Jaco Beach bowl and something fishy

The bowl has been felted! It turned out to be a nice dense fabric that holds its shape and still shows the colors. I'm very pleased with the finished bowl. Final dimensions are 6" diameter and 4" tall with a very slight flare.





I also took a break from knitting my Opal Caterpillar scarf (no photos yet) to crochet a little fish. I wanted to use some of my scraps and the colors of Patons SWS "Natural Crimson" were just screaming "goldfish" to me. So, here's a little felted cat toy that took maybe 20 minutes to throw together. I didn't use a pattern - just increased and decreased until I felt like it was fishy enough. The SWS felts well, but leaves a lot of long curly fibers all over the surface. I trimmed it with scissors to smooth the surface a little. I could possibly felt this once more but I like how the faint stitches look like scales. It started out 7" long and ended at 5 1/2" after felting. It's also hollow so I can stuff it with catnip.


Before:



After:

Stash attack!

I just bought yarn from Little Knits. I went on a quest for Opal yarn and found a sale I couldn't resist. I am in mad love with almost every colorway in the Hundertwasser and Rainforest collections. The package arrived today and I am so in love with all of the yarn, I want to roll around on it like Demi Moore on the money in Indecent Proposal.

Look how pretty! The one in the middle is a lovely handpainted called "Fall Melody".





The rest of my fabulous new Opal yarns:
Top row - Hundertwasser "A Rainy Day Out to Sea" and "The Soul Tree", Rainforest "Frog"
Middle (my favorite!) - Rainforest "Caterpillar"
Bottom - Rainforest "Butterfly", "Tiger" and "Tucan"

I have a plethora of ideas to show off this yarn to advantage. The Argosy pattern gave me the design bug.

In addition to daydreaming, I have actually finished something recently.




While on vacation, I crocheted a bowl that I will soon be felting. I love the colors. They make me think of Jaco beach in Costa Rica. It's a long stretch of black volcanic sand and deep blue water. This is a very tight colorway, so I hope it doesn't muddy the colors when I felt it. I also added a scalloped edge to symbolize waves.



Jaco Beach Bowl Details:
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool "Ocean Blues" (100% wool) - almost 1 skein (143 yds)
Pattern: My own
Hook: 5mm H8
Dimensions: Base - 7" diameter, Sides - 4" high

I crocheted the whole thing on the way to and from Costa Rica so it's actually BEEN there. If it turns out the way I hope, it'll be a special little bowl.