Eskimimi Knits knitting blog

This will be my last post for a little while now as I am going into hospital for a spell (though hopefully not too long) where I shall probably have say goodbye to my needles and the internet for a bit whilst I recover.

Knowing that I had this hospital stay approaching, I have been trying to get some more of my Christmas projects completed. I finally decided on a hot water bottle cover for my brother-in-law, and I decided that it should be a very Christmassy affair. Knit from a single skein of Louet Riverstone Chunky, I improvised the entire pattern. I don’t know how it came together, or what process of luck decided that it was going to fit, but somehow it did. Before felting in the washing machine, it was a truly colossal piece of knitting. I never had a camera to take a ‘before’ picture, so you’ll just have to believe me when I say it was huge.

Fortunately it felted to a perfect size for a standard hot water bottle, ready for decorating:

It is very much a ‘work in progress’, but I wanted to take some pictures whilst there was still ample light. I think the shepherd needs a few sheep, and it just needs a bit more detail and overall refinement, and I think the star needs a small bead at its centre, to catch the light (in this case I am going to ignore the ‘less is more’ idiom and insist that, actually, more is more), but I now have the general idea of the design laid out for when I am able to return to my projects and (hopefully) finish them in time for gift-giving.

Have fun knitting, everyone, and I hope to be back soon! In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment, just to say hi, or to tell if you are busy with gift-knitting and if you think you are going to finish in time

Felting is an inexact science at the best of times. Add to that the fact that I cannot really crochet (I have tried to teach myself a few times, but I always forget how to do it as soon as I put the crochet hook down) and what emerged from my washing machine today was a little green mangled lump of inevitability.

Made from Rowan Pure Wool DK, it resembles a comedy lump of slime.  I’m not even sure you can make out quite what it was supposed to be.  I’ve pinned it out to block as I think it has a certain charm to it anyway, and I don’t have the heart to throw it away.  What did surprise me is how much lighter the felted item looks from the original yarn:

As I have used this same ball of yarn for a few different projects now I have seen that it does lose quite a lot of colour in a cold wash even, but I wasn’t expecting the colour change to be quite so drastic.  I am not sure if this change in colour is due to the washing process or if the fluffiness of the now fulled/felted fibres alters the appearance of the yarn and the way it behaves in the light, but I haven’t noticed this drastic colour change in any other yarn I have so far used in my stumbling journeys through the alchemical processes of felting.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to find a use for my new lumpy creation, but I’ll have a think about how it might be put to use.  If anyone has any suggestions, please list them in the comments and I’ll see if I can act on them!