The Hottest Day of the Year...

The Mayor and I stopped by yesterday to give Scooter her birthday gift. It was the FREAKING HOTTEST DAY of the summer. Really. Hot + Humid= me melting.

So what did we give her? On the hottest freaking day of the summer? Oh just a pair of THRUMMED MITTENS.
Yes. Really.
The warmest mittens known to mankind I gifted to a person I like on the hottest day of the summer. Go figure.

"Ohhh they are so pretty!" "How did you get the fleece in there?"
(she might not be happy with the photos, but tough. When she gets her own blog, she can post pics of me to get even. )

Really though, Scooter has freakishly cold hands especially in winter. I expect these to get lots of good use.

Specs: Cascade 220 1 skein, color 9404. Thrums: BFL from The Flying Ewe (love her! In fact I ordered one of my first spindles from her)

Needles: Denise 5's and 6's

Pattern: My Own - really, I cobbled it together from about 5 different sources but if you want good information on what IS a thrum and how to actually put them in mittens go here.

I caught up with Amanda this week and she gifted ME with 2 rockin' awesome batts- I have pics and will post soon. I spun one batt up already and wait till you see the neato yarn it became....

Stay cool!

*** note added 7/28 She just saw the post and is NOT HAPPY about the pictures. Really, she is a beautiful woman whose petite figure I envy every time I see her! She in no way resembles a young Roz Russell. It was all my bad photography!

OK? *******

She told me to do it....

A while ago, Scooter tells me a rumor about a wool ball with multiple colors, cut in half. Another knitter had seen this in some shop far away and it was special and beautiful.
Um OK I say.
She asks, "Do you have any idea how this wonderful thing was done? I must make one"
So I go about explaining wet felting with roving and just making a ball and adding on to it, then ta-da felt ball. Easy, right?

Well, we pick colors and off she goes to her kitchen to make felted balls (wonder what kind of Google hits that will get me!).

It didn't work. My bad. I didn't realize she had never worked with roving AT ALL and did not know to pull and fluff a bit before making her ball..... and was getting things that did indeed look like balls (if you know what I mean)( or maybe heineys.)

Annoyed and frustrated she hands back the wool to me and says "Here, You Do It"
And because she is a good woman and I like to humor her I said "OK".

Bit by bit I built the ball (more Google hits) she wanted BUT refused to cut.

"I'll bring everything over and YOU do it" I said.

I felt a little woozy as she electric knifed into the beautiful ROUND ball.But it was good.And she is happy.

They needed a bit of wet felting to smooth the cut, but look good. In fact sitting on her kitchen window sill, they look like woolly geodes. Ultimately, one will be gifted to a sewing friend as a pin cushion and the other will stay with herself to sit on the sill and look like a geode

OTN: the 2nd sock of love, a gift for a friend and planning projects

Other than that.... its swim lessons every day. The humidity is high and my brain is leaking out my ears, really. You would think I'd be better at updating, but my brain is MUSH.