And disaster strikes

Yep. One of the worst things to happen to a knitter. Moths!

Tonight I was going through my knitting bag looking for a pattern when I noticed "sand" at the bottom of the bag. The bag has rarely left the house and I don't live on a beach, so I knew instantly what it was. The remnants of the case-bearing moth. Between vast amounts of wool and hair from a labrador retriever in my house - well it's a veritable smorgasbord around here!!

Look what it did to my cherished ball of baby alpaca wool:

That was a  $17 ball of the softest, most beautiful wool  and it's been reduced to 8 - 10" lengths. All I can do now it throw it in the garbage as it's too badly infected. The contents of my bag is outside and bagged in a sealed plastic garbage bag. It will be quarantined outside until I'm sure I've vacuumed up and removed all the moth debris etc.

How sad. How very sad.

And what's next? I'm going to pull out a sweater or coat next year to find holes eaten in them too? I've hung up a vapona strip in our back bedroom - I hope it kills those horrible moths (before the vapona strip kills us!) Boo to nature this time!

Felted Bowl

here's a finished project - it's a wet felted bowl made with dark purple wool, accented with pieces of silk fibre:

I think I like pink

I bought this wool because I loved the colours, I had nothing in mind for it. So one night as I tried to fall asleep, I thought about what I should make with it - arm warmers kept coming into my head and so I decided that's what I would make:

I think they turned out really good. They are 100% wool, beautifully coloured and scrumptiously warm! I'm not much of a "pink' person, but I like them!

Cream Felt Hats

here are the two wool felted hats that I made:

I used two different yarns to see which felted better. My mom had found a buyer for one and was going to keep the other one for herself. It's possible I might start making a few more of these, although knitting first and then felting isn't usually the best way to go when making a felt hat.

Fox Stole

You were wondering why I hadn't been posting on my blog? That's because I was making things!!!

Here's another project, my fox stole:

This is a crocheted scarf that includes 4 black legs and a white tipped tail. I have already crocheted 48" of his body, and I just need to sew in his legs and then finish the tail. It's crocheted as a 'tube' so it's nice and thick and any sewing is concealed inside - which is why the pattern maker has us complete all the sewing before we finish. I'd better hurry or the fox craze will be gone and winter is over!

This is made from Peruvian Highland Wool so I think it will wear well and will keep me warm. What do you think of it so far?