Of late I’ve become enamored of chunky knits. Ridiculously chunky knits. Knits so chunky they become hindering, wearable sculptures.
Nah. Getting warmer…. YEP, that’s the stuff.
The problem is, how to create a super-bulky garment without an excess of weight? Two out of three of the above use what looks like roving – open, light, fluffy wool not spun or wound around other bits like most yarns. The downside is, being nearly raw wool, roving tends to pill, stretch, and shed more than other yarns. The last appears to be some form of fabric, which when rolled upon itself would have the structural strength to hold shape without stretching, but which very quickly becomes a stiff, heavy garment (try knitting with yarn made from t-shirts some time – it’s more suitable for floor mats and baskets than clothing. Little drape, heavy on the skin).
Examining a young lady’s giant knit rugs, her ‘raw material’ looked like giant, soft rope - rope made from roving. Of course! A slight felting of the roving, especially wound into ‘yarn’, would give structural stability without losing the fluffiness that gives roving bulkiness without bulk! Looking into methods of felting roving, I came across this:
Whaaaaaa….what is this magical device? Where can I get a giant version?!!? Why can’t I stop watching these videos? Aside from being a neat little tool, I found the videos’ aesthetic hypnotizing.
The well-manicured but bare hands!
The bubble lettering backed by pastel!
The soothing background music, reminiscent of Lionel Richie played on MIDI keyboard! (You’ll…have to watch the video.)
The COLORS! (Well, pink isn’t my thing but imagine this in different shades of blue or green!)
In this tutorial, you’re shown how to make a tiny decorative cake.
Why you would need a tiny felt cake is beyond me, but the information’s there if you need it. After falling down the rabbit hole of Japanese felt crafting YouTube videos, I found….THIS:
While this looks like a kawaii version of the cover of ‘Pet Sematary’, it’s from a full video tutorial of someone making their own cat in felt form. Unintentional freakiness ensues.
I couldn’t decide which of the wire body shots cracked me up more, so here’s both.
Headless cat on a table.
Is that…..
Yes, that is a needle-felted cat anus. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d type. Perhaps someone who reads kanji characters can explain why there’s a music note at the end?
I also couldn’t decide which side-by-side comparison shot was my favorite, so again, here’s both:
See, on the one hand, this one has a completely disembodied cat head and a shared expression of confused fear.
On the other hand, this one has wall-eyed staring in super-close-up.
SUPER CLOSE-UPPPPPP.
The company that makes the neat little rope device has many adorable video tutorials, including this more stereotypic one wherein a squeaky cartoon cat walks you through the steps:
Their main website also has patterns for these lil’ charmers (Full title: “The Twin Hamanaka wool felt that it is mew about time when it”.)
Enjoy!
