KH Monthly Challenge.... JULY

Knit-Alongs
1

The challenge for this month is…

A felted project!

Here a recent thread from the general forum about felting, if you’re not sure what it is, or how to do it.

I’m sure we’re going to see lots of Booga Bags and Fiber Trends Clogs (no pattern there, just the KAL thread).

Don’t forget to check out Knitty and Knittng Pattern Central for patterns, too. Knit One, Felt Too and Felted Knits are great books all about felting! Your library might have them. And don’t forget Nicky Epstein’s Flowers–she has 2 chapters dedicated to felted flowers. (got to Amazon if you want to check out the books

You can ALSO take all those swatches I know you’ve been knitting, and felt them into coasters! I did this last summer, it was a great project. You can bead or embroider around the edges, too, maybe add a ribbon, etc.

Here’s a great project to do with kids… Felting around a bar of soap! All you need is roving, water, and a bar of soap! I did it with my niece and nephew last summer and they loved it! It was messy… but fun! About has a similar project with very detailed instructions. You can also search yahoo and google for “felt aroound a bar of soap” and lots of sites with instructions and pictures will come up.

Just remember, in order to felt, you need ANIMAL FIBERS. Acrylic, cotton, and linen won’t felt. Some blends (part animal, part something else) won’t felt either, AND if the animal fiber has been bleached white, it might not felt EITHER! make sure you check those labels before starting a project… you dont’ want to have knitted a FT Clog in cotton, only to discover LATER that it won’t felt, and you’re stuck with big foot slippers :shock:

Here’s some other Feltmaking tips and FAQ if you’re interested. ETA: THIS LINK NO LONGER WORKS :frowning:

Happpppppy Knitting!

2

Oooh, this might motivate me to finish DH’s clogs! :happydance:

3

I’m in on this one…I’ve been wanting to felt something for a while.

So, alpaca will felt, right? I have two skeins of Berocco Ultra Alpaca, one in Navy and one called Redwood Mix. Not sure how much yarn I might need or what pattern I could use but I would love to make a felted bag of some sort. I’ll have to go peruse knitting pattern central and see if I can come up with something.

4

I’m in on this one too…I’m going to do the Lucy Bag in Mmmmmmmmalabrigo’s Emerald Blue. This will be a Christmas present for my Grandma. I already have all the supplies but need to borrow my husbands arms to wind the 2 hanks since I don’t have a swift!

5

Send it to meeeee, I’ll wind it up for you :shifty:

6

Oo… This is good. I’m supposed to make a diaper bag for a friend at work.

And a möbius bag…

And a sushi wallet…

I like to FELT!

7

:roflhard: :roflhard: :roflhard:

And will it then mysteriously disappear in the post on the way back to Sara, Vendie? :wink:

8

Also, wool that says “SUPERWASH” does not felt. :thumbsup:

9

Perfect! I am going to make a felted cell-phone holder for DH for our anniversary, so it fits the theme! :happydance:

10

:roflhard: :roflhard: :roflhard:

And will it then mysteriously disappear in the post on the way back to Sara, Vendie? ;)[/quote]

That is what I suspect! You can’t blame her for loving that mmmmmalabrigo!!! :heart:

11

Heck no, I don’t blame her for that at all! Rather, I blame her for my fondness for Mmmmalabrigo… :shifty:

12

:wink: Me too! Although, after I knit this purse I won’t have any more in my stash :verysad: but I need a little mmmmmalabrigo love right now!

13

I need some too! :frowning: I plan to buy a bunch at Stitches (at Chix, really) since the yarn abstinence doesn’t count that weekend! :happydance: :happydance:

Well, I’ll get some if Kelly doesn’t get paid with all of it… :rofling:

14

I love the felted bar of soap project with the kids! They will LOVE to do that…I can just see the massive amounts of soap suds around my kitchen…hmm maybe an outdoor project…

Also I had planned on making a lucy bag for our babysitter out of some of my own homespun…so I guess I’m in!

15

:thumbsup: I love the Lucy bag! I still need to make one for myself…wonder if I have enough wool that matches to make one… :thinking:

16

PERFECT! :cheering:

I recently started one of Cat Bordhi’s moebius cat baskets with Kraemer Yarns Mauch Chunky (which felted BEAUTIFULLY for me for a previous cat basket), so I’m in.

I’ve got the moebius ring done & will be starting to pick up stitches later today.

Just finished the first of four counterpane squares. :happydance: It’s real interesting to go from size 13 needles to size 3…

Diane

17

Funny story…Today is my little cousins birthday party. So thursday I decide I’ll make him some clogs, doesn’t take very long right? (He LOVE spiderman) So I go to my knitpicks drawer (yes have a drawer just for them) and I have red no blue. I had Spruce, and no matter what light I held it under it wouldn’t turn blue.

Going to LYS on Friday was out of the question…open 10-6, work 9-7…
(Oh and I asked DH to pick it up for me…he compared it to buying tampons)
So I went yesterday and got some cascade. But this was in the middle of “Girls day” (Me, DD, Mom and Sister) and of course those two can shop. Didn’t get home and started until 4:30, got clog one done before dinner. Then there was baths, teeth, bedtime for the ankle biters. Sheesh, this was NEVER going to get done.

I stayed up till 2 (I had to frog a few times on #2 cause I lost count) Set my alarm for 6am…(because here I am at work…) I finish the second clog and all the weaving at 7:30 am…

As I am washing them I keep sticking my hand in this BURNING hot water, couldn’t find the dern things. I thought for sure they were ruined.

8:02, they look great. A litte soaked but good. 8:15 shoving the plastic bags in them (yes I did have to be at work at 8am) BUT…the clogs are done. It’s so hot they will dry in no time. (smallest size) and they look adorable…

If my DH forgets to take them to the party I WILL kill.

And since I finished this morning…my KAL is DONE!!! :slight_smile:

Just kidding, I think Im going to do the Rick Rack bag.

18

WOW steph! You win I guess!!!

I meant to add, we get extra points if this is a STASH BUSTER project!!!

19

Oh, I’ll get extra points then :happydance:
Since I’m not going to buy anymore yarn for an indefinite amount of time(aka till one box is empty), I’m going to use stash yarn.
Not sure what exactly I’ll knit, cause I don’t know what amounts of feltable yarn I have(yes, I really need a yarn-buying-stop :lol: ). Thinking about doing a booga bag if I have enough or some feltable bowls otherwise.

20

Steph, did you get a photo of the Spiderman clogs?!

And Hildie, how does the scoring system work? Do we win anything?!