they say you learn from your mistakes.....

and of course i NEVER follow directions - it's just not within me

anyway, i wanted to make the yorick scarf on knitty.com for a friend

i didn't have the right yarn (i ordered it and just got it as a matter of fact, but could NOT find it when i started this project) so i substituted. i didn't have the right sized needles so i substituted (two sizes bigger, but with this project it really shouldn't matter) those as well.

according to the article accompanying the yorick directions, white and off white yarns may NOT felt very well or at all. so i had no idea if this was going to work or not. so i finished knitting and started fulling by hand in the sink. it wasn't working. not only wasn't it working BUT it started stretching out and getting bigger and bigger. i had nothing to lose so i grabbed a pillow case, tossed my yorick in and threw it in the wash. hot water - then a cold rinse. when the cycle was through (ONE cycle mind you) this is what i found:















this is what it is SUPPOSED to look like:

it's a wee bit smaller than it's supposed to be! i have felted a ton of things in my day, but i have not seen something felt like this in ONE wash cycle! the yarn IS pretty cool though. fuzzy and THICK.

oh and the BEST part is, when i took the scarf out of the wash, it somehow had tied itself in a knot at one point. how that happened is BEYOND me. THAT PART DID NOT FELT.

i cannot throw it in the wash again as it is already too small so i came up with what i think is a brilliant idea! i'm going to knit two patches with black skulls knit right in them. felt those and sew them onto the scarf where it didn't felt! we'll see how it comes out. of course i am starting a new scarf for my friend. i am using EVEN BIGGER NEEDLES (hoping it won't shrink as much as the first one i made) BUT the yarn that the directions call for