Thursday, December 26
A knitting classic
This is an oldie but goodie. Wendy Knits, Kitty Pi bed.
Supplies: Knit Picks, Full Circle; the very last bit of my pink varegated Paton's Classic Wool Worsted (hoo-ray!); and trimmed with blue eyelash yarn from the 2011 Knit and Crochet Show goodie bag. Started out with size 11 dpns per instructions and thought I moved to size 11 circular but seems someone didn't put the right sized needles back in the package and it turns out I finished off with a size 8 circ.
Made by request forDD#2 who forswears all hand knitting. I explained this life philosophy when I described the pot holders I made her a couple years ago. On her Christmas list was 2 felted cat beds for Charlie and Maverick. I managed to make one in time to wrap it, though not felt it, before she landed on Sunday night. When she unwrapped the present on Christmas morning, her face was classic DD#2, thinking, "Why does she &*^) do this to me?!?" She thought the unfelted cat bed, about 18 in diameter by about 12 in deep, was a hat. I intercepted her demon from Christmas past, and quickly explained her present was a cat bed. Unfelted.
Though I have made this before, and coached others on the beauty of this project, I didn't pay close attention to the instructions this time and used a single strand of worsted weight. The result was a very floppy unfelted bowl-ish floppy knit and I worried this would not felt very tight. I washed it with jeans first, on cold, because Full Circle bleeds dye really bad. Then washed it in hot with towels and threw it in the dryer for a bit before shaping it on a planter. Nicely felted, a good size, but when I put it on the floor, the walls collapsed into a cat mat. On a whim, I washed it again this morning since there were more towels in the hamper. The third time was the charm.
I have enough Full Circle in the charcoal for another cat bed, so the kitties don't fight over this one. If I find it in my yarn closet, I can trim the second one in fabulous pink novelty yarn.
// posted by Diane H @ 3:45 PM 
