slippers and WIPs

Last month, I showed you this pile of slippers, pre-felting.

They've been felted!

For my mother-in-law (modeled by me):

(on Ravelry)

For Thom:

(on Ravelry)

For the Mafia's Little Man (a little big, but he'll grow into them):

(on Ravelry)

The pink and red ones are Araucania Nature Wool. I'm not thrilled with this yarn for felting. The slippers came out fuzzy and linty and a bit hairy. They look a little scruffy.

The green ones are Cascade Ecological Wool, and I love this yarn as much as I love regular Cascade 220 for felting! It's a bit thicker, and the plies seem rounder and have more of a "beaded" look than the 220. It felts down to a dense, smooth, even, sturdy fabric.

I've had enough of this pattern for a while! But, finishing these puppies knocked my WIP list from 8 to 5. Here's what's left:

1) A pair of socks for me. Working top down. Done with the gussets of both, and almost at the toe of one of them.
2) Seekrit knitting. In time out. Over half done. Found a mistake about 2/3 of the way through the part I have finished. Need to rip back or perform complex knitting maneuvers to fix.
3) Baby sweater. Ran out of yarn!! First time this has happened, and one of the only times I've bought yarn on line. Now awaiting add'l yarn. Should arrive this week.
4) Mafghan. Not a portable project. Need to work on this at home. Need to finish before warm weather makes working on an afghan an unpleasant project!
5) Vinnland sock. Not feeling the love. Might rip out.

I have a serious case of finish-itis. A rare disease, far less common than its cousin, start-itis. I want to get these off the needles!!!

So, some goals:
1) Socks: No deadline. Simple and stockinette, they'll get done soon.
2) Seekrit project deadline: April 15.
3) Baby sweater: I'll probably finish this as soon as the yarn arrives.
4) Mafghan: Finish sewing squares together by April 10. Weave ends by end of April. Add borders in May. (Heh, I should be able to do this!)
5) Vinnland: Frog, I think.

No more new projects until I'm down to just the afghan!!

I've been busy

I made my mother in law a pair of felted slippers (at her request) for Christmas.

I was afraid to felt them down too small, so I gave them to her with instructions to felt them down further if needed. She's a knitter, who has felted before, so I thought it would be OK. But, she was afraid that she'd make them too small and asked me to finish the felting and then return them to her. No problem ...

Until we had a power outage mid-felting. The machine turned back on when the power came back on, and I didn't remember to check the clogs right away. Ooops. They're too small now.

So, I made her another pair. Luckily, I had another skein of the upper color, and a similar color for the bottoms.

I figured that as long as I was felting one pair, I might as well felt some other stuff.

That's three pairs of clogs. The red ones on the bottom are for Thom, who tries to wear my clogs around the house, albeit with the back of his heels hanging out. I thought he needed some of his own. The green ones on top are for the Mafia's Little Man. She bought the yarn a while ago, and I volunteered to knit it up for her. (Who'd have guessed that she'd pick bright green yarn? Shocker, I tell you....)

I have more feltable wool in the stash (!) and was thinking that perhaps I ought to make another pair for me. You know, in case my current ones wear out. You'd think I'd be sick of this pattern by now, having knit 6 pairs, but I still like it :)

Christmas recap

Whew. It's been a while. Let me try to get through the last several days in one post, not too many words (yeah, right!).

I was paired with Yaga for the knitting wars. (Thanks, Yaga, for adding some posts in English!). Which means, I was busy knitting! Here's the final tally of 2007 Christmas gifts:

My in-laws get something knitted every year. This year, my FIL got some socks, and my MIL got felted slippers, both of which were requested, or at least strongly hinted at.

(Da's socks -- Spey Valley, from Knitting on the Road, in Regia 6 ply)

(Mim's slippers -- Fiber Trends' Felted Clogs, in 2 colors of Araucania Nature Wool)

Both were well received, although I need to felt Mim's slippers a little more -- I left them big on purpose, rather than felt them too much. So, back in the washing machine they shall go.

My boss, a.k.a. Boss Lady, requested some mittens this year. I opened up Ravelry at work (umm, because it wasn't open already, of course!) and we started looking for patterns. She saw a few convertible mitten patterns, and said "oooh, I want something like that -- I didn't know you could knit those!".

She traced her hand for me (teeny tiny little hands!) and I made these:

(My own pattern, Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL in black)
(Boss Lady would like you to know that she did not plan for a photo shoot and had not had her nails done recently. She apologizes for the chipped polish!)

I also knit some ornaments as gifts. I'd like to start a tradition of making an ornament for each parent, sibling, and grandparent every year. I forgot to label these with the date, but here are my 2007 ornaments:

For the following people, from the top left: Thom's sister and family, my brother and wife, my mom and dad, Thom's brother and family, my Grandma and Sam, and Thom's parents.)
(More details on Ravelry.)

The Mafia, in another command performance, decided that the leftover yarn from her fingerless mitts should not go to waste, and managed to convince me to knit this for her:

I'm calling it the "My So Called Scholar Collar", since the stitch pattern is from the My So Called Scarf but the button idea and approximate size are inspired by the Scholar Collar. I finished it before Christmas, but not in time to connect with her before she went away to visit her family, so she'll get it on New Year's.

So, 10 knit gifts -- not bad! Oh, and I made my mom her earrings, too. She and I picked the beads together, and I made them. I've been making her jewelry since I was in high school, or maybe even earlier. She loves the brightly colored earrings that I will never wear myself. So, it's a win-win. I get to play with beads, and she gets earrings (and necklaces, and bracelets) that she likes!

(Click to Flickr-ize for more detail.)

I also got some lovely crafty presents. My mom made a donation towards the "my crazy daughter decided to take up spinning" fund. My MIL gave me a copy of Knitting America, a history of knitting in the US, with loads of photos and 20 period patterns. I've only read the first few chapters, but it's fascinating.

My sister in law (my brother's wife) made us the cutest possible Christmas ornaments with polymer clay:

These guys are tiny -- only an inch and a half tall. Both the penguin (right) and Santa angel (left) are dusted with fine glitter powder, so they look like they've been out frolicking in the snow. So cute!! She also made my mom a little sculpture of a polar bear, seal, and penguin all pig-piled upon each other. She's quite talented!!

So, this post has now exhausted me. I'm off to go watch some DVDs and knit some more. I started a pair of mittens for me on Christmas Eve, and I'm cranking through them (one done, except for the thumb, and I've started the cuff of the second one). Any guesses as to the pattern?

back in the saddle; now with photos!

Remember the dead Muppet pelts of last week? Not one to be easily defeated, I cast on for some more clogs.

These ones are for my mother in law, for Christmas. They are all done except for the felting. They went pretty fast -- less than a week. The yarn is Araucania Nature Wool in pink and gray. I did some Ravelry searching and others have been successful with this yarn/pattern combo, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will work well :)

I also started something else new ...

Details to follow when they are complete. I finished the one shown above, and have cast on for the mate. Hint: they're not socks!

felted clogs

Subtitle: The post in which I admit that I am not perfect.

Remember these? (Of course not, I hardly mentioned them. A mere blip on the radar...)

Nice looking clogs, right?

Unfortunately, this is what they look like after felting ...

The astute among you will notice that the 2 yarns didn't exactly felt the same. The brown Lamb's Pride got nice and felted and looks rather like a dead Muppet pelt, while the orange barely felted at all.

I should have done a test-felting with a swatch. I didn't, and now I have 2 giant orange sacks with dead Muppet treads.

Sigh. Now I need to make another pair, as these were supposed to be for Thom. He keeps asking about them, since much like Stephanie, we are in the midst of some Furnace Wars in our neck of the woods.

felted clogs for Thom

I finished knitting the felted clogs!!

Oh, wait. I think I forgot to mention that I started them ... I've been knitting here and there while working full time, coaching 3-4 days per week, and going back to grad school. School is going well, although my current class is not the kind where I can knit while in class -- too small, with too many guest lecturers. But, Thom and I carpool to work, so I get to knit in the morning while he drives (unless I'm doing reading for class).

Anyways, last month, I picked up some yarn at the NHS&W festival. The Mafia spotted it for me, in perfect hubby colors (BRIGHT ORANGE!) and perfect Danielle price (less than $8 for 12-13 ounces). I got some "spice" colored Lamb's Pride to go with the orange yarn and cast on for some slippers from the Fiber Trends' felted clogs pattern.

I knit up one of the slippers ...
And the other ...

(Cell phone and foot for scale).

Now I need to felt them, obviously. I'll wait to do it until Thom is home with me, so that I can check the size as I go.

Project specs ...
Pattern: Fiber Trends' Felted Clogs
Yarn: orange mystery wool from NHS&W (12-13 oz of heavy worsted, with lots leftover), Lamb's Pride worsted in spice (3 skeins, with lots left over in the 3rd skein)
Needles: Size 15 Clover bamboo
Gauge: not sure
Size: to fit men's 11
Pattern mods: none!
Ravelry page:* http://www.ravelry.com/projects/aswiminknits/felted-clogs-2

*I'm adding a link to the Ravelry page for each new project that I enter from now on. If I'm keeping track via Ravelry, I thought it might be nice for others to know where to find the project details. If you are not on Ravelry, you probably can't see these pages. For those of you on the waiting list to join, I'm sorry if this annoys you! I'll still be posting info here too ...

2 fuzzy photos

The clogs of the last post were indeed felted.
I felted them with some towels for agitation. The white fuzz on the clogs is from the towels. I'll remove it eventually.


See how the right one is a little bigger? I felted it some more so they are now the same size.

They are warm and cozy, especially on the wood floors of our new house. I might need to attach leather soles, though, as they are a bit slippery.

things about which I have not spoken, part A

I did not mean to disappear from the blog for so long. Really, I didn't. Life just got the better of me. I have still been knitting a bit, and there are several projects for which I need to provide updates.

However, that would require photos which in turn would require daylight. Not seeing much of that recently, the photos are on hold for a bit.

But, I did manage to find some unblogged photos on my computer.

Back in December, my SnB did a Yankee Stash Swap for the holidays. Everyone brought something small from their stash and gifts were exchanged...

I got this skein of Cascade Quattro (like 220, but with each of the 4 plies in a different color), and project bag.

It didn't stay in my stash very long, though! It grew up to become this ...


It's the ubiquitous felted clog pattern by Fiber Trends. Obviously still unfelted here, though!
(And look, handknit socks in action! And I'm wearing the same socks again today!)

This was a nice stashbuster -- the pattern calls for 3 skeins of feltable wool.

1) I used the gift yarn for the uppers (and got rid of a skein of something else in the gift exchange).

2) Then, I had a skein of navy blue left over from a hat/scarf/mitts set for my FIL.

3) I needed a second skein of navy blue, so I went to a local LYS and exchanged a skein of yarn that I bought for a gift project, yet never needed. I made the gift (socks in Baby Cashmerino) but had purchased an extra skein. So, I exchanged it for another skein of navy Cascade 220.

Net stash reduction -- 3 balls. Let's not talk about what's left to be busted still.

The slippers have been felted and the photos will be posted soon. Perhaps even tomorrow.