The long awaited slippers

When I first started felting, I promised hubby I'd make him a pair of felted slippers. That was about 3 years ago and he still didn't have his slippers. Other projects just kept taking priority. I tried to make up for it by buying him a pair of sheepskin slippers last year but once in a while, I'd still get reminded of my promise.

With his birthday coming up and my running out of gift ideas, I figured it was time to make him his long awaited slippers. When I made that promise years ago, I'd planned to hand felt the slippers from roving wool. But after discovering the Wash & Filz It yarn earlier this year, I decided to experiment with that instead. 

The trick with machine felting of course is that you have very little control over the felting process and thus very little control over the finished size of your creation. I found a Drops Design knitting pattern on Ravelry and I just had to trust that my wool would shrink just enough to fit hubby's feet. During felting, the wool shrinks by 30 to 40% so the pre-felting knitted slippers looked ridiculously big. Just to give you an idea, here's a couple of pics with the knitted slippers against a sheet of A4.

Once I'd finished knitting and assembling the slippers, I anxiously tossed them in the washing machine. I put them on a regular programme at 40°C. When they came out, I had a slight moment of panic as the slippers I pulled out were tiny, almost my size! But I know that felt can easily be stretched and moulded into shape while it is still wet and luckily for me, I'd bought a pair of polystyrene foot lasts in hubby's size when I made that fateful promise years ago.

After a bit of pulling and stretching, I got the slippers to just fit on the lasts (picture at the top). I left them to dry on the radiator for a day before adding a final touch. Felt on wooden floors is very slippery so it's best to add a bit of grip to the soles. I used different colours so that it would be simple to remember which is right and which is left. In time, the slippers will mould around his feet and it should be easy to tell then but in the beginning, a touch of colour will make it straightforward enough.

I am pleased to say that the slippers were an instant hit with hubby. In fact, they've become almost inseparable! And they were so easy to make, I think more of them will find their way in my Christmas gifts...

Chihuahua fever

My best friend lives far away, in Quebec to be precise. That means I don't get to see her as often as I would like to. But she's still my favourite friend and when it's her birthday, I want to make it a little bit special, in my own way.

This year I came across the Chi-Chi Fever pattern from Sublime Stitching whilst browsing in a shop and I instantly knew what I would be making for my girl. Did I mention she owns a chihuahua?




I decided to make a bag based on an Amy Butler pattern and embroider the chihuahuas on the main panels. I picked this pattern because it's a good size bag and because Amy Butler patterns are really easy to read.

Embroidering is still very new to me so I was taking a bit of a risk but it turned out all right. I didn't do any really fancy stitches just a simple split stitch along the main lines, a satin stitch on those areas I wanted to fill and then I made an attempt at French knots for the beads of the necklace.





It would have been better if I'd split the stranded cotton so the lines wouldn't look so thick. I also suspect that it would have made the detail work somewhat easier. But I didn't know at the time that you actually could/were supposed to split your thread. Practice and learn, I guess!

I really like the Amy Buttler pattern though. As expected, the instructions were clear and really easy to follow. If you use the fabrics and interfacing that she recommends, it makes for a very sturdy bag with a very professional finish.

All I needed to add was a little personal touch that would put my trademark on it and make it a wee bit more unique for the recipient.

It took longer than I thought to arrive to destination, in fact, I was starting to wonder whether it had gone lost in transit, but it's now safely in the hands of my friend and she loved it. Her husband actually thought I'd had it made! Now how flattering is that?!

Mid-season gloves

Life is pretty stressful right now. It's very busy at work and I'm about to move house... in a whole new city! Sleep has been a problem all my life but in stressful times like these, my insomnia takes a whole new dimension. That means I have a lot of extra time to occupy and I desperately need to use my hands to easy my anxiety.

I remembered seeing a knitting pattern in Making Magazine for a pair of lacy gloves. With autumn now approaching fast, a pair of gloves that's not too warm is just ideal. And I knew I had the perfect mohair-like yarn for this project in my stash so I got knitting.

The gloves are knitted on the flat and then seamed together but I think if I ever made these again, I would probably try and knit them in the round. I'm also pretty convinced that something doesn't add up in the pattern instructions for the left mitten so I went with my gut instinct and did the left mitten in my own way. It's turned out pretty well in the end! Now I can't wait wear them, they're so soft. I'm also thinking I might knit a matching scarf in the same lace pattern...

Harvest of pincushions

I think most crafters would agree that with materials costing a fair bit, you really don't want any to go to waste. So what to do with small scraps of fabric? well pincushions of course!

I came across the pattern for these fruitilicious pincushions by Heather Bailey and knew I had to make some! They're quite quick to make, only use a small amount of scrap fabric and a bit of felt and they look gorgeous.

Strawberry

Pear

For the apple and the pear, I have replaced the stem by a ribbon so that they could be hung somewhere. In fact, I think they would look quite quirky in a Christmas tree!

Apple

And if you filled them with lavender instead of stuffing, they would make rather pretty scented bags, wouldn't they?

I'm a sucker for novelty yarn

Whilst I learnt the art of knitting as a child, it's only in the last 3 years or so that I have developed a real passion for it. In that time, something has become quite obvious: I'm a complete sucker for novelty yarns!

The first garment I ever knitted was in Sirdar Ocean, a ribbon yarn. I loved working with that yarn because it's fairly forgiving and the result was so good that the cardi that was originally meant for me ended up as a gift to my mum. And when she got it, she just assumed I'd bought it until I told her I'd actually made it, that's how good it looked! For a first, I can say I was pretty chuffed with myself! This has paved the way for many experiments with novelty yarn, some more successful than others.

Rico Design has got me hooked as they release a new fun yarn pretty much every year. The first time I went to the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace, their pompon yarn was all the rage and I have used it to make a number of Christmas gifts.

In the past couple of years, they have released the CanCan and the Loopy, both of which knit into a fun frilly scarf. You can see an example of the knitted up CanCan in the image at the top, in green on the left, and the Loopy, in pink in the middle. There are many knock offs out there but as you can see from the blue-green scarf on the right in the image above, the result isn't always as pretty!

The good thing about these yarns from Rico Design is that you only need the one ball to complete your project and you don't need to be an experienced knitter either as the whole project is in simple knit stitch, no purling required! If you were interested in starting a Rico scarf, I strongly recommend watching the video tutorials from Hulu Crafts.

Recently, my friend Jemma introduced me to another kind of novelty yarn, the Wash & Filz It from Anchor Style. It's a yarn that you knit and then throw in the washing machine for felting.

It took me a while to decide what to make from the one ball Jemma gave me but eventually I settled on a mug hug. I know completely pointless, but hey, why not?! At least I won't burn my hands on a hot mug of tea anymore :-)

Next, I plan to make a pair of slippers but first I have to figure out how big I need to knit them so that they're the right size when felted!