In Asheville a couple weeks ago I went to the wonderful Earth Guild where I bought some roving to try needle felting and some pretty nubbly cotton yarn that was $4.80 for 328 yards (!!!). I was wondering about the perfect pattern for this stuff and *drum roll* I HAVE FOUND IT.
It's Memories of Ukraine from the beautiful book The Natural Knitter which I bought a few days ago mainly for this pattern although there are other definite possibilities in it. The original sweater is made in linen so I thought cotton would work out well. Due to my intensely pathetic photography skills, you can't see that the sweater has a very appealing texture that I hope will be perfect with this yarn. And quite possibly the BEST PART ABOUT THIS SWEATER is that it's top down with no, that's right NO, sewing at the end. You just block it and wear it. Shazam!
Also....
I'm very into berets right now. A while back I bought some lovely Blue Sky Alpaca & Silk sport weight with the express purpose of turning it into a beret. I love Grumperina and her patterns, but the picture of her Art Deco Beret in the Fall 07 Knitscene did not excite me. Something about the variegated purple with purple beads and it looked so large. Then I saw this. Now I have decided I want this beret. I think the pale pink with purple beads will look nice, what do you think?
(sorry for crappy picture! I don't know how to improve!!)This next one is also a beret but I'm VERY EXCITED ABOUT IT. I don't know if I should even talk about it before I make it since there's a very good chance it will turn out horribly. But I think it's fate...First I bought a plain wool beret at a thrift shop and decided I wanted some kind of embellishment for it. Then I bought some wool roving at Earth Guild in these colors to experiment with needle felting:
Then I saw this AWESOME IDEA in Interweave Felt (a special issue) that I had to had to make and it just happens to use the exact colors I bought.
I'll let you know how it goes. Any tips for needle felting?
