"Magical Knitting" but not-so-magical felting

So, I've been knitting up these little "Moebius" baskets from Cat Bordhi's book "The Second Treasury of Magical Knitting." They are fun little projects, and I finished two of them the first two days I was here. The yarn is Noro, which I love. The red purse that I knit last year was knit with Noro. So, I wanted to see what the finished product would look like after felting.

Before. The remote is there to judge the change in size. Felted fabrics usually shrink about 30 percent.

Mom has a top-loading washer that I have been forbidden to use for felting items. So, I tried to do it the old fashioned way last night. In Bordhi's book, she gives various ways you can felt without using a washing machine. I've seen this woman on Knitty Gritty and she's pretty freakin' kooky. She suggests filling a tub with warm water and letting the kids agitate the water by playing in it. Okay, maybe if the hippie Chittums actually lived in a commune, I would do something like that. But I digress.

So, I stood there with a plunger and agitated hot, soapy water in a bucket for an hour and a half. They're still not felted all the way. I had to stop, my arms were killing me, my back too.


This is what they look like at this point. They are fuzzy, and they have come together a tad, but still not felted strongly enough for my taste.

So, I think I'm going to "borrow" one of Mom's pillowcases, and make a pit stop at the Washo-Mat on my way over to see Grandma. I think one good washing cycle in hot water will get the job done. On the upside, I probably burned 500 calories while standing there doing that.

The other reason I gave up on the "ancient fiber magic" is that I am trying to get five 12x12 scrap pages done with some photos of Grandma and our family. I went over to her place last night and went through photos, so I could put these pages together. Instead of paying $150 for a picture video put together by the funeral home (that's the business I need to get into, if people are paying $150 a pop for that), I'm going to make five framed pages, and then each of Grandma's kids can have one after the service. Mom thinks that all the old people down in Arkansas would rather look at real photos anyway, instead of a video.

I finished two of them about 1 a.m.

Mom was in pretty bad shape when she came home last night. It's really hard on her, watching her mom like this. Grandma isn't really responsive anymore, they moved her to KC Hospice House last night. Mom says it's a much more soothing environment, and the room is much nicer for family who wants to stay over. Adam and I went up to see her before she left the hospital and when he said "Hi Grandma" she perked up and looked right at him. She nodded to a couple of questions that we asked her, but I don't think she's doing that anymore.

Mom and I looked at a bunch of the old photos last night. You could see Grandma's sense of humor in the captions she wrote on the back of some of them. Mom was having a good time - I think it was good that she got to look through all of that stuff.

In other news, sounds like I missed out on a fun "Stitch and Bitch - The Education Edition" at Amy's house. Amy and Suzanne drank some wine, and Amy taught Suzanne how to knit! I'm leaving town in four weeks, people. Where have you been the last three years?!