Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Felting

Tonight I decided to look up some more info on felted potholders and came across something that I'd vaguely thought about - needle felting. Off I went to get the tools for this new endeavor. I pulled out my felting wool and chose a rainbow spectrum of Cascade 220 that will work well for felt that will reside near food (ie - no fuzzy mohair blend, which I'd prefer not to find in my scrambled eggs). Now the trick will be figuring out how to knit the correct size swatch, and which stitch to use to create a thick potholder, then come up with some simple designs to punch into them with contrasting yarn. Sayings, pictures, initials? The tools are sort of expensive to get started, but since I love knitting felted bags, I know that I'll be using these tools enough to make it worthwhile.

No matter how many people I try to cut out of gift giving, I still seem to have a ton of them. Mom, Dad, Sibs & sibs-in-law, mom-in-law, grandfather-in-law, nephews and niece, aunts. Cousins - sorry, you're being cut off this year... I can't do it anymore. Dad is getting socks. Mom-in-law is getting either socks or a scarf. Everyone else is up in the air. I got 2 balls of manly colored sock yarn today, so at least one other male will be getting socks. I had a vague thought of making a pair for a guy I have a crush on, but you know the saying about knitting for a boyfriend, I figure even male friends are in the danger zone there. Men have big feet - it's too much of a risk. The second issue with knitting people gifts is that they don't know the true value of what you're giving. I'm having a hard time finding a good reference for commission pricing, but I know I saw pricing on Jackie E-S's website years back when she still had an online store (oh, how I miss it!) and told people that if they wanted me to knit a pair of socks it would cost them about $60 a pair with no frills. And that was back when you could knit a pair of Lorna's Laces Shepard Socks for $16... now it's more than $20! I have found a wonderful sock knitting reference - Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. It's got all the info for different sizes so you only need to ask someone's shoe size to make them socks. I had to use a coupon for this one too... shame on me for needing my own copy instead of continuing to pay late fees at the library.

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