Fair Isle Felting

After reading that last post I feel like a big ol' whiner. Just my painfully slow thought process put out there on the Internet. Overall, I'm generally well-adjusted and play well with others, and yes, I realize they're just knitalongs, not nearly so serious as running off and joining the Peace Corp or anything (which I haven't done... yet... I'll warn you when I do, mom!). I also feel like a greedy little pig with the trekking yarn. I didn't mean to be asking for it, SP, just trying to think through buying it. Of course, if you'd happen to be at a store and buying it for yourself... ;)

Anyway, onto the knitting. I'm 3 inches away from finishing the knitting on Lara. That's a sweater finished the same calendar year I started. Sometimes I shock myself. Of course, I'm sure I'll let it sit around for awhile before I actually seam it.

I did manage to felt the fair isle bag that I finished. Loads of pics because it's bright and I don't know what to do with this much color in my knitting basket!

Pre-felting pic for comparison. Thought I'd put something familiar in there for reference. This also shows the difference in tension between the top motif and the bottom. No, I didn't loosen up at all!

This is actually my favorite section... on the bottom of the bag. The stripes are very easy and I could see doing a whole bag out of just this.

This is the bottom motif. Since you felt it and then line the bag, no need to weave in the ends, just tie 'em off. I like that kind of finishing.

Here she is drying over a box. I was able to pull the sides fairly square but the top curled because it didn't felt as much as the rest since this is two layers thick (to insert the drawstring when all is said and done). I may felt this one again since it's a little larger than I intended. I'm thinking I'll do a lining with a long strap to use this as a bookbag, because you know a girl's gotta have her books!

Lone Knitter asked about the fair isling and I'll give all the pattern details as soon as I decide how I want to finish it off. I wish I could give you a nifty book to teach yourself, but I needed a human teacher on this one. I took several classes last fall on it and it was nice to get an introduction, then have time to practice, then go back to correct all the mistakes I was making. I don't think I could figure out hand positions for this on my own, but that's just me and my learning style. I know there are others that have been able to look at a few pictures and zoom away with their first sweater. Not this knitter, though! And felting is definitely the way to go on on a first fair isle project. My tension was all over the place on this one and that magic washing machine just took care of it! Don't we all wish we could wash out all our problems and tension that easily!