colourful felting....

we are going to go to the knitting & stitching show on thursday - and this year DS is happy to be on the train, because he can take his nintendo ds and play all the time! I tried to buy one of those sets where there is a cover for the gadget,

but couldn't find one around. of course for a knitter that's not really a serious issue - as long as the recipient is allowed to choose the colours. he chose a strong red, dyed with brazilwood, from the stash. and a dark purple, dyed with logwood. I have knit-felted with this yarn before and had a sample to check for the size. to make the fabric as strong as possible, I knitted squares with two colours - the yarn led along the back gives a nice cushiony effect on the inside, but it felts tight enough not to get in the way when in use - no lining necessary here.

I knitted according to the sample, sewed the sides together and cleaned up the ede with crab stitch around it. I thought it might be better to do it later - after the felting - and I should have done this, as the border is slightly wavy, again! not too bad on a small project like this, but it wouldn't have looked great on a larger bag! for some reason crochet doesn't felt as tightly as the knitted part does - something to remember for a coming project!

then there's the colour change! quite dramatic

again, esp. in the red and purple. a bit more subtle in the second project - a cover for the digicam (it has a small bag, but it's only covered with elastic on the sides and I don't want it to be damaged accidentally during the pushing and shoving at the RDS). it always happens when I felt knitted bits in the washing machine that are dyed with natural dyes! I've had beige change to mustard and yellows change to moss green - and now red to purple:)) it seems to be done by using normal washing powder as it doesn't happen when I felt without using this. brazilwood has had the most stunning changes, from wine red to strong pink or, like now, from strong red to purple. it's not down to the purple of the logwood - as this has happened before, without any other colour in the wash! something to be explored more fully in the future, I am sure...

now everything is well prepared for the show - the wish list is written, all the gadgets are safe - the only thing we need now is a willing taxi driver and hopefully no major botch-ups with irish rail! we have had the most bizarre trips in the past - and I just hope that everything is going ok. I do like adventure holidays - just not when only a day trip to a k&s is planned:))