Completely Foolish Fun and Games

I need a new winter coat.  A jacket more like, to replace my red jacket that is so worn and keeps leaving a little trail of feathers everywhere I go.

I would buy a jacket, but honestly, I am so sick of jackets that make me feel like I am being swallowed.  I have two in my closet that are wearable, I suppose, but I feel like I am drowning in them.  The newest one is the worst.  The fabric is stiff and sits there like armour.  If I have to turn in it, the whole garment turns.  But the worst, the very very worst is that in order to fit decently at the hips, the top is so over sized on me that I look like a kid in my mother's coat; the arms are too deep, the shoulders too wide, the collar sits and I peep out, like I have a shrunken head.  My older coat, one I have worn for a great many years as my dress coat is very worn looking and while the fabric moves with me, it isn't and never has been very warm.  After a year of wear, the polyester felted fabric started looking like the fleece it probably started out as.  To top it off, these awful coats are not cheap.  I am just not going to spend 2 hundred dollars and be so desperately unhappy with what is not warm in the first place. At least the great red feather thing was warm.

So...

This looks very like the fabric of my older coat.  I am playing with felt.  This has gone through the washer and dryer twice and the fabric is about right.  It has a very few tiny, tiny holes if I hold it up to the light, but the is still nicely pliable and that counts too.  The swatch used two strands of yarn on 8 mm needles, a gauge I hate knitting at.  Still, it will knit up fast even given the percentage of shrinkage.  

The yarn I am using is Naturally Alpine.  I purchased masses of it, 7 skeins of each colour, to make some nice outer wear sweaters for both Mr. Needles and I.    

 Each skein is 200 grams and 333 m so there is a lot of wool available.  My original plan was nice firmly knit cabled gansey type sweaters. I wanted lots of yarn so that no matter how much cabling I did, I would still have enough yarn.  What with the original plan being defunct, I am just pleased that I still have enough yarn!

I won't start knitting just yet.  I am happy with two washes, but I have another load of laundry to do, so I am going to see if this swatch gets even better on a third go round. 

If this doesn't work, I can still have a great outerwear sweater in the other colour, knit firmly as in my original plan and round one can become a really great felted bag.