A story of two dudes

I mean DUDS.

First up, the Fulled lopi tote. This was my first attempt at felting something (well, on purpose, that is!) Here's a before and after felting shot:



hmmm, I probably should have put something in there for the size ratio--the before photo is actually about twice as big as the after. You get the idea though. And while I'm thinking of it, what is the correct terminology here? Felting or Fulling? Is "fulling" the Brit version of America's "felting", and as a Canadian, does that mean I should be using the word "fulling"? --I kid, I kid. See the identity crisis we face as Canadians! ;)

This was knit entirely with scrap lopi that I pilfered from my sister's stash that she'd hung onto since her lopi addiction in the eighties. I have a lot more of this to get through as well, so I am ALL about the felting projects right now! The pattern itself was a fast and easy knit. Though I must say that mine didn't turn out nearly as good as the one pictured in the actual pattern.

(image deleted)

I kind of hated this project actually. The felting made a giant furry mess, which I guess can be expected. And i'm not sure what happened with my handles. The hole felted up wider than they were in the first place, so I suspect that it possibly got hooked on the agitator in the washing machine and that's why it got all stretched out. And speaking as someone who is pretty into BIG bags and purses, I really have no use for a tote this size. I'm not entirely sure what to do with it actually. I don't think it's good enough to "gift", and I can't think of another good function for it that doesn't make me itch and break out in hives just thinking about it. I do have a lot of felt flowers left over from craft sale days that i could add to it to liven it up, but I'm not sure if I can even be bothered.

I'm starting to wonder if Knitty's french market bag would have been a better way for me to go, but by the same token, probably not much of a different experience. I suppose it was a good enough test for my first run at felting, and should just chalk it up to "not being my thing". Truthfully I don't really even like the way felted stuff looks. Is that weird? I really can't knock this pattern though, it went up in a couple of half-assed evenings of knitting, so that's always a plus. My biggest dilemma lay in deciding which buttons to put on it!



My SECOND dud to report about today is this little sucker --trial run number one on the knit cactus front:



It's cute enough, but I'm not really that happy with it. The body of it isn't as long as i'd hoped (though you can't really tell from that photo), but that could be down to the gauge I never bothered with. Another fast knit done with scrap DK weight yarn. The pattern for it can be found in Funky Knits. I plan to keep at these cacti, but I think I'll likely just come up with my own patterns and add beads and felt flowers. They're easy enough to manipulate, so as not to be any kind of exact science.

Two more days till Vay-kay! boo yeah.