Felting, felting, la-la-la-la felting...

Well, here goes nothing!

Gigantor, the Christmas Stocking that threatened to eat Paris, is currently residing in the washing machine, hopefully being felted down to a more manageable size. It's always a bit of a hairy experience, felting; you just don't really know what's going to come out the other end.

Let's recap the 'Stocking' story from the beginning, shall we?

Back in November, when I thought I was leaving myself plenty of time to knit and felt a stocking (hey, it's knit in the round, on large needles - how could it not go quickly??). I cast on a few times, each time adding more stitches when I thought it might shrink too much in the felting process. So we went from 64 stitches, to 72 stitches, to 128 and then finally to 188 (I was tired of casting on and counting over and over again).

I knit in the round for awhile and then started the fair isle pattern, convincing myself that it would not be too big (because of course, there is no 'too big' in felting - is there?), until I got to this point:I continued on, past the fair isle and into the solid colour, which I thought I would just zoom along on... I turned the heel - if you can call it that when you're trying to put a heel into a doona cover!

Once I'd passed the heel and the gusset decreases, I ventured back into solid colour territory and began to slow down. And I mean really slow down. Anything was better than hauling out the gargantuan sock. Pete started to crack jokes about needing to bring it on a trailer when I knit in the car, and my lap was getting too warm as I sat to knit of an evening.I began to doubt the stocking. I asked Pete his opinion (and got more jokes in response!) and I seriously considered ripping the whole lot back and winding up whatever yarn I could salvage from the whole experience. But curiosity (and laziness) got the better of me and I continued to knit on the behemoth every night.

I finally grafted the final stitches a couple of nights ago and wove the ends in, resulting in this:Here are a few to demonstrate the 'actual' size of this ridiculously enormous stocking...Yes, Lola-Frog fits inside the stocking. Just like a sleeping bag. The reverse of the fair isle looks pretty neat though, doesn't it?And so today, with my heart in my mouth, I crammed it into a hot wash cycle and crossed my fingers. Let's go and see what we've been left with, shall we?Well... it's not as big anymore, I suppose... but I'm a bit disappointed in the way the fair isle really doesn't show up at all... and in the size discrepancy between the width of the leg and the length of the toe. I either should have cast on fewer stitches, or made the toe quite a bit longer... but all that said, it's felted into some good strong fabric, and it'll hold gifties from Santa - that's the main thing!

Weirded out

I really am, too.

Last Sunday we stopped to browse in Best and Less, a discount department store/chain while wandering through the shopping centre. It's a good place to go for cheap singlets, t-shirts, undies etc for the kids, and we thought we'd grab some stuff to pop in WonderBoy's stocking.

Pete wheeled Lola-Frog in the stroller, choosing undies and a couple of pairs of jammies for Wonderboy, and I kept young Mr. W out of the way in the little girls' clothes, looking at the wee skirts and dresses for sale.

And that's when I saw it.

It's still freaking me out to write this, even now.

It was there. Lola's Dress.

The darling wee smock-dress I'd bought the fabric and pattern for, and sewn all by my little lone self.

Same fabric (though a slightly duller version of the colours), similar style (except with unnecessarily naff looking bows on the straps), and buttons on the back in place of press studs.

Now, if I'd been perusing seed, or Pumpkin Patch, or some gloriously overpriced children's clothing boutique in Mosman or Bondi Junction, I'd be okay with finding this crude counterfeit hanging on the rack. But Best and Less?

Now I'm depressed AND weirded out.