First FO of 2010

Here is the potholder I made for a friend in the rooms who is a big Cowboys fan.

I just realized I forgot to measure the thing before I felted it! Here it is in its prefelted state, about 9" tall and maybe 10" across.



I put the knitted piece in a zippered pillowcase, and washed that with a pair of jeans and a shirt or two that were in the dirty clothes basket anyway. I rolled back the washing machine (extended its wash cycle) twice for a total of about 18 mins in the washer.

After felting it in the washing machine (I didn't know whether the blue would run, and I'm damn glad it didn't, cause I'd of been PISSED) here is the finished product:



It's definitely smaller, about 7.5" square. The cool thing is the curling at top and bottom is largely flattened out. It curls a little, but it's not out of control. I LOVE felting! It's SO COOL to pause the washing machine, pull out the object being felted, and see how much progress it's made in the six or seven minutes it's been washing.

I pushed and pulled it into shape and I now have it on a mesh screen on top of a tall vase, under the ceiling fan, to facilitate drying. I doubt it'll dry before tomorrow, but I hope it might, so I can bring it to my friend. I hope he likes it. Frankly, I think it's a little, uh, furry, which is because of how the various fiber in the yarn does or does not stick together in the felting process. That's normal, but I'm thinking of trying to shave off some of that, because I think it's kind of stupid looking. I wonder if Adam has some kind of beard trimmer, and whether that would work?

Ravelry link