Mmmm.. popsicle

My first ever felting project was a crocheted cell phone cover made from two colors of Patons Classic Wool.

Before felting, I measured it to see what my starting point looked like.



After felting, I could see it had shrunk and my inexperienced stitches were nicely fuzzed into obscurity. It took three washes with a warm/cold cycle to get to this point.



Now my kitty pi is crocheted. The original design calls for knitting, but I am not ready to mess with circular and double-pointed needles. My little cell phone test project was a small scale trial before I wasted a ton of wool on a kitty pi.







This was made with one skein of Patons Classic Wool (100% Merino) in "New Denim" on a size H (5mm) hook. I crocheted in the round until I was increasing once every 30 stitches and it was about 19 or 20 inches in diameter. Then I used 1 1/2 skeins of Patons Classic Wool in "Royal Purple" to make the sides without any increases. Once the sides were about 6" high, I used a skein of Lion Boucle in "Popsicle" to make the trim. I was not overly fond of eyelash yarn as a trim, so I played with the recipe. I loved the delicious colors and couldn't resist. Seriously, look at it. I may get more to make a pillow or something because I have those colors in my living room furniture and it's so luscious I want to cuddle it.

However, once I started working with the Boucle, I cussed a little bit. I tried single stitches and it was so tight I could hardly move the hook. I tried double crochet and it was still bad. Then I tried double crochet in every other stitch on the row below and didn't like the gaps. I eventually did four rows of single crochet, starting in every other stitch for the first row. This yarn was so thick and loopy that nothing else seemed to work. I also had to move up to a size J (6mm) hook to deal with it. There are some gaps between the stitches, but I figure the boucle is 79% acrylic, 20% mohair and 1% nylon, so it won't shrink like the wool will. When the rest of the bed felts, it should pull those stitch foundations closer together.

Right now it's big enough for ME to hide in and totally floppy. I can't wait to felt it tomorrow and see what happens!