Not on my watch

I'm in a tea cosy swap on ravelry. I have procrastinated and procrastinated - not really wanting to do it. I considered subcontracting the job, but couldn't find a taker.

Knowing I'd committed myself, and knowing there was no way my partner would miss out, I bit the bullet on Monday. I found a riotous blend of colours in some noro silk garden in the local yarn shop and I cast on.

I didn't have dpn's in the correct size, so I couldn't knit in the round. I thought it might look good felted. So I cast on a few, knit a few, decreased a few and made a little funnel in the top (I fancied it a kind of bedouin look - like a tagine lid shape).

Then I chucked it in a hot wash with a pair of jeans. Nothing. Washed again. Nothing. A third wash. Something, but not very much. "What's up with the non-felting silk garden?" thunk I.

I googled 'felt silk garden' and found out that evidence suggests silk garden won't felt.

Well, not on my watch it won't.* I beat it into submission using violent and extreme measures. You can still see the stitches, but it has shrunk to teapot size and has a soft, felted texture.


Of course now I think it isn't good enough. Do you think it's okay? Be honest with me, I can take it.