A Tale of Two Knitties

Yesterday's shockingly awful temps (-6 degrees F! EEEEEEEEEEEEK!) inspired me to dig out a chapeau which I had created in a sorta freehand fashion a couple of years ago.


Me in the too, too solid hat...

Said chapeau was warm, but loose. So, sez me, "I think I'll felt this bad boy. Shrink it down. Give it some substance." (For which you may read: "Make it fit my d*mn head.")

This plan did not fail to excite the family:

A Boy(O) and his dog(s)...

In spite of their indifference, I carried on with my evil plan:


Mid-way through the felting process...I think my knuckles started to bleed about this point ...

So, with much help from my Beloved (and much scraping of the raw and twisted fingers that attempting to felt by hand invariably results in) we produced this:

The hat which, shockingly, is still too bleepin' big!

I hate trying to do this by hand - but I love the final effect. You can't even see the stitches any more.


Still a teeny bit of texture left on this. I worked this part in seed st - can you tell?

Still undecided about how to proceed, as I really would like it to be suitable for wearing in public. I will either

a) Try again with the washer and an old pair of jeans; or

b) cut it and run a seam up the back with the sewing machine; or

c) all of the above.

I like the idea of the washer, as I've never cut my knitting in my life (I've knit Fair Isle before, but nothing that needed openings). I'm not sure I'm ready to start!