Do-it-Yourself Felted Flowers

I love flowers, in the garden and as decorations on some my knitted projects.  I always get lots of looks, comments, and questions when I wear my flower cowl. I admit, it’s rather unusualFlower Cowl with randomly felted flowers sprouting between the stitches.
So here’s how they are done.  You’ll need:
1. large size crochet hook
2. 100% wool yarn (not superwash) in colors you like
3. a bowl, hot water and a little soap
4. another bowl with ice cubes

Crochet loose circles. Use one color yarn for the flower center, another for the petals. Mix and match stitches as you like when you go around in circles to create a flat flower, about 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter.  Take some loose threads and weave them through the flowers.  You will end up with something looking similar like this:

Now comes the fun part!  Put a squirt of dish detergent into the first bowl and add hot water from the tap.  Immerse the flowers and stir them around.  OMG – they are expanding.  Don’t worry.   Get your second bowl ready with ice cubes and a little cold water.  Pick up a flower and roll it in your palm, hard, into a little ball, toss it back into the hot water.  Repeat with all your flowers until they have shrunk and felted to the size you like.  Toss into the ice water and swirl around.  They are a bit big still? Repeat the hot water, rolling in your hands, followed by a dip in the ice water treatment.  Don’t worry, you won’t hurt them.  Roll them hard!  Once you’re happy with the flowers, set them out to dry.

Felted Flowers

Attaching the felted flower

You may like to sew them on as a finish, however, I like to knit
them in as I go.  I use a crochet hook to pull a loop of the working yarn through the back and then knit that loop loosely together with the next stitch on my needle.

Knitted Crocodile Stitch Boot Toppers

A friend posted a picture of crocheted crocodile stitch boot toppers in one of my groups and I was immediately in love!  But…but…but… I hate crochet.  After looking at hundreds of knitting stitches and patterns, it was clear:  There is no pattern available for a knitted crocodile stitch.  I had to make up my own pattern.

After some trial and error,  the first boot topper is nearing completion and I need some help in picking which of these buttons I should use. All buttons were crafted by my  hubby Jeff.

#1:  large round wooden button made from juniper wood
Juniper Wood Buttons#2  smaller round wooden button made from crepe myrtle wood
Crepe Myrtle Wood Buttons#3  diamond shape wooden button made from oak wood
Oak Wood Buttons

 

How to import a pdf file into knitCompanion on iPhone

I like a good app.  I like a good app even better when it’s free!
I love to knit, from socks to sweaters and everything in between. I use paper and pencil, highlighters and sometimes even buttons to keep track of written patterns and charts.
Then I found knitCompanion (free version) for iPhone.  It does all that in a simple and easy to use interface. The big hurdle is ‘how in the world do I import my pattern?

Once you open the app, there’s a big ‘projects’ and another big ‘pdf’ button. Neither of them will take you to a place where you’ll be able to add your own pattern.  Well, phoooeyyyyy!  This app stinks!   Not quite.  Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to import your pattern.

  1. open your pdf on your device (i use dropbox)
  2. select forward (image1) and then open in… (image 2) knitCompanion (image 3)
  3. select ‘new project (image 4)
  4. select all pages (image 5)
  5. give your project a name and tell knitCompanion to ‘create project (image 6)

Voila – you’re done! Now you can enjoy all the tools from row counters to highlighting sections of text and marking locations (image 7).  The free version of knitCompanion even opens charts!

 

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