I can felt in the new washing machine! Did you hear my huge sigh of relief at about midnight last night when I was standing barefoot on the front porch and untying a pillowcase to see if the firefighter hat looked any different than it did before I put it in?



I should have taken before and after pictures, but the unfelted hat was so awful looking, I didn't want pictures of it on my blog. It was impossibly huge and it was a nasty shade of baby blue. But two wash cycles and two packs of cherry Kool Aid took care of those problems.

I've been thinking of making this hat since I first saw the pattern, but kept getting hung up over the red wool. Didn't want to use the skein I'd bought for a pair of color work mittens, didn't really want to order new stuff for a project I might never get around to....at least not as much as I wanted to spend the same money on other yarn for projects I might not get around to...

But I've had this pile of old wool that Grandma picked up at one of the auctions. It's in decent enough condition to use, but it's ugly. Especially the dingy blue skeins. I'd been planning to someday dye it and make socks or mittens for the kids, so it sat and sat until the day before yesterday I had the sudden compulsion to cast on for a fire hat.

Wonder if there's enough left for a giant squid?