Yarn Along: Felted Hearts and "In Bitter Chill"

Yarn Along is a weekly link-up hosted by Ginny at the Small Things blog about two of the best things in life -- reading and knitting.



Reading: I took this photo yesterday afternoon, not realizing that I'd end up blowing through the rest of "In Bitter Chill," a murder mystery set in England. It was a super-fast read, though the writing wasn't fantastic so I only rated it 3.5 stars. Last night I started "The Widow" by Fiona Barton, an advance-read book I got from work. It's supposed to be a psychological thriller akin to "Gone Girl" and "The Girl on the Train," but I'm trying not to get my hopes up because "What She Knew," which I read last month, claimed the same and I was wildly disappointed in it.

Knitting: I finished the felted hearts (pattern) I mentioned in last week's Yarn Along, which sat half-finished in a coffee table drawer for two years, and I'm trying to decide what to do with them. When I started the project I intended to string them in a garland to adorn the fireplace mantel for Valentine's Day, but since we're about to move to Hawaii and will definitely not have a fireplace, I'm not sure a garland is the way to go. I've thought about making them into a door hanger, or a wreath, or just putting them in a jar. Or maybe attaching ribbons to the tops and hanging them from branches arranged in a vase (suggested by my mom). For now, they're just sitting on a side table, looking festive.

I'm itching to cast on for a new project, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to knit. I bought some gorgeous teal Malabrigo for a sweater right before we found out we were moving to Hawaii, and that's what I would be working on now, but I'm debating whether to use that beautiful yarn on something I won't get much use out of in the next three years or find a different project for it. And I certainly don't need any more winter gear for myself. I've been tossing around the idea of whipping up a hat and mailing it off to a friend or relative as a surprise. I have tons of stuff on our DVR to watch and only two months to watch it before we move, and I really like to knit while I watch TV. I'm not used to idle hands!

In any case, here's another picture of the felted Valentine's hearts! I think they came out pretty well, despite the fact that I totally overstuffed them before felting. Mid-felt I had to pull them out of the washer and use tweezers to yank stuffing out of the pesky holes that refused to close up because of the fiberfill. There are still a couple holes here and there that didn't fully felt together, but they're not too noticeable.