2 and 7/8 down, 2 to go

Here's a quick update on the hat project--I'm making five of these on commission for holiday gifts. Two are ready for felting, one just needs another row or two. Would you believe that these

eventually (after washing, felting, shrinking, stretching, yanking, pulling and drying) turn into one of these?

I swear, it's like actual alchemy! Felting, for anyone who hasn't done it, is literally like turning lead into gold--you take this giant, shapless mass of wool, and in just a few minutes of hot water and agitation, you've made a thick, seamless(-looking), durable, waterproof, windproof hat. Or bag, or slippers, or whatever. My husband and kids think I'm completely insane, and the wet-dog smell that comes along with big piles of wet wool drying isn't the greatest, but that's why we have a garage.

At least when I'm making something useful, like a hat or some slippers, it doesn't seem too entirely insane. My obsession with felted flowers is another thing entirely sometimes. Our last trip to Hawaii proved that. I've created my own version of knitted Hawaiian blooms--hibiscus, anthurium, heliconia--and I decided, for some reason, that the cool girls we'd met on our snorkel trips needed some little thank-you gifties on our last excursion. Tropical Storm Daniel was making his appearance right around that point, so we had some nice, relaxing downtime in the condo, watching the ocean roil and wind whip the palms. Perfect time to whip up some little knitted flowers, right? Fast forward to me spending an hour at the sink with a little pile of lava rocks gathered from the beach (yes, I returned them when I was done) scrubbing my knitted anthurium until they felted up nice and firm so I could dry them on the lanai.

I don't know about most people, but this is entirely normal behavior around my house.