Felted Wine Bottle Sleeve With Two Styles of Hexagonal Coasters
Yarn: Cascade 220 Paints/Hand Dyed, colorway 9925, Maple Fall Needles: Circular needles with long cords for Magic Loop or dpn's for bottle sleeve (size 9) and spiral coaster (size 10) Straight needle size 10 for joined triangles coaster Gauge: approximately 4 to 41/2 stitches per inch in stockinet. Notions: Tapestry needle
Patterns:
Wine Bottle Sleeve - size 9 needles
Cast on 70 stitches and join for working in round. Place marker for beginning of round. Knit until tube is 8 to 9 inches long. (Note: Sleeve in photo is shorter than pattern specifies.) Begin decrease rows: Round 1: \*K2tog, K12\* Round 2: \*K\* Round 3: \*K2tog, K11\* Round 4: \*K\* Continue alternating decreasing by one stitch on odd rounds and knitting on even rows until you have decrease to \*K2tog, K6\*. After that continue decrease rounds only, decreasing until you have 5 stitches on needles. Cut yarn leaving 6 inch tail. Thread onto tapestry needle and thread through remaining 5 stitches. Pull snuggly, cinching hole at bottom. Weave in ends.
Spiral Coaster - size 10 needles.
This is knit in garter stitch rather than stockinet so that itwill be thicker. Cast on 60 stitches and join for working in round. Place marker for beginning of round. Round 1: \*K\* Round 2: \*P2tog, P9\* Round 2: \*K\* Round 3: \*P2tog, P8\* Round 4: \*K\* Continue alternating decreasing by one stitch on odd rounds and knitting on even rows until you have decrease to \*P2tog, P6\*. After that continue decrease rounds only (knitting every other row to maintain garter stitch) decreasing until you have 6 stitches on needles. Cut yarn leaving 6 inch tail. Thread onto tapestry needle and thread through remaining 6 stitches. Pull snuggly, cinching hole at middle. Weave in ends.
Joined Triangles Coaster - size 10 needles
Make a triangle: Cast on 13 stitches Row 1 and all odd rows : \*K\* Row 2: SSK, K11, K2tog Row 4: SSK, K9, K2tog Row 6: SSK, K7, K2tog Row 8: SSK, K5, K2tog Row 10: SSK, K3, K2tog Row 12: S, K2tog, PSSO -leaving one stitch on the needle Pick up 12 additional stitches along left side of triangle then knit a second triangle starting at Row 1 as above.
Note: The cast-on tail will always be at the center of the coaster. When you are going away from the center, you will knit all the stitches. When you are going towards the center, you will do the decreases. Continue until there are a total of six joined triangles. Pull yarn through last stitch and cut, leaving a tail of about a foot in length. Hold coaster flat and, using the cast-off tail, sew first edge to last edge. If there is a small hole in the middle, close it by stitching around it and drawing yarn tight. Weave in ends.
Felting
Place bottle sleeve and coasters into an old pillow case or mesh bag to contain shed fuzzy stuff. Put into top loading washer set to low water level and hottest wash water possible at high agitation. Add a very small amount of mild soap. Add an old pair of jeans or tennis shoes for additional abrasive effect if desired. The yarn willprobablybleed. Keep machine in wash cycle, checking items periodically until desired level of felting is achieved. It helps to keep a wine bottle nearby to check the sleeve for size.Cascade 220 tends to felt all at once after about 18 minutes in my older Maytag. Rinse in cool water to remove soap residue. Place coasters on a towel and mash flat with your fingers, tugging at corners until they're symmetrical, then let dry. Dry bottle sleeve on bottle (assures a perfect fit.) When dry, snip off any tails that may have come loose.
