Summer of Knitting, Coffee, and Chris Brown.

That's right, I said coffee. This is the summer I'm going to like coffee, I decided. And it's already 2:30, and I'm still awake, so I'm guessing it's due to the coffee I had this evening. Oops. I'm still a novice. Aren't the beans pretty though? My mom makes delicious coffee. I still make mine with plenty of cream and sugar, and it's yum.


Anyway, down to business. I felted a purse! It didn't take long, but I was pretty bored knitting such a straight-forward pattern especially in yarn that I had already used before, so I made the purse on the small side. The top edges kept curling outward, so I crocheted a border (double crochet stitch - The knitwitch on youtube taught me how), but it didn't really help much. In the end it didn't matter. After I ran it through the wash, it was pretty firm and still a little wet, so I could shape it. Not on a blocking board, or whatev, because I am too lazy to ever block anything I have made to date.

I put it through the washer THREE TIMES, with increasing heat (warm, then very warm, then hot) because, God, I was so impatient. You aren't supposed to have to run it through that many times. I was scared, though, of shrinking it too much too quickly (once you shrink, you can't stretch it out again). Next time I will just run it through once or twice in hot water. I put it in a zippered pillowcase like this website said to (wonderful tips) with a pair of jeans that I didn't mind if they shrunk and a towel. I didn't run it through the dryer because it was pretty dry already when I got it out of the wash. It came out pretty good, but it did felt kind of unevenly, partly because the purse folded up incidentally inside the washer. So in certain areas there is more stitch definition than in others. I think it looks fine overall. I'd probably like it more if I weren't so sick of this yarn. Jeez, I get sick of yarn so fast. That's probably bad.

Measurements. I was really annoyed because I wanted to know how much to expect my purse to shrink after felting, and I couldn't find any definite answer on the web. It was all "it depends". Everywhere I looked told me to do a swatch, but I have never done a swatch to obtain a gauge or anything, mainly because I'm lazy. So I didn't do a swatch and just assumed it would shrink about 1/3 - 1/2 its size, which was the general range given on the web. And it shrinks more in length than width. It was about right. Before and after pictures to help explain my point:

Before
Width: 9.25"
Length: 8"
Pom-pom diameter (I was curious, alright?): 1.5"

After
Width: 7.5"
Length: 5"
Pom-pom: 1"







I made a cute little pom-pom and did an I-cord connecting it to the back of the purse and then made a little I-cord hole to put it through to make a clasp of sorts. I-cord handle too. I was very curious what a felted pom-pom would look like. Now that I see it, it looks familiar. I think I've seen felted pom-poms before but I never made the connection. Interessstinng... the secrets of life that knitting reveals.













OK, now for the final pictures to just give you the feel of the general size before/after. Now, I know the purse clashes with my dress (ISN'T IT CUTE? I JUST GOT IT!), but it gives you an idea of the size. It's pretty small, and it's probably more of a fall purse, and I really don't know if I'm going to use it, and the pom-pom fits snugly under my armpit (HAHA, awk), but at least I got to use up that yarn that had been nagging me from my yarn bag for months now. And now I have felting experience. Cool.



















I'm going to bed now. Hopefully I can fall asleep. Before I go, though, I want to tell you all to listen to that song "No Air" by Jordin Sparks feat. Chris Brown (LOVE). Miriam says the lyrics suck (true), so it's not worth listening to (NOT true). The song is so good, and soo fun to sing along to. It's the only thing I've listened to all day long. I love it.

-T