Sunday, January 15, 2012

A Wooly Cowl, A Warm Hat and A Wonderful Hint!

As promised, here are pictures of the Buttons Cowl and the Better Bucket Hat. I took these magnificent shots on my iphone, where you can flip the focus on yourself. Man, is that scary!!! But, for better or for worse, here they are.

The Wooly Cowl  

The Warm Hat 
I will never EVER be cold again with these two. It's -16 outside today, but I will take them for a "test walk" after lunch. I can't imagine needing all the buttons done up on the cowl, but in the second shot, you an see that I have undone buttons at both the top and the bottom. Perfect to keep your neck warm with a light sweater on.

The hat is incredible, since it doesn't give hat head, looks good with glasses and doesn't itch!!! Oh, and the fabulous brooch on the side of the hat? That was a gift that Jenn brought me back from her teaching stint in Reeth. I decided to forego a button so that I would be able to switch brooches depending on the mood - or the coat. Just the perfect dash of colour.

Ok, so now on the Wonderful Hint.

When I was at the Fiber Guild meeting last week, we were talking about having a demonstration on needle felting. (I am a complete rookie and have only tried it once, to put a bit of roving on a piece of wool.) While we were discussing all the great embellishing you can do with it, one of the women said it was a fabulous alternative to darning sweaters.

Since my husband's fine gauge wool sweaters seem to be caviar to something, he is forever discovering holes. There is no rhyme or reason to why they dine on his, cuz there is certainly lots of other wool about and I have never seen signs of a moth.  At any rate, I gave it a whirl this morning and decided to share the results with you, even though the results are far from perfect.

Brown Roving on left - matching yarn on top and right. Yarn wins!
At first I thought that roving would be the best thing to use and that is what I tried. Unfortunately, the closest I had in colour was a brown, which is a bit off for the colour. Then I remembered some wool yarn that I thought would be close. And it was much better.

It may not be perfect, but the sweater can now be worn without holes on a chilly day. He can put a vest over top or something. And it beats throwing it away (or cutting it up for hooking nudge nudge wink wink). If you have a felting needle and pad, remember to try this as a mending/darning alternative if you get the chance.

6 comments:

Cathy G. said...

Wendie,
The cowl and hat are both awesome! I love the pin on the hat and the ability to change it! You are so wonderfully talented to be able to make these things!
I would have never thought to use needle felting to darn something! Wow..... that is great to know! Thanks for that very useful hint!
I know you will be staying warm and fashionable on your walks.... have fun!!
Hugs!
Cathy G

Marti said...

Well, here's to comfy walks in brrr weather. My grandson loves sweaters, but is always snagging them on things, when the holes are to large to pick up a stitch, I will have to try this felting. Thanks for the tip.

Deanne Fitzpatrick said...

Wendy, could you email me your mailing address. I have something for you...and want to mail it!

Deanne Fitzpatrick said...

Wendy, could you email me your mailing address. I have something for you...and want to mail it!

Jen Manuell said...

wow! Your hair sure looks long in that first photo -- has it really been that long since I saw you? :-D

Wendie Scott Davis said...

If you pull a cowl up to your nose, your hair will look long too. But it is time for a trim. Though it is nice to have hair under a hat LOL.

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