Felting
I had a very busy week, where I made 3 scarves and constructed the 2 lampshades. I dropped all 5 items off at the Fuzzy Thistle shop in Strathpeffer on Saturday, so we shall see how they do. The lamp is a seascape without a beach for a change. The other lampshade suits either a lamp or pendant light.
I’ve already sold 2 purple scarves at the shop, so made 3 more purple ones this week. I’ve sold 4 scarves so far.
I have also blended some fibres to make up some more scarves and lampshades. I have finally worked out a set up for felting at home that doesn’t end up with soggy towel or floor, which means I’m able to be more productive in a day.
Knitting
On Monday I crazily decided to cast on another pair of socks. I started the Rose City Rollers pattern but then switched to the Hermione Everyday Sock heel flap and gusset. They are using up some left over sock yarn by Cookston Crafts in the Bree colour. It knits up so prettily, just look at the HES heel pattern, if I had it in me I’d try to do a larger project using this slip stitch pattern. I knit the cuff, heel flap and gusset decreases one at a time on the Addi sock wonder needle and then transferred them to my longer magic loop needles to knit the main bit together (so I don’t have to count rows!). I was surprised I managed to do the flap and gusset keeping it on the small needle but it worked well. Next time I will do 2” of stocking stitch at the cuff, as it barely rolls over when on and I think I did 1.5”.
On Friday I was craving something chunkier to knit. I could have picked up my jumper, but instead I cast on the ‘Go Diagonal!’ Scarf with the hand-spun advent calendar yarns from Marie Redding Arts. I took the individual yarns and made them into one huge ball and started knitting it. Its very addictive and knitting up pretty quickly. This is how much I knit just on Friday afternoon/evening, should be finished by Monday. I’m knitting it with 8mm needles, so larger than the pattern recommends. Totally mindless quick knitting and perfect for hand-spun. I’m hoping this year to receive the Cookston Crafts Advent Calendar this year, I gave some blatant hints in July lol!
Spinning
Spinning mojo is still missing at the moment.
Weaving
I undid the latest tea-towel and started again with looser edges. I’ll show a pic when it is finished.
Other News
A bit different and I hope you don’t mind me hijacking this post, but I have a friend called Billy who lives in Loveland, Colorado who is urgently looking for a live liver donor. He is the youngest brother of Annie, the mother of the children I au paired for in Michigan when I was 19/20. Some years later I went to Colorado and stayed with Billy and he took me skiing in Vail for the day and we had a brilliant time together and kept in touch and I even considered moving out there.
They only have less than 2 months to try to find a living donor, to try to remove the cancer before it spreads elsewhere. His insurance would pay for the donor’s medical fees and Billy’s family and friends will cover Time off work, Transportation for visits and non-hospital lodging costs (if needed). The donor needs to be:
Blood Type A or O.
Age – Donor’s age should be18-55.
Height and Weight – Variable Determined By UC Health during analysis of Donor Application.
Must be in good health, No history of Liver disease, Heart disease, Diabetes, HIV, or other disease that could complicate the surgery. Donor can be from anywhere in the U.S. Preliminary testing can be done at or near present location but donor will be required to travel to CO for evaluation, pre-op and surgery.
See presentation for more details. If you are on Facebook there is a SaveBillZ group. I have fatty liver disease and in the UK so I’m no use, but I’m able to spread the word…just in case there’s a donor reading it or you can squeeze him in on your list of prayers.
This is a Year of Projects update. If you would like to find out more about the Year of Projects Group on Ravelry, or you’d like to join in, please follow the link for details. To read what the other members of the YOP Group have been getting up to please click on the latest weekly folder and follow the links to their blog posts. This is a friendly group with a wide mix of skills and crafting interests.
HighlandHeffalump 
You are doing so great with your felting! And your knit project are looking great as well – love the chunky scarf! I do hope your friend Bill gets a liver doner and all works out well for them. Please keep us updated!
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Your wool holding bowl looks lovely in your last photo. 🙂 I hope your friend manages to find a suitable donor in time. Good on you for doing what you can by sharing the message.
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You are doing fantastic!
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I love the chunky scarf! I hope Billy will find a doner.
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Your wet felting projects look great. I am sure they will sell out quickly again. Your HES heel looks like the one I like to do. I have never used it on the HES socks as I like the FLK heels but for the RCR socks, I prefer the heel flap. On my RCR socks, I think I made the ‘cuff’ 1.5 inches and it is actually no show that length. The first pair I did I made the cuff 2″ and it rolled over the top of the shoe. Guess it depends on the look you are going for. Do you do the round toe or the square toe? I have always done the square but this time am going to try the round toe and see if we like that feel better. The chunky scarf is pretty. Love the colors showing up on it. Have a great week.
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I’ve always done the HES toe which I think is square. I’ve such narrow feet it seems to work.
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Your products look good, well done on your sales. Your socks are coming along nicely. I hope your friend finds a liver – prayers for him and his family.
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Ah yes a wool advent calendar is on my wishlist too. I hope your hints pan out!!
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I do hope your friend receives a donor soon. It is very good of you to share the word via your blog. Your projects all continue to be just beautiful and original, Liz. I love that pretty heel flap. I can see why you’d enjoy knitting it.
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I would imagine your felting products would do very well! Congrats! I love the socks and that yarn and your scarf is scrumptious…the handspun is beautiful. I am so sorry about your friend. I am too old….70 but I pray that someone will come forward to help. Good for you for putting it out there.
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Your felting looks wonderful, hope your friend finds a liver donor in time. Prayers for him.
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