Friday FO #5: Balls!

"Hey, I thought you said balls, not pods." Wait a second...

See? I do not disappoint. I have had this knitted ball pattern on my queue for years, people. Ever since I first got Melanie Fallick and Kristin Nicholas' book Knitting for Baby, I have wanted to try these little jewels. They are so much fun!

They're made with short rows and you only join yarn once to make each ball in two colors. Each ball works up in one piece, you seam the cast on edge to the bind off edge and close up one hole and felt it. Then you stuff it (I used leftover yarn bits--I keep them all!) and close the other hole and there you have it--a ball! Lucy and Malcolm are going to love these! Heck, I want some for myself. Now, if you're looking closely you can see that they could have been felted a bit more--I like to felt knitted or crocheted wool fabric until you can no longer see the individual stitches. I owe the light felting effect to my new washing machine. It's not even one of those fancy front loaders or anything, but I think it's a bit too gentle. I need to get me some tennis balls to add to the mix to jostle things up more. You can bet I'll be making more of these. I made these with some Lion Wool that I had leftover from a crochet design submission a few years back. It felts great. 

And I just have to tell you about mine and Natalie's latest adventure in all things crafty. We went to a meeting of the Tacoma Calligraphy Guild last night (as a part of Art @ Work, a month-long event here in town) and learned Clothesline Caps, a fun hand-lettered font.  My attempts here are rudimentary at best, but I learned a lot. I learned that I need to practice with the watercolor pencils more, for one thing. The folks were all so nice and you can tell they love what they do. I should have taken pictures of all the beautiful examples of their calligraphy. If I get to go back, I'll get some pics for you next time.

Now I must head on away from the computer. I have a date with my cutting mat, rotary cutter, some fleece, and some pom-poms.

But not before I have my Brussels Sprouts Salad lunch! Yawm!