Saturday 30 April 2011

knit and stitch

As many people know, I am really a spinner more than a knitter (still probably more of an embroiderer really) and as a result I occasionally have spinning disasters as well as knitting ones. This yarn is hand dyed, hand spun super wash merino, love the colours but not so keen on the feel of it so seemed an ideal candidate for a bit of experimentation.


I've always had a fear of DPN's mainly as a result of trying to knit a pair of wrist warmers and constantly taking out the wrong needle so I cast on a few stitches and knitted until I had the rhythm.
Brilliant except that it left me with a tube of rough knitting!!! so I cast off, washed in hot water and tried to felt it BIG mistake, super wash doesn't felt( I forgot) so I dried it off using a rough towel  which softened the knitting giving it a slightly worn appearance.

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Waht to do next? well I machine stitched two lines and cut the tube open. That seemed to work ok :-)
So I cut it in half again, and fished out my embroidery threads, adding a few simple stitches and backing the knitting with fuseable quilting wadding. I ended up with a phone sock for my new phone.

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Interesting experiment, knitting technique nailed, inspiration gained for further projects and some unpromising handspun used up.

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5 comments:

Amanda said...

Fantastic journey of a sample piece!

I've discovered I don't do thin yarns or DPNs either, and I used to do Fairisle and Arans with my eyes closed for money! Patience and worsening eyes don't help.

Interesting about the non non felting, is that an embellisher you tried it on too or the sewing machine?

Guzzisue said...

thanks, tried to felt by hand, didn't think to try the embellisher :-)

Debbie said...

Neat project - love the stitching! Not being a quilter do you have to iron the wadding onto the knitting or stitch it in place?

Guzzisue said...

Hi, the wadding is iron on on one side only so I ironed it to the knitting leaving the soft side as a liner.

Debbie said...

Thanks Sue, useful to know. I can think of lots of uses for iron-on wadding now I know it works on knitted fabric....