blackberrybeads -misc

Felted Bowls and some clutches too!

As you might remember, a good knittin friend of mine showed me how to increase and decrease, something I'd never done before, and frankly learning from a book isn't always the best way to teach myself ("you ain't wunna them book-lerners, is ya?")...Now that I can handle those little bits of info, and can read a pattern a little better then previously, I'm able to make round things...bowls, and now small clutches...so here's a few pieces I've made recently...I'm diggin the book "One Skein", cause the stuff is small and easy to work up in a few nights...instant gratification=makes me happy....

I don't understand how this all happened... after I made this tote in colors I don't usually work in, I found loads of beads in my leftover box that match PERFECTLY! So, I strung up each strand on beadalon and crimped each end, and tacked them onto either side, under the handles...Now the tote has it's own jewelry...
Neither side is 'right or wrong', its just side 'one and two'...I tried to keep the colors together that matched best, one side is dark (above) and this side is pale... I've been having a good time carrying this around, people at Starbucks stopped me asking where I got it and when i said "I just knitted it up", they went' "oh, you just knitted it up" in a mocking voice...gotta love those women...
My Purple Striped Tote... What's the deal you ask? Well, I found that the clutches just didn't hold everything I wanted them to, and I tried and tried to make a larger tote, but after I'd cast on 150 stitches, it felt (ha) like it took forever to knit, so I compromsed and cast on 80 and just knitted till I felt (ha) I had enough done...i think it measures about 16" in the pic here... Why these colors? While this is SO not my color palette (not that its bad, I'm just not a pink and purple person), my local shops don't have much of this brand in stock, so i bought what I could and just put this together from my stash...I like the citrus stripe in it, its the same green as in the lime clutch shown below (the teal is the same color as shown below too)... I finished it last night and wanted to felt it, but thought I should wait to take the 'before' pic this morning, otherwise I'd never get another opportunity...	May 20 2006
So here it is after going one quick round in the washer...i should prob felt it some more, or at least beat it with a stick and get the fibers moving around a little, but I'm pretty happy with the final result..I made the gusset larger than I wanted, so most of the brown disappeared, but i'm still learning...I also wasn't sure if the piece would flare out properly, since I was just winging when to increase..(about every 8-10 rounds or so)... I am happy that its a bigger clutch/tote/purse/whatever cause now I can carry my sunglasses, wallet, phone, keys, etc in it...Its still drying out, it'll be a few days before I can really use it, but whatever...i'm heading to the store to get more yarn and see what trouble i can get into again...I kinda like this 'design as you go' thing, its like walking a tight rope...I really expected this to be much worse than it turned out... the blocking could be better, but then I have curly hair that I can't control either, so no matter how nicely I blocked it, I'm sure it'd just crumple back to the shape it is now...and as much as I'm gonna toss it around in my car and the cats will make biscuits on it, I don't wanna spend the time to block it when I'll prob be washing it again next week...
Here are two bowls and the clutch in the pre-felting stage...its amazing how big the pieces need to be before they are felted...the bowls actually could double as hats, and in fact I've seen quite a few patterns that are pretty much this same thing...who knew?
...and here we are all felted and smooth...I'm not sure I felted these enough - I can still see the ridges on the inside and out...I used the top loading washing machine, hot water, low level, only a smidge of detergent, and two pair of jean-shorts as aggitators...Ok all you more experienced knitters out there - are these felted enough or should they go back in the drink? lemme know your thoughts...
Here's the entire shebang...amazingly the colors all work together and yet - they weren't planned at all...the olive green bowl and baby blue bowl were gifted yarn from my teacher, the teal bowl and turquoise clutch were just remnant skeins from a local store (their stock of Lamb's Pride bulky was nearly wiped out) and the Citrus Lime is a Manos de Uruguay that I completely fell in love with...but yet, they all blend nicely, eh? Check out the local ladies making the yarn in the pics from the link...
And a little size comparison for ya to see the before and after of the clutch...why is it that the olive bowl is so tall and skinny and the others are shorter and wider? its the same yarn, same needles, same knitter, same tension...weird, huh?!?!?!