I managed to finish the pumpkin’s body (except the BO) on the morning bus ride yesterday. Afternoon bus ride consisted of the bindoff, immediately followed by the cast on for the leafy bits. so I dig into the fresh ball of Leaf Green Paton’s wool, pull out a glob of yarn, find an end, and. wtf? the end has another end about 3″ away. mildly disturbing, but I put it aside and continue to cast on (remind me that I hate i-cord) for the leafy-stem bit. make it through the 2nd round of increases before I get to my car. get home, pull out the knitting (in the front hall. on the floor. this has become a new knitting spot for me - I started the blue curly-q scarf in this same area.) continue on with the leaf til I get to a point where the glob of yarn refuses to pull smoothly, so stop to detangle. I find ANOTHER 3″ bit AND a longer short bit (maybe a yard? not really knittable, whatever it’s length). What is up with this yarn?!?!?!? (this is the second time I’ve had this in a ball of Paton’s. we are now 2 for 5. though I didn’t use much of two of those other balls, so maybe my odds will get worse?)

a tip for making the vine: cast on REALLY loose (I cast on over one needle. way too tight for working 3 sts in one. so I pulled it off and cast on over two needles. still a little tight, but much better than the first go.)

so, here’s where we’re at so far (in the story):

Pumpkin in pieces

Pumpkin pre-felted

I stuffed the pumpkin with 3 plastic grocery bags, like the directions said. Like a fellow pumpkin knitter, the bags stayed in for about 3 seconds. At least I knew that was a possibility.

The stem bit felted really quick - I pulled it out after about 6-8 minutes (or whatever the numbers on the machine mean) and it was nicely felted. not so for the vine (why not? same yarn) or the pumpkin. so I reset the machine for 16 (or whatever the max is) and left it for a bit. went back and checked it a bit later - finally some progress on the orange (wasn’t sure how it would felt, being ancient mothproofed thrift shop yarn and all). so I tossed it back in and let the machine do it’s thing (wash, rinse, spin. the whole thing). went back to get it after Grey’s Anatomy (ooh, what a great episode!) and it looked beautiously felted. well a littly fuzzy (mohairy), but felted. which made me happy. so I stuffed it and shaped it and cinched the top a bit to make it keep it’s shape.

and here’s what we’ve got (with wool for scale):
(still drying, so the top isn’t sewed on, and the vine will hang once the stem is dry and stops falling over.)

this side

the other side

from above

Specs:
small Pumpkin. pattern available at knitty.
Needles: size 10 1/2 US bamboo dpns.
Yarn: Kool-aid dyed thrift shop wool and Paton’s Merino in Leaf Green
Started: Sunday
Finished: Thursday

My first (finished) felting project.