On (…Off…and Back On…) the Needles Of Iron

So Wonderful Guy was wonderful.  For Christmas, I received a Kindle from him, and I have been diligently learning and researching and reading about and trying out.

I have downloaded two books, transferred a .pdf (knitting pattern, of course) from my computer, and converted/transferred another .doc (guess what…another knitting pattern). I just love a good knitting pattern...

I have joined the Kindle Corner group on Ravelry, found where the free books are offered, where the cheap books are sold, and that some books sometimes are cheaper as….books.

I have looked at the leather cases, the nylon covers, and the patterns for knitted, felted, or sewed ones.  And I decided.  I decided that to protect my new kindle, that I named Bilbo (after one of my oldest known and favorite literary characters), I needed a felted cover toute suite!  I want to shield my wonderful new gadget from all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that being carried about within my purse might bring.

I embarked upon the task using some 100% merino out of my stash.  Red, and ripe for the task it was, and also...out of my stash!  Using sz 11 needles, and using ‘Judy’s Magic Cast-On’ (new technique for this year’s ‘List of Things Fearlessly Approached and Learned’), I cast on 72 stitches and knitting with the Loops of Magickness, I commenced.  And 12 or 13 inches later I cast off one side, continuing with a flap for about an inch on the other, making a buttonhole, then casting off.

And then I felted it.

I should say, I tried to felt it.  And I tried and tried, then I tried some more…and I checked the label…sure enough…100% merino wool…nowhere did it say superwash…

Back to the hot water and the ice water…

Then I went Ravelry’s yarn database, where I learned that Debbie Bliss’ Merino Aran is washable in water 40C (104F) on a gentle cycle.  Well, I was using way hotter water (~140F), and not being at all gentle, and also shockingly not gentle with ice water, but alas, I was getting no where close to a felted product.

And yet? What do you bet that if I had spent weeks working up a sweater, and had tossed it in the washer on the gentle cycle with cool water, that it would have felted like a damned yurt.

So anyway, I now have an seven-ish by ten-ish inch rather loosely knitted envelope that I think I am going to try my hand at lining (another new technique for this year’s ‘List of Things Fearlessly Approached and Learned’) and give to Grandbebe Girl, the First for her Leapster gizmo.

And I went back to my stash and pulled out 2 skeins of some Caron’s Felt-It (FELT being in the name...just so there would be no mistake).  In one day, I Magically Cast On (again, thereby re-enforcing the technique), and knit that whole sucker up.  Felting the next day, and after drying, a button.

Behold.

Bilbo’s Coat, being a just tad short and a bit on the wide side, but felted, by gah!

(also not made of dwarvish mithril)

With a needle felted heart...gosh...

And it's done just in time, too, because my real book is finished and I am ready to give Bilbo a test drive!