A few years back I used up some of my not-so-soft alpaca yarn knitting wrist warmers which I then felted. I called them my ‘manly man’ wrist warmers because they were far from delicate or feminine. Their place was with the ice fishermen and hunters. But I noticed the ladies were trying them on and buying them for themselves, so I made more in smaller sizes until I had used up all my old ‘strong’ yarn. After they were gone, I still had people asking about them – wanting the felted wrist warmers, not the pretty soft ones I had for sale.
And so after shearing this year, I had 2 fleeces from Spotsie (this year’s and last year’s). Now Spotsie will be 10 years old this fall and her fiber is pretty coarse, but I had it spun into worsted weight.
Spotsie’s yarn
On my last big dyeing day, I dyed some of the yarn and dyed the remainder in a pot earlier this week.
Dyed green
Some is green, some light purple, some a light brown/gray. 2000 yards in all.
Wound into balls
Then it is wound into balls.
Knitting is done
The wrist warmers knit up quickly on the knitting machine.
Seaming done
Seams are sewn, leaving the thumb hole.
Felting done
After agitation in the hot suds of the wash machine and a few hours hanging outside to dry, I have 5 pair of light purple felted wrist warmers.
Before and after felting
The size is reduced considerably in the felting process. I should have 5 pair of the gray/brown and 6 pair of the green, for a total of 16 pair. They will soon be available at craft show or farmer’s market!
Thank you, Spotsie, for providing just the fiber I needed for this project.
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