The cold snap sent me looking for my hot water bottle. It came with a very thick fleece cover, which actually prevented any of the heat escaping from the hottie and warming my toes.
So I knitted a new one -
A good project - I learned to knit backwards in order to make the short-row bumps.
And at last I succeeded in making a felted hat. Two earlier attempts resulted in items that would fit a grapefruit rather than a human head.
Before felting, it was large and floppy -
And after a 60 degree cotton programme wash in the machine it was thick, fuzzy and warm -
Sadly, after all that, it doesn't suit me.
Today I began to spin some fibre I bought at the Woolfest back in the summer (sorry, "summer"). It was labelled 'Carded Batt, wool/silk, 800 gms', and was such an interesting colour that I seized it at once. Mostly grey, there were flashes of blue, green and red in it.
This morning I took the batt out of its bag and spread it out. There seemed to be a mountain of fibre. The colour streaks went lengthways, and if I divided it lengthways, the different colours might be separated into different skeins, and I thought it better to divide it so that they would be more evenly distributed among the eventual skeins of yarn.
I started to spin the first bundle. Full of nepps, the silk rather unevenly distibuted, and not at all like the usual smooth roving or tops that I usually spin. But it was easy enough to feed into a twist, and the little lumps and bumps and colour changes make it look very tweedy. This evening I have 2 bobbins full, ready to ply. In fact, I need to see how it turns out, so I'll go and ply it.
Perhaps a picture tomorrow.
5 comments:
The hot water bottle cover is sweet and makes me want to knit one for my sad rubber bottle. Mine came with a useless fleece cover, too. Tonight's wind is just nasty and I need cosiness!
wow, great hot water bottle cover! Very lizard ridgey!
this is a wonderful hottie bottle cover! I've just been trying to knit backwards, like you, and am now finding it hard to type forwards! Can you tell me where I can find out what the technique is? Or is it just knitting the opposite way around, like I've just been attempting?
I think I need a hottle bottle cover too.
Where did you learn to knit backwards?
That's awesome! I wish my knitting was that good. I have just started my Second Ever Knitting Project, which is a scarf.
It's for my four year old nephew, so it doesn't matter too much if it is a bit cack-handed. Although actually it might because he'll be doing his a-levels by the time I finish it.
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