Slippers

Here are the slippers pre-felting

They are rather loose and not sturdy at all.

Here they are post-felting.  

Now they are a dense sturdy fabric.

I sewed bottoms on to make them less slippery and to help them last longer.

Of course I got them done as the weather turns summer, but they are will be nice if it turns cold again, or in the fall.

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Gifts and Weaving

My newest niece received a bright teddy bear that arrived in her home just a little while before she did.



I also worked on a gift for my neighbor's new baby - she or he hasn't arrived yet, but a new bear and blanket are waiting for him/her.





I recently finished weaving something. It was my first weaving project and it was very exciting to have it come off the loom. I still need to finish hemming and weaving in the ends of all the color changes.


I can't wait to have all five cloths done and wash them and have them done... I just had these random other things to finish first.

...like these:



My three kids now have new slippers (or will as of tomorrow when I felt the last pair and stretch out the smallest pair a bit)

Slippers, Shawl, and Sock

One (or two) more catch-up posts and I should be good to go. I actually couldn't post these right when they were done because they were a gift for my Father-in-law (his birthday was the end of April). Since Webs has a sale on their Cascade 220 I used it to make a pair for me, and then bought enough for his slippers and some for my girls that I'll make sometime over the summer.



These are a lot of fun to make - I just have to pay attention to the short-row shaping.... I can't really put them down in the middle of a section.



I ran them through the washer a couple of times and then had my neighbor try them on quickly - his foot is a half size off of my FIL, so we thought they'd fit well.



We went the extra step and put the leatherish bottoms on them so he won't be slipping around (and hopefully they'll last a little longer that way). I hope he likes them!


I also finished my swallowtail shawl. I had taken a break for 3-4 weeks in the middle of it, and then another week or so while I pondered the nupps in it. I ended up doing those rows with the help of one of my little crochet hooks - it took a tiny bit more work probably, but it was a lot easier than trying to make my needles work through 5 stitches...

Here it is before blocking:



...I have a whole post for blocking and after that I will do right away!

I am still working on my traveling sock also - updates on that soon too!

Slippers

Part of my Christmas presents from my husband was a slipper kit. It came with slipper bottoms and a gift card to my LYS so I could knit myself up a pair of felted clog slippers (cuz I made a pair for him and he loves them so much).

So I finished up a couple of projects and then went to the LYS and picked up some Cascade 220, and then a little while later I whipped them up.





I then felted them and tried them for a while



I then decided I needed to felt them a tiny bit more, and then, true to his word, he sewed the bottoms on for me (knitting my own slippers - okay... sewing them on - ulgh). I've now been walking around with warm feet...





...now just to make new ones for the girls (well, maybe in the fall... and the boy will need a pair by then too)

Post 21

I just realized it's been over a month since my last post, and only 20 for the whole year. (Getting close to the 200 total posts!) It's been a busy crazy year - mostly fun and a lot of trying to get stuff squeezed in (like sleep?). I do have some things done...

I finally finished the slippers for my husband (I still need to take a final picture of them with the leather bottoms on)



I also worked up a shower gift. I love this hat. Curly had helped to make one like it for the Little Tomato and it fit forever since the rolled brim kept getting rolled less and less, in fact his just now doesn't fit. I hope this one will fit the new baby for a long time.


I just realized that I never took a picture of a earband and cowl that I made for Lily - so pics and details of them next time.

We took a break on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and went to see some things we've missed this past year...






We've never been to this farm before, although I have seen them at some different fiber events. It was a fun drive and very relaxing (especially as we drove by the mall and saw the nasty full parking lot and traffic) and of course, the whole family enjoyed seeing the animals and the yarn and fiber for sale.

I've also been working on Christmas presents that I won't post about until after Christmas. ...and knitting, and cooking, and cleaning, and decorating, and schooling, and baking, and sleeping, and holding the baby, and being social, and shopping, and reading, and such. Enjoy!

November 11

First up today, I hope everyone remembered Veterans Day - observed tomorrow in the US of course, but today is the 11th day of the 11th month, take a minute to remember.

Next up, I have swatches to show. These have been done for a while. I need to finish measuring and make sure I know which type my husband wants for his slippers.


The three swatches are a brown alpaca, a dark almost-black wool, and a mixture. Spun up, and then swatched up, and then felted. I guess I should get moving on these, since it's colder now and his birthday is soon (early December).



And finally, since I have not restarted the sock, I have done a bit more on the lace scarf. It is now slightly longer than my arm rest on my knitting chair (big recliner). Since this has been the project that sits in the basket whenever there is something else to do, it has taken me quite a while to get this far, and will perhaps be longer before I finish. Because of that, I believe the gauge will be different between the beginning and the end, but that is completely fine with me.


The scarf, after all, is for me, and it is pretty and lacy, and once finished and blocked, the fact that one end is slightly wider than the other can be a design element, right?

The Project Bunny

I finished the felted bunny. Last night, while in spindlers chat, I sewed up the stuffing hole, and sewed on eyes and a nose/mouth, and attached a little pompom tail.



My older daughter was still awake, and she wanted to carry the little bunny in to her sister - so I quickly snapped the pictures and we placed it in her sleeping embrace. She was very pleased this morning to see it, and hugged it all day, before placing it on her bed with super monkey and the blue fish and her teddy bear.... (and mommy realized the toy craze needs to end).


I also finished this pretty yarn for a shawl:


I think I might need to send it through the wheel one more time - the ply is a bit loose... but I can do that. I also ordered another bit of angora from the copper moose, so I can spin up the rest of the blue wool, and have more angora to ply it with. I currently have that one skein - about 590 yards. I used a little over half of the blue wool, and 2 oz of angora - so I should end up with almost (not quite) double that.


And of course, since I finished those things, the project bunny brought me new projects to start...

Recovered (frogged) knit picks sock yarn. Two held together, with a US 7 right now - hat for dulaan... I need to mail the boxes off soon, maybe next week.



And other sock yarn from knit picks... My younger daughter wants a shawl. Her older sister already has one and she suffers from 'me-too'ism. I figured with two balls of this yarn (to be further identified later) I could make a decent size shawl for her. The pattern is the melon shawl from Victorian Lace Today, although I'm not sure I'll do the edging that is part of the pattern.

She is so excited when I told her I was finally working on a shawl for her... tonight she made her father hand it to me (I was sitting away from my basket) and once I held it up and showed her again she looked at me and told me to 'knit mommy! knit my shawl!' after I gave her a look she added a 'please'. This one might take a while, as the blue and white shawl will get priority again as soon as the angora comes in the mail (I ordered last night, and already got a tracking number this morning).

Last night, while watching The Painted Veil (strange movie, not bad, but strange) I also ripped back a bit in the pirate sock, and started knitting back up again with 8 less stitches going around. Instead of a slow spiral it now is just a stripe-y jumble - hooray! I am slowly moving back to the knitting - I'm sure the spinning will pick up again next week :)

Swap arrived!

Yeah, so I got my swap10 package today in the mail - YAY!!



Up closer :)



The first picture are the things marked for my birthday - the chocolate bar was kept hidden until after the girls went to bed tonight... all mine :)

The second picture has some bamboo needles and two TUFOtsies (numbers #719 and #720)

The third picture has a cool sock kit (yarn I'll have to try to dye - maybe?), a note, and a retractable tape measure (THANK YOU! I actually didn't have one that retracts yet)


As today is patriots day in massachusetts I wasn't expecting mail (I forgot that it's only a state holiday) so I was surprised and excited when it arrived. Thank you - Thank you!!! I'm working on finishing up all the sewing on my monkey before I let myself start something new... now I'll have to decide between all the projects I had planned and all the wonderful new things :) - Hopefully I'll have a picture of the finished monkey tomorrow...

Speaking of finished objects....




Yes, you maybe already saw this here, but I just recently added the zipper and button (and button band). I now consider it done, although I might wash it once more - the bag shouldn't felt further, but the button band might a bit. I like it though, it fits my phone, keys, wallet, and a sock in progress - perfect size!

As far as comments go, I won stitch markers from tammy's dulaan contest! Yay! Thank you Tammy!
And a huge thank you to the yarn geisha!


...oh yeah, I did actually start another baby blanket - and i need to work on a bear this week for a gift, so no new projects OTHER than those until I finish something

Animals

So... for my daughter's birthday she got one of those little weaving looms. I helped her do a square, and then she allowed me to try one with yarn (instead of those stretchy loops). This red woven square quickly (at bed time, with help from my husband) became pig's super costume, and our mild mannered pig became....


....SUPER PIG!

The adventures of super pig began and have continued now for many days.


And then we have the hedgehog:




Made by my sweet sweet husband :) It didn't come out exactly like the pattern, as he used (I handed him) more of a furry yarn that felted slightly rather than a real eyelash yarn. The hedgehog is very cute though... it just needs eyes now, and oh right... a seam sewn closed.

Projects Update

I think it's time to update my post from 9 Days Ago...

Projects:
Fish
Fuzzy Hats
Bear
Lace Scarf
Teased Wool


Planned Projects - (may be on the needles, or under needle for sewing, soon)
Felted Fish (for child 1, and maybe one for husband also?)
4 more bears and 2 more baby blankets
Another furry fuzzy hat (due by feb 28th - mailed before then of course)
A felted bunny rabbit
A project with my new yarn from yarn swap (maybe dyeing and spinning wool to go with it?)
Spinning more yarn to send off to my pal in February
6 more skirts
some handkerchiefs

The fish are done
The fuzzy hat (one in progress, and one planned) are both done





The bear is also done


The lace scarf - I haven't touched... maybe soon?

and the teasing of wool, well, I got enough teased to do this:


Yay! more wiltons dyeing. This, depending on how it spins up, will be used with my yarn swap yarn.


I also got to some sewing:




I currently am working on or still have to do:
finish spinning yarn for yarn swap (pictures sometime in February)
work on that lace scarf
maybe some more fuzzy hats if I find more fur yarn
2 more baby blankets and 4 more bears
my felted rabbit
Spin up that dyed yarn to use with my yarn swap yarn
4 more skirts
and some handkerchiefs

felt blanket felted

It felted a bit more than I had hoped as I was distracted and so it finished the full wash cycle - lesson learned - but it will make a great infant blanket or child carrier blanket.