Steeking -- Stone Cold Sober

I finally did it. I steeked the Bohus. And I did it stone cold sober.



Following the instructions, I basted in several guideline stitches of yarn -- one in the exact middle, and two five rows away on either side. Then I machine stitched one row away from the middle on each side and then two rows away from the middle on each side. So, those cut stitches have nowhere to go. Then, with wild abandon, I took out my trusty shears and cut my sweater right up the middle on the basted yarn guideline.



So far, the sweater hasn't completely self-destructed. In fact, it looks pretty good and, better -- now that I can try it on properly -- I think it might actually fit.

Now I need to pick up umpteen million stitches along the edges and knit the dreaded button bands. This is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's least favorite thing. I guess we'll find out how like it.

Felt is Magical

I've been doing one of my favorite knitting projects over the past week. I've been making felt hats. I love it because it's magical. You start knitting with big needles and bulky yarn (or two strands) and it knits up fast. Then it looks like a giant misshapen mistake -- like this. Then you throw it in the washer with a pair of jeans and a miracle occurs. It becomes a solid fabric and the brim turns up and it looks great. I haven't decided yet whether to embellish the hats with some needlefelting or add flowers or something. The teal one looks to me like it needs a little something to make it interesting. The striped one probably has enough going on. The navy blue mohair blend one hasn't been washed yet but when it does it will be really fuzzy and probably won't require any further embellishment.

I've also been spinning a bit of the wool I got at the Wool Gathering. This was interesting -- I bought two tubes of yarn and each tube had maybe ten little puffs of yarn in it, each a different color (but both tubes were the same). I spun each on a separate bobbin and then plied them together and, presto, striped yarn with lots of color.

Last, the Bohus is still waiting to be steeked. I need to get my nerve up and my sewing machine out. I wonder if I'll ever get it finished ... I need a slow day when I can take my time. As if that'll ever happen ...