Cozy Blackberry / Blackberry Cozy

That certainly was a fast project!  I knitted and felted this on Tuesday.  I sewed the button on and embroidered it on Wednesday.  Done.

Here were some materials I pulled for inspiration.  Color by Kristin (by Kristin Nicholas), photos of an embellished felted bag by Kristin Nicholas that has been hanging in the studio for a while, and Elegant Stitches (a fabulous dictionary of embroidery stitches): Closeup:

And the stem wraps around the back:

I hope this is both pleasing and functional!

This and That

I’ve got a few projects in process right now.  One is a Blackberry cozy for a knitter with no time to knit.  I followed a really basic, free pattern in Ravelry and got this (I used Nature Spun worsted from stash): That’s my dummy Blackberry on the right, which I made by taping together layers of cardboard cut to the dimensions of the device.  I felted this last night and it came out the perfect size for the dummy.  Next I need to get a button on it and then embellish.  I’m planning to give it the Kristin Nicholas treatment, so expect more COLOR!

I also finished some spinning that has been languishing for far too long.  Yesterday I plied some singles that have been waiting for a while.  This is 287 yards of 2-ply wool/mohair (102 g).  Not quite sock weight.  It looks a lot like the other 4 oz of this roving that I spun, except perhaps not with as tight a twist.  I was trying to work my way closer to a woolen style of draft here.I mostly failed.  Maybe this isn’t the right fiber for long draw?  I remain stuck on worsted to semi-worsted spinning. Since I started spinning this, I got another whorl in the next smaller size.  I should be able to get thinner singles by using it, which would mean I’d get thinner yarn, which would mean I might approach a handspun sock yarn.  We shall see!