A Little More Fascinating

Today's knitting has consisted entirely of Winterthorn 3 but I have been able to get some passable photos and do some felting.

A couple of days ago I got round to casting off prototype 2 of the fascinator. The main aim of prototype (or proof of concept?) 2 was to get the size sorted and - as soon as I'd cast off - it was very clear that it was all it would do. Because it's square. And it's not meant to be square.


This is a fascinator. Really. Trust me.


I once made a scarf where I entirely failed to understand the geometry of what I'd made. I wanted long, pointy triangles yet somehow I was very surprised when I ended up with some very odd, right-angle-y triangles. That really should have taught me to at least think about where my increases would be.

Still, all that matters is that I can check the size. I have a whole other ball to get the shape right. And, once an entirely pointless load of washing was done, it didn't look too bad.

I did try twisting it round into a few different shapes but this was the most promising. Promising yet square.

Unfortunately the little curl is a bit too small to fit the contrasting bit I've already knit but that's because it's actually ridiculously big. I think I'll be trying to make up another load to felt a new contrasting curl for the centre.

Where would I be without T pins?

It's now blocking in a desperate attempt to stretch if from a square into something a little more fascinator-shaped.

I'm quite looking forward to decorating it with some of that weird netting and beads to see if I can make it remotely attractive. I'm not certain that any amount of decorating will disguise the fact that it is a) square and b) boring grey. But I'm looking forward to the challenge!

Not so fascinating

Today has been a day of knitting. I was absolutely intent on finishing Winterthorn 2 today and I have (thank you 4OD!). It's currently in the airing cupboard, stuffed with a towel. After reading some of the Ravelry comments on the lamented Zauberball I was getting paranoid about the dye running during blocking. There's nothing like delicious vanilla-cream coloured wool to bring out paranoid visions of bleeding dye. The water went a little brown but nothing more than I'd expect and I can already tell how much the drape is going to be improved by blocking. Unless I can distract myself tomorrow I think I'll be checking it hourly to see if it's dry and ready to wear! Then I just need to find a hat model for some photos.

Once the hat was finished I decided to take a shot at my fascinator on the basis that I needed to do some washing and I might as well do felting at the same time. I diligently wrote down all my rows and convinced myself that the rather odd shape might just about work if I stretched it in certain ways.



Could this look less like a fascinator?
Probably not

 Oh how wrong I was. I might get a photo of it tomorrow because the resulting felted.... thing is quite remarkable in its un-fascinator-ness. I soaked it. Twisted it. Turned it. Squished it. Folded it. But there's no way that charcoal-grey squiggle anemone is ever going to be a fascinator.

Well, I've learned some valuable lessons from it and I've got enough wool for another couple of attempts and I guess that's all that matters. On the plus side, the Fez looks amazing felted. If I can get something I'm even halfway happy with then it's going to look great. But judging by the first draft, halfway happy is still a long way off!

While the monstrosity was felting, I started sewing up Lilly the Frog for the Marine Cove community garden knitting. I've been knitting the various bits on the bus this week and I've got enough limbs, eyes and other boy parts to make up at least two. The pattern is not exactly professional standard but it gets the job done, which is all that matters and it's been exactly the quick and simple project that I've needed for dopey January mornings.

I've put off the sewing up and stuffing phase because it's not quite so bus-suitable and now I have to ask: how the hell do people knit toys for fun?! These things take longer to sew together than they did to knit in the first place! If I wanted to be doing this much sewing I'd be doing my quilting! I guess I hadn't noticed just how much stuff I do in the round now. Sewing up mini stockings for the Christmas sale seemed frustratingly time consuming and they only have two pieces. The frogs have eleven!

I know it's for a good cause and - hey, I volunteered, I've no right to complain - but I'm starting to fantasise about the seamless, mindless twirly skirt I should probably be cracking on with. Any project with a 99:1 knitting:sewing ratio is a win in my books.

Fascinating

Near work there's a sort of popup gallery. From what I can gather, it seems to be an empty shop that is let to artists right in the centre of Bristol. Aside from being a fantastic and inspiring idea in itself, the current exhibitors seem to have several fascinators in the window. I didn't look closely but they're eyecatching splashes of colour formed on quilted silky fabric.

I did a little hand felting before Christmas and it was enough to remind me of two things: 1) I love the effect of felted knitting, 2) I suck at felting. I've never managed to make things the right size when they're machine felted and I've never really been happy with the results of stuff I've tried. The other thing that's been on my mind lately is that I need to get better at colours, that was one of the motivations behind my Winterthorn projects.

As I looked at the shape of the fascinators in the shop window I knew I HAD to try to make a felted fascinator. Preferably in some exotic colour combination that I'd never normally look at. Once the idea was in my head, I couldn't get rid of it.

I'm trying to avoid going and buying yarn every time I get an idea for something I want to make. I'm sure that bad habit is responsible for at least 30% of my epic stash. In the back of my mind I'd been thinking Cascade 220 because you just can't beat those colours and I know it felts well. However, it's post-Christmas and that means sales. And I needed petrol and that means Cribbs Causeway. Sales + Cribbs Causeway + felting = John Lewis.

There wasn't a huge amount but I did buy three balls of Debbie Bliss Fez. The fact that it's merino and camel is just an irresistible combination. Unfortunately I've caved on the crazy colour combinations (at least for now) because the two I liked best were a charcoal grey/black and a light grey. Oh well, crazy colours can come later, the shape is the important thing for now.

So, despite really wanting to get my Winterthorn 2 finished, and very much hoping to get the Sizergh scarf moved on, I've started messing around with some shapes to felt. Of course, once I have something, I'm going to have to find several loads of washing to do at 40. And one of those combs for sticking a fascinator into hair.