pieKnits

So lately I’ve been flitting from this to that, not really doing too much on anything. Maybe I have spring fever. But a little progress update none the less.

The DK Pony is almost finished. It has a wire-frame skeleton, is stuffed and grafted closed. I just need to embroider the face and dig up some yarn for the mane and tail.

My bellydance class has also started working on our costumes for this year – steampunk style! I’m so stoked; this is such a fun genre to costume. I’ve started sewing a vest piece and my teacher also made some fantastic jewelry pieces. So of course I decided I needed to tat something to incorporate. I wanted a more antiqued look but only had white thread and debated buying some when it dawned on me to tea stain/dye it. I love this technique and use it all the time. Works great if you’re especially going for that naturally aged not perfectly even color look.

As for knitting on the needles I’ve started a new hat that will eventually be a felted 1940′s style topper. Well I hope. I’m rather winging this design based off of this pattern (Deb’s Derby) as a starting point. Designing for a fulled/felted project always feels a bit like educated
guessing. I can apply average felting ratios to my stitch numbers but so
much depends on the yarn, the felting process and the really crucial
trick for felted hats- the blocking.

So here’s my inspiration photo and what I’m shooting for. We’ll see how close I actually get on the first try. I’ve shortened the inner brim and added short rows for the asymmetrical sides. It’s also slightly smaller around and will have a lot less depth in the hat part (similar to this version I made).