basimah knits… and spins… and maybe complains about things a little…

so i just had my first experience with felting. i think it went well, but i can’t say what it is because it’s top secret. i can say that our new(used) washing machine kicks all sorts of ass with the "heavy duty" fast agitation/fast spin cycle. my fairly large project was felted to perfection in one cycle.

so now i’m in love with knitting with lamb’s pride wool and i’m in love with felting because big knit floppy things turn to compact sturdy things right before one’s eyes.

christmas is a handful of days away and i have one completed gift (which may be kind of lame) and a bunch of stuff that i have to finish and some stuff i haven’t started yet and probably won’t get to make and stuff i have to buy for people that i can’t give handmade stuff to because they either won’t appreciate it or i have no idea what to make and no time in which to make it. worst run-on sentence ever.

some of you may remember me trying to make a fancy knit stole for my mom. well…. i’m not even halfway done yet. it’s just not looking as nice as i thought it should and i’m having a bunch of problems with the yarn i’m using that make working on it just not fun. so i dunno if i’ll rip it out and turn the yarn into something it would be happier being, or if i’ll eventually finish it some day, but it’s gone to the "not working on this now" pile.

of course i still need to give mom something in its place, which is why i love amy of knitty fame because she posted on the knitty blog a while ago a super simple lacy scarf pattern that is virtually guaranteed not to make me call it the "evil demon lacy scarf monster". i’m using red heart "lustersheen" in the ocean colorway and it’s really yummy and delicate and good so far. i’ll share pics when i’m a little farther along.

and on an entirely adorable note, boy (my brother) has decided to make his girlfriend a quilt for christmas. he hasn’t the slightest clue how to go about making a quilt so he came up with just having a solid satiny back (because even though he’s a guy, he really is a sucker for things that are soft and shiny) and a one-piece calico print front. mom is helping him with the actual putting together, and i suggested that maybe since he isn’t doing any piecework or fancy quilting, maybe he could add some little flower buttons to fancy up the front a bit. so we’ll see how it ends up and if it ends up before christmas.