Ok OK suspense over...

Let's start with the felted leaves. Just beautiful aren't they? Love the way you can still see the spine of the leaf created by slipped stitches.

And here's the flower in its entirety.



The pattern called for a felted bobble in the centre of the flower. Now, I've already declared my anti-bobble stance, so I thought I might do without this feature.



But just to see, ('cos I could be wrong, right?) I tested out some flower stylin' with the cap of one of these babies. Looks like the bobble will be knit after all. Ah well, suppose it won't kill me.

Pre Felted Flower




Post-Felted Flower



OK, so I'm still not a flower-brooch-wearing-kinda-woman, but I can see something like this on a felted bag, can't you?


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And what did I knit while we were away?

Well, for starters I brought along this felted flower kit I got YEARS ago from Tina at Knitwhits.

I've had it for a very long time but never bothered to make it because:

a) I'm not a flower-brooch-wearing-kinda-woman

and

b) it just looked too darn fiddly.

However, my recent love affair with felting Lamb's Pride made this an ideal travel project, so into the suitcase it went.

I'm quite delighted with how it turned out.

To paraphrase an old joke in our family,

What's this?



I dunnno....but here' comes another one!

These are two of the larger red petals. Pretty cunning the way you knit 2 petals in one piece.

Even tho' the instructions are extremely clear and simple, I still managed to screw them up.

See the roundy ends of the petals? I read the instructions to 'cast-off' 2 stitches at the end of every row when finishing the petals....and of course decided (without thinking in any way clearly about it) that it would be the same thing to Knit 2 together instead, which I felt was quicker, and surely would make no difference to the finished product.

Ah hah! Not so Ms Smartypants.

See the slightly pointier petal at the bottom right (of the pic above)? That's how it's supPOSEd to be.

And there WAS a difference in how the petals felted. Just goes to show. Every stitch has it's part to play in the scheme of things. (Kinda philosophical that, eh? You get it all here folks.)

(Note to self: just follow the instructions and see what happens before taking the lazy shortcuts. OK?)

And of course, the leaves.

Love love LOVE the way the slipped knit stitch creates that ridge down the spine of the garter stitch leaf. So cool. I couldn't wait to see how this felted.

But you'll have to...*

*(Yeah, that might seem mean to you, but how else am I going to create some dramatic tension? Huh? Tell me that! It's a knitting blog for goodness sakes!)
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Brittany in Brittany

I can't tell you how long it took me to notice this...



And in case you missed the point...



Did I mention we were on holidays in Brittany?

(Yes, there will be knitting again soon....promise.)

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Butterfly Close Up

As requested....love that Mona Lisa smile!

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Body Art

Speaking of Little Monkey, we have arrived at the Age of Body Art (apparantly that's 7-and-a-half, who knew?).

So far, of the painted or sticking-on variety thank goodness.



Exhibit 1 - a lovely fairy-like mask effect over one eye by a very talented face painter. This is the original state-of-the-art.

By now it's 3 days old (no pics) and it looks like she's got an open wound on the side of her head. Makes people stare in the supermarket I can tell you.

Not to mention all the paint on her pillow.

Sigh.



Exhibit 2 - a silver tattoo. She loves it and is hoping it lasts until she goes back to school at the end of the summer so she can show her friends.

She also has an enormous silver tattoo which she wants to stick on her back. So far I've pursuaded her to keep that one for a special occasion.

I can see her refusing to wear clothes at all.

Which is a whole other phase entirely.


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Little Monkey Knits

First off the camera is this project, a Knitted Bag, designed and knit (mostly) by Little Monkey. *



Lovely innit? (It's Regia 6ply sock yarn, in case you're wonderin'.)

You can see by the detailed design layout above that the concept is all hers. It clearly states its intention to be a knitting bag by the heavily embellished title under the handle, if you can make it out. A knitted knitting bag in fact.

The butterfly motif? Not lovin' that so much. It's pretty an' all, but I can see it causing problems for her to make down the line. Love that butterfly expression tho', and the way the antlers look like an especaily tall hat.

The design to the right of picture is Little Mouse's contribution. She has yet to reveal what it is it, but I think it's wearing a grass skirt.

That garter stitch in variagated yarn is quite yummy. I've never been a big fan of garter stitch, but this looks vaguely delicious. Strawberries and cream?

The real triumph of this project is that it's the first thing Little Monkey has stuck with past 2 rows and that she keeps asking to knit - even to the extent of reaching for it while watching a DVD.

Now there's a knitter in the making.

Am I proud?

You bet.


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* ETA: of course this sample isn't finished. It's going to be a basic rectangle with a fold-over triangular flap and finger-knitted handle. In case it's not that clear at first from the design specs-with-butterfly.

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Home again, home again

Phew! Just home after hectic 2 weeks away. Hope you all had fun while I was gone*.

Couple of things to show you from holiday knitting.

Tomorrow, I guess, when I can find my camera under all the post-holiday laundry!

A bientot...

* Apologies. (Fully intended to post over the past 2 weeks, but unexpectedly had no internet connection for 100K radius, or so it seemed.)



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