Cosies

I am thrilled to discover that wonderful crafty site, Whip Up, chose to show one of my projects (along with many other people's projects) in their inspiration post for their April Whiplash challenge, which is Cosies.

It was the felted knitting needle cosies I made from Cat Bordhi's pattern. You can read about it in my original post here. The larger cosy I showed being made in that post wound up adorning my ever-present water bottle.

This reminded me that I had another cosy post, in August of 2005, featuring my inhaler cosy. You can read about that one here.

Here's a picture of it today --
I have been kind of surprised at how well it has held up, considering it was made of a lightly spun thick merino singles. I suppose the sturdiness is due to its being felted, although it was not felted to the point of losing stitch definition. In fact, you can quite easily pull at it and open the spaces between the stitches.

It is literally in my pocket or purse every day, with all the rubbing and stuff jabbing at it that entails. Hmm, that sounds a bit like felting instructions - perhaps the life it leads just felts it more! It's got a bit of dirt collected, but no pills and no stitches have come apart.

I am being jabbed at now by the urge to create some kind of life metaphor out of this....our souls being felted in the pocket of Life....coming out a bit dirty, but strong...okay, okay, a bit grandiose, but I think my best ideas and metaphors begin wildly. It's the way I work, brainstorming and wild ideas -- believing absolutely that it's 'easier to tone down a wild idea than polish up a dull one.' So, one of these days I won't be surprised if a more subtle metaphor between felting and life will emerge somewhere in my poetry.