Felting

Last night I felted the swatch of Loft and Patons Classic Merino.

Oh right, I forgot to mention Patons Classic Merino. I went shopping. I swear it was a safe yarn source. I knew Micheals had the classic, and the rest of the bins are usually picked over fairly good. I figured it would be a piece of cake, that there would be no surfeit of yarn purchases, no budget blowing, no yarn fumes.

I must have caught a full shipment. There was Patons, in every mix, in every colour, in every line, there was eighteen thousand colours of SWS Soy. There was sock yarn, darn it.

Before I knew it, I had my one planned skein of Aran coloured Classic Merino, 2 skeins of Kroy, and I was searching through bins of some of the new variegated colours of SWS Soy counting how many skeins I needed to do a vest or sweater.

And then I saw that Lion Brand had some really nice pure wools in store too. I was in heaven, and then I realized it was really that sneaky devil, making me think it was heaven. The budget was already blown, September was still a week away, and Micheals had yarn. This was the worst of all possible scenarios.

I put down all but the approved skein, backed slowly away, and went too look at needles. I picked up the 4 mm ones I needed, and I left, averting my eyes as I walked back past the yarn section. All I can say is its a good thing yarn is not like candy in the aisles of grocery stores. I be sunk if they did that.

But its going to take me weeks to get over it.

So anyway, I picked up the merino and did up a swatch, with some loft attached. Then I faced my greatest fear of how to felt. I have felted before inadvertently, but never on purpose. I did have a problem. My washer is a front loader, and is too gentle for felting. I thought for a bit, and realized my mixer would work. I thought of it because somewhere in my mind, the little washer that Jo at Celtic Memory has reminds of this big underused equipment in my kitchen. Its a one of these. I boiled some water, put on the paddle, and mixed it slowly for 15 minutes. It was a thing of beauty. It was beyond beauty, how nicely it felted in there. The picture is at home. In the other work bag. I meant to bring it, but I got distracted by yarn fumes, and I knew the only way to deal with it would be to do something else I crave.

I brought this to the office to swatch. I'm looking forward to it. It might compensate for all the SWS but I won't hold my breath.