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Felted Bookweight
A bookweight is used to hold open recalcitrant books that refuse to stay open
to the page you want. I use my bookweight a lot on cookbooks and
knitting books. This is a good project for quick, unique, and useful gifts.
It's also good for using up scraps of feltable wool. If you want to learn how
to use double-pointed needles, making a bookweight is like making a
sock that has no heel or toe, or a mitten with no thumb.
Gauge: Doesn't matter, but your knitting should be loose.
Needles: A set of four DPNS or a very short circular (such as a Clover 8").
10.5s or 11s should work well for most worsted weight yarns.
Yarn: Feltable worsted weight yarn, such as wool or mohair. Neither superwash
wool, nor most white or cream non-superwash wools felt well. I used Kureyon.
CO 31 st for a wide bookweight.
Knit first and last stitches together to join the round (30 st remain).
Distribute stitches evenly across three needles if using DPNs.
Knit circularly until piece measures 9-12" (remember it well felt more in length than width).
Bind off and weave in ends.
Cut about 4 feet of yarn from the skein. This yarn be used to sew up the ends
later. If you're using a solid color, it doesn't matter where on the
skein this yarn is from. If you're using a variegated yarn, half should match
each end of your knitted tube.
Run an old sock or part of an old t-shirt through the middle of the tube to keep it from felting shut.
Place the tube and the extra 4 feet of yarn into a zippered pillowcase and
zip shut. Do not wad up the 4 feet of yarn or it will become a
strange little mass! (The pillowcase will protect your washer's drain and motor
from the felting wool.)
Toss the pillowcase into the washer with a bit of detergent and an old pair
of jeans, tennies, or a tennis ball. (These items add friction and
help the felting process. Hot water will also help the felting process.)
As your item is felting, regularly check on it. Reshape the tube and untangle
the 4 feet of yarn - try to keep it from felting onto
itself. The 4 feet of yarn will probably not need to felt as long as the tube
will.
When the tube is sufficiently felted, block and let dry.
Embroider a pattern if desired. (This can also be done before you felt, but
your design may be distorted as the bookweight felts. The intarsia
Shawn the Sheep I made on one bookweight bears only a passing resemblance to
Shawn!)
Pin one end of the bookweight and sew it shut with your slightly felted yarn.
Run the end of the yarn about an inch down the inside of the
tube, trying to catch some of the fabric without piercing it. After an inch
or so, push needle and yarn to the outside of the tube. Cut the yarn
close and tug slightly on the tube so the end goes back inside.
Fill the tube with small pebbles that have few sharp edges (I used "river
pebbles" from a local garden store). You can try dried beans, but
beans didn't seem heavy enough to hold open a book.Sew the open end shut as
described above.
Congratulations - you made a bookweight!
(c) 2002 by Chris Silker (egret@subdimension.com). This pattern may be freely used in a non-commercial fashion. It may not be used as part of a commercial transaction, including as a "free" instore giveaway, without my prior written permission.