mom now has a hat, purse and fingerless gloves that all match!

Last, but certainly not least, is the secret project from the previous post.

Pattern created & sold by the wonderful people at Knot Sew Cute.

An Irish fisherman's sweater-inspired pillow for my Mother-in-Law. I l-o-v-e, LOVE, this pattern. The cable was a little tricky, but once I ripped it out a few times, I got it going in the right direction. It was made with Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool in natural and stuffed with a 16" pillow. Here's the back:

Look at those yummy wooden buttons! I'm very pleased with how this pattern came out and I highly recommend the pattern. In fact, all the patterns from Knot Sew Cute are wonderful and I recommend you look them up on Etsy.

I gave lots of other handmade gifts. Some of these you may have seen on previous posts. Here's a run-down of the rest of the secrets:

Yellow trim tote for my Sister-in-Law.

Felted basketweave purse in currant for my eldest niece.

Sporty orange and brown striped purse for my middle niece.

Philadelphia Eagles team colors purse for my nephew's girlfriend who loves the Eagles (just like me!)

Philadelphia Flyers colors purse for my youngest niece who likes black.

Orange Bobble Bag for my Aunt who loves orange even more than me!

I also made a bunch of striped earflap hats for the men in the family but for some reason forgot to take a picture. Oh well. They came out great & the guys seemed to like them.

So there it is, the big Christmas reveal. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

I've Got a Secret

Christmas secrets, that is. To be fair, at this time of year, we probably all have lots & lots of secrets. There are hundreds in this house alone.

I've been crafting up a storm. Lots of people are getting hand-crafted goodies for Christmas this year. I don't want to ruin any surprises, but I so want to show this one project. It came out so good and I'm so very proud of it. I'm not showing the whole thing. I'm not saying who it's for. I'm not even going to tell you what it is. Just a peek.

That's it! Well, maybe one more.

After the holidays, I'll post a picture of the project and tell you where you can get it, if you would like to try it yourself. It's so worth it!

So, what crafty secrets are you keeping this Christmas?

Thursday, December 1, 2011

A rose by any other name...

Flower pins! Just for fun, I made a bunch of these last year. I was practicing crochet-in-the-round and this seemed like a fun project. I can make them pretty quickly, so I made tons. Probably 50 or so pins. On a lark, I brought them to the craft fair. They sold like hot cakes! So I did what any smart person would do. I made more!

I have a whole crop of new flower pins listed in my Etsy shop. All kinds of colors -- some found in nature, some found in my imagination only. These pins are great on a purse, jacket or hat. A unique a fun gift, they're inexpensive enough to keep a few on hand for drop-in guests. They make terrific teacher or Secret Santa gifts. I'm not sure I'll have the time to make more this holiday season, so order early before they're gone!

Lalia Flower pattern designed & sold by mamachee.etsy.com