Why I Am Making New Slippers

I am not making new slippers for a variety of reasons.

1. I need more than one pair.
2. I got tired of the color of the old ones.
3. My feet grew and don't fit in the old ones.
4. My feet shrank and don't fit in the old ones.
5. I wanted to knit something and couldn't come up with any other project.
6. I'm participating in a '365 slippers 2009' knit-a-long.
7. I found a new pattern I just had to try.
8. I found a new yarn I just had to try.
9. I'm so fashion conscious I have to change slippers every 2-3 years.
   

No, I have a Very Good Reason for making new slippers as soon as the yarn arrives. My old ones are falling apart! I'm sure some people use that term loosely, but I have pictorial evidence asserting the veracity of my statement.

Exhibit A



















Exhibit B























Then there's Exhibit C, the half-mitts I made last night. Four skeins of yarn used in four single-skein projects in four days!

And nothing on my needles for tonight's New Year's Eve Party. I think I need to start some socks on my new needles.

The Last Christmas Present

It came! It came!

My husband's Christmas present to me arrived in the mail yesterday. And, in a fit of perfect timing, he picked up the mail on his way in to work, JUST before The Tube was popped into our box. So when I went to the post office, the only thing there was The Tube.

Behold, the contents of the tube. Aren't they pretty? They're even Christmassy colored. And such a nice little bag to store them in. After reading the warning on the packing slip, I am wondering if the bag is made of Kevlar.

But I can't blame the company for including the warning. People can get so lawsuit happy these days, I suppose a wise company makes provision for that. And since you may, at some time in your life, experience the euphoria of finding a set of these needles (sans packing slip), permit me to share with you some Necessary Information.

Signature Arts, LLC's knitting needles are intended for knitting purposes only. The knitting needles are sharp and should be handled with care, stored with the pointed end down, out of the reach of children, and should not be left on the floor. The knitting needles should also be carried with the pointed end down. The knitting needles should not be used in a moving vehicle due to the possibility they could cause the puncture of persons or air bags in the case of an accident. The knitting needles should not be stuck in the ear or in other body parts. Signature Needle Arts, LLC hereby disclaims liability for all claims for damages other than for damages provided for in the Uniform Commercial Code for breaches of warranties. Signature Needle Arts, LLC's liability shall in no event exceed the price of the knitting needles.

I'd like to go on record and note that never, EVER, have I become so distraught over a dropped stitch or other knitting accident so as to puncture persons or air bags. My children will bear witness to this. Now, if an air bag was about to explode on my knitting? Puncturing it might cross my mind. Self-defense, you know.

In most situations, I'm a law-abiding citizen, and quite willing to go along with suggested safety precautions. But I simply cannot countenance the idea of carrying these needles point down. Or storing them that way. It just won't work. And please, no one tell the airlines about the moving vehicles part.

But, on to the needles. There they lay (on the floor, sorry), just waiting for a project. Or at least a swatch.


The swatch of the day used Colourmart's 3/28NM Cashmere Heavy Laceweight. Oh, I like the needles. I was a wee bit concerned they'd be heavy ... but let me share some figures.

• KnitPicks Harmony dpns - 4g
• KnitPicks Metal dpns - 20g
• Signature Needles dpns - 12g

They'll do just fine. I did a lozenge/bead swatch, and had so much yarn left over I decided to do a swatch from Estonian Lace. A single Lily of the Valley swatch, as a matter of fact. With the dreaded NUPPS!

The first two nupps on the bottom are 5 stitch nupps. The next 4 are 7 stitch nupps. I like them better... and the last two were even easy to work.

Please, no one mention the fact that one does not make a lace shawl on 6" dpns. It's a sad reality. But these needles are going to be greatly used for socks and mittens.

Catching Up

The needles have been busy, and I'm afraid I haven't been writing my post-Christmas letters the way my to-do list has been telling me.

I have been decluttering, however. I sold a book on Amazon.com! (One less book to knit from my shelf out of) and immediately bought a book on Amazon.com. I did *not* (picture extreme self-restraint) pre-order the reprinted Alice Starmore Fair Isle book. Too much of a good thing leaves the children unfed and the bills in a pile on the kitchen desk. And putting the book in my Amazon cart so I don't forget about it doesn't count.

As those of you who know my mom may have guessed, I got a knitting book for Christmas! It is sitting within arm's reach of my knitting chair, and despite the time I have spent with it, I'm still not sure what my first project will be. But it's a good book. I used the Blueberry pattern from it for a scarf using the fuzzy alpaca from my Knit Picks Alpaca Sampler. I have my doubts about how well it will stay blocked, but even unblocked, it makes a nice skinny scarf.

Also from that sampler, I've made the Treasured Neckerchief. If you have plans to make that pattern, check for errata, drop the first 8 rows of section 2 (the second second section mentioned, not the first) and don't be concerned if you're confused. I'll be happy for the company.








The blocking neckerchief reminds me of nothing more than a tapeworm. The color is gorgeous, and it is a nice quick knit. And one skein, as advertised! (Even with what I think are 16 extra rows.)

But on to the Beautiful Knitting.

First, let me introduce Wisteria. Wisteria is a quick knit, with lots of gorgeous cables and plenty of speedy stockinette. I think I could wear this sweater out quickly. It's warm, it's cozy ... and yes, I did shorten the sleeves. I have a pet peeve with sweaters that attack my dpns.











And cashmere. One cute little sample swatch of a lozenge with a single bead in it, all blocked out for your cosideration. I think this yarn has a future as an Estonian Lace shawl. Or maybe something from Heirloom knitting. Although the mittens made from a double strand of it were gorgeous -- 13.5 sts per inch leave one with plenty of room for detailed stranded patterns.

Tomorrow I may have a picture of the Last Christmas Present. It's from dh, and is in the mailstream somewhere. Will it arrive today?

I'd better go find out.

Let's Consider That Stash

Here is a picture of the yarn corner of my craft room. It's a bit, shall we say, populated? for a person who doesn't particularly have a stash. But truly, the only things there are more than one skein of are things that were given me by destashing people. Really!

Christmas hasn't changed that much. I got two lovely samplers from my mom, with 21 skeins between the two of them. And would you know, there are no duplicates in the lot? And nothing in the samplers duplicates anything that I already have. I call that Careful Planning!












I think I will take the four-skein bag first. Those are such gorgeous colors! The other bag is nice, too ... and it calls to me loudly of MITTENS! The colors are better in person.

But I am using stuff on hand. I finished the half-mitts, and took pictures (with macro!) of the silk/cotton swatch. It needs to be worked on bigger needles.

A cashmere swatch in 2/28NM is utterly gorgeous. Next in my swatching sights is the 2/28 silk!

A Russian Prime sweater in 10/28 cashwool is also calling to me.

The second day of Christmas ...

The Christmas spirit really gets a hold of some people in strange ways.

Others prefer to lounge around in new finery. So I may present, at long last, the Not-So-Secret Christmas Present. Planned in the open (because it can be a bad idea to knit something for a teen girl if one hasn't pre-approved the design) and knit entirely in secret. Do you know how long it can take to knit a sweater at 7 stitches per inch only working after a teen bedtime?
Now that the Secret Thing is off my needles, the knitting seems to be going ever so much faster. (Funny how switching projects whenever Filia is out of the room can really make standard knitting drag.) Yesterday I did some swatching with a silk/cotton yarn from Colourmart, first with 2.75 mm needles and then with something around a 6.5 US. (Old needles, too big for a US 6 and too small for a US 7). I think the yarn would be perfect with a US 5, but HORRIBLE for anything resembling a nupp. It is calling me for a summer shawl, though. (sigh)

On the needles currently is the second half-mitt in a cashmere wool blend. The sample skein Colourmart sent has more than enough yarn for two halfmitts -- in fact, it looks like I could make three out of it. I really like the yarn, which I'm working up on US 5 needles, but could probably stand to be worked looser.

The yarny goodies are abounding of late. Yarny goodies for Christmas, yarny goodies arriving in the mail yesterday, and needlie goodies set to arrive in the mail some day soon. And I'm ordering more yarny goodies on Tuesday!

I'd better get to knitting so I don't develop an official stash! Leftovers are one thing, but a stash?

In which evidence of sewing activities are produced

Christmas knitting always goes so much more smoothly than Christmas sewing. It's true I can sew, but I am not by any means a seamstress. It's not that sewing is a necessary evil, but sewing is not knitting, and I am not exactly competent with it. (Exhibit A: My husband did not get a homemade sweatshirt this year, because I read the layout wrong and ended up not having enough fabric for the front of the sweatshirt. Exhibit B: Plastic bag in craft room closet containing all the pieces for a nice flannel shirt (except it's chambray, I think) except the left front. I got the layout right, but the fabric shrunk in the pre-washing so there wasn't enough. And the fabric stores around here haven't had any of that fabric when I've looked for, oh, the last 5 years or so.)

But sometimes, I get things right. Observe Filius, in a custom-made pair of pajamas. "Polar fleece, please, because it's nice and toasty warm." The front is in the front, the plaids are reasonably matched, and the length of the pants is right around the ankles. Which means they'll be short in a few months, but he has socks to take care of that.

Next, we have Filia. Filia thought a nightgown might be nice this year. Something orange/pink and floral. Maybe even like her dear mom's Prairie Dress (which is made of blue and pink sprigged flannel and has always existed as a nightgown.) Filia tried mine on, pronounced it Good, and protested having to surrender it.
She now has her own. The thing is voluminous -- 7.5 yds of 45" wide flannel for a floor-length version, and a bit less for the calf-length. Before the yoke gathers, I think it had a circumference close to 8 ft. Which means, of course, that AFTER the gathers, the hem still has a huge circumference. Perfect for tucking one's legs up under nice toasty flannel. Here's a nice neckline detail, because I'm still having too much fun plaing with macro on the camera.

And what's even better? It's the same size as mine. That meant I didn't have to copy and cut out new pattern pieces, and if she ever decides she's not the snuggly flannel type ... I have a new nightgown!

I'm easily pleased.

Opinions Needed!

I've been knitting a bit. (No one should be surprised.) Before my yarn came yesterday, I knit up a wee little swatch. I rather like it ... an Irish Lace Edging pattern from Heirloom Knitting. I think it will grow up to be a double-bordered scarf. The question I am wondering about is whether or not I should lengthen the repeats by adding another row of holes around the large hole. I think so ... which means my entry into redesigning lace may be at hand. Oh dearie, oh my.

But that is not the opinion I need. No, I am humbly soliciting mitten opinions. You see below a mitten. Would it look better if the natural (gray) and moss (brown) were switched in the cuff? How about in the mitten body?




















Here's a comparison of what the bottom three bands look like, switched. And, as an aside, I am delighted to note that after FOUR tries of rendering a M1, I have finally achieved one that gives the proper results. Who'd've thunk a M1 could be so tricky?

It's not Christmas yet

The Rainbow Baby Jacket

The Armenian Knitting Hat

and I am DONE with Christmas knitting. I even did a project I wasn't planning on doing. I am also done with Christmas sewing, and I even have the pattern put away! (Speaking of which, if any of my gentle readers happen to have some Navy Chambray in their fabric stash, I would love to have some. The stuff shrinks, and for the past several years I've had a not-quite-all-cut-out shirt for my husband in the craft room. All I need is enough fabric for the right front of an XL men's shirt. The fabric stores haven't been carrying it whenver I remember to look. Simplicity 7030, I think.)

The yarn for my next project will be arriving in a few hours. Beyond that, I have the challenge of Knitting Small Stuff until Christmas. Because really, who wants to be working on Old Projects after opening New and Delightful Knitterly Things?

Frog Tree Alpaca and some lace swatches are in my sights at the moment.

I'm cheating

Somewhat.

Because after all, the Knit From Your Shelf 2009 is something that has flexible rules. I have just flexed things in the direction of either starting early, or else trimming my book queue down to size before 2009 begins.

For you see, I have a new cousin being born in March. (Technically, he's a first cousin once removed, but that's too technical for newborns, so he gets to be a cousin or nephew.) And I had some yarn in my stash, see? And then Ravelry told me that in my Very Own Library was a nice baby item that was suitable for the yarn I had in my stash ... and is it terribly horrible if the book the project came from was on my list of books to use next year? No!

Thus, I have started a Baby Jacket, from Sally Melville's Color book. She likes the back side of linen stitch for the right side, but I am liking the right side for the right side. Time to ad lib!

I have also finished another Twined and Felted Hat, and decided that I need to regard felting with more respect. Yes, the hat is Too Small again. It was fine at one point (perhaps not suitable for the recipient, but still an adult M), but it is no longer fine. It is, instead, a Class Sample.



Today we are having a lovely, gorgeous blizzard. Tomorrow we are planning to enjoy some more of the same blizzard. This is good for knitting. If we have a power outage, I won't even feel bad about not working on Christmas sewing. Since Wisteria is finished (sorry, no pictures yet), my new goal is to get the baby jacket finished before the yarn arrives for some mittens. We shall see how that goes!

I just figured out how to use Macro on Filia's camera. Yay!!

Knit From Your Shelf 2009

As the year is starting to wrap up, it's time to take stock of the task before me. I have nine 'unused' books on my shelf at the moment, am almost assuredly getting one more for Christmas, and may get even another one. Leaving aside the eager anticipation (Thanks, mom!) and speculation (did dh get the book?), that gives me

• Arctic Lace
• Sally Melville's Color
• The Art of Fair Isle Knitting
• Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified
• Knitter's Stash
• Armenian Knitting
• Meg Swansen's Knitting
• Robin Melanson's Mittens and Gloves book
• 2 Debbie Macomber books

Now, the last two were sent to my author-dh, and I am not sure if they should count. I mean, just because someone sends your HUSBAND a knitting book, does that mean it's part of my shelf? The Mittens and Gloves book was given me (to rescue it from a fate worse than death), and I am wondering if Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified needs to find a new home. I do *not* like the technique they teach for stranding. We'll see if I still have that book at year's end.

I already know my first official project will be something from Armenian Knitting, probably the hat with the flower. Beyond that ... I was disappointed in the book. How one can take a technique which could be summed up as "Take an design normally worked in Intarsia and work it by stranding the unused yarn, trapping it every 4 stitches or so" and turn it into a book is beyond me.

Also in January, I hope to knit a sweater for Filius. The 'hope' is in there because I would like to use the yarn Elann is offering starting December 30th, and if there is a major Feeding Frenzy of Yarn Lovers and I don't get the color I'd like, then I won't be making it. The sweater is projected to be Rosemary's Not-Quite-Middle Sweater, from Green Mountain Spinnery (with adaptations. I mean, how CAN you jump from a 32" chest to a 40" chest in a basic sweater?)

From Color, I hope to knit one of the wraps. I forget if it's the Linen Stitch one or the Big Bang one. But that's the likely project there. Ann Feitelson's book has several very makeable projects, but the Fridarey Vest is my favorite. Knitter's Stash has a shawl in it a friend has asked for, and also the Celtic Cardigan, and some other nifty projects. I *think* I may have made a washcloth from that book, though. Maybe it needs to be dropped from the list?

That leaves me with Meg Swansen's Knitting. Box the Compass is the obvious choice there, for my mom ... but perhaps she will want something else.

That, plus two shawls, plus a pair of mittens, plus some other carefully chosen miscellaneous knitting, should take care of my bookshelf.

On my needles now is Wisteria. I started it earlier this week, and hope to finish it by Christmas. Which means ... I should go knit.

I wonder how long it takes Colourmart to send their samples? Maybe if I work REALLY hard, I can have Wisteria finished before they get here, and start playing immediately?

(edited to zap books which were used even before Christmas arrived.)

What I've Been Knitting

I've been doing some Christmas knitting lately (no pictures, and no progress report either. The recipient is a devoted reader of her mother's blog.)

I've done some other knitting, too. First, there was the Twined and Felted Hat. You see it displayed on an obliging child who shall remain nameless. (Partly because my best guess as to which one it is has to do with where the child is positioned in the house. ) The white threads are marking out a 4x4 square so I can get some good data on how twined knitting felts. I've done a pair of twined and felted mittens, which shrank 0% in width and 10% in length, but this is a larger sample. As you can see, I'm ready for the 10% in length!

But the hat didn't cooperate. It shrunk 7% in width and 30% in length, so as to fit a 5 year old quite nicely. The cuteness of it being yet apparent, and the warmth indubitable, I have another one on the needles for a travelling project.







Next to jump on the Traveling Project bandwagon was a pair of Endpaper Mitts, using a pattern from Latvian Dreams. They came out so nicely, that I decided I'd have to make another pair with a different pattern.




















And then, I cast on for a puppy sweater. I've never made one before, but our dog has the knack of shivering when it's 80 degrees inside, and it's closer to 60 at the moment. (61.2 on top of the piano, to be precise.) I had some sport yarn that wasn't saying "Make Me Into Mittens!" so I used that, and with the help of a web pattern, had a dog sweater. It fit much better the first day than it does now, and I can see how to improve the fit in future sweaters, should they occur. But, it's done, and he Actually Wears It.

Although I did wake up a few days ago with an empty dog sweater next to me. There was a dog in it when I went to bed, and the dog was in HIS bed.

Sleeve Issues

(Yes, I really do like to be this organized)

One of the things contributing to my lack of blogging is the lack of publicly documentable progress. One of my projects is 'under the radar' and the other is a test knitting project, and I'm not sure what the proper netiquette is for revealing that sort of thing. Given my background in National Security (which is not random at all, so I didn't mention it then), I decided that 'twas best left unmentioned.

The test knitting was not without issues, and one of them was entirely mine. It comes from reading directions and then doing them. Except I'm dealing with two sets of directions, and if one set gets applied to the other item ... then it comes about, after the passage of time, that one will look at one's knitting and say "Oh. No."

As did I, one day not that long ago. SSK. K2tog. Not K2tog. SSK. I quickly ran through my options. Ignore it? Not on a test knit. As a gift, sure. For myself, no doubt. But I would have done it differently in either of those cases anyways. Frog it? Time consuming. Working down the column of stitches? BINGO!

Since I didn't discover the Issue until halfway through the second sleeve, and the issue only involved the first sleeve, my first act was to Identify the Offending Sleeve.

The sleeve being identified (ablative absolute construction), I proceeded to finish the second sleeve, then discovered that some smaller issues had arisen and 5 rows of frogging were necessary on both sleeves. Easy peasy. So, I hit 'start' on the timer, frogged the last 5 rows, picked up a few oodles of stitches, and observed that I had spent 2 minutes in the repair effort.

The next thing to do was to allow the offending column of stitches to unravel. With great encouragement, it did so in less than a minute. As it ran, I gathered up the decreased stitches on a dpn. (That reminds me. Do NOT try this with one long circular needle. Magic Loop may work for some things, but not in the OR. It's akin to doing a heart transplant through three little incisions.)

Then, I pulled out a crochet hook, repressed my natural aversion to the tool, and spent a minute picking up the stitches, working the decreases with the proper slant. That took less than 2 minutes.

Easy, right? I even improved on the technique, by picking up the 'decreased' stitches on a dpn BEFORE unraveling the other column of stitches.

And I was so delighted with myself for noticing that I hadn't unraveled far enough to get the last increase (or first increase) on the first column of stitches. I muttered slightly, but the times involved were so insignificant that I didn't mutter much. Then I realized that I was making the same error on the second set of stitches. Oops. Fortunately, I realized that before I started any constructive repairs.

The finished sleeve looks lovely. My SSKs are gorgeous. The moral of the story could be: If you want perfect SSKs, work them as K2tog, then unravel the knitting when you're just about done and fix it with a crochet hook.

But not you, Rachel. That would be avoiding the whole issue, wouldn't it?

The Terrible Thumb Trickery

In keeping with my non-random personality, I shall now write about mitten thumbs. (May as well expand it to be about mitten cuffs too, although that's more of a personal quest for enlightenment at the moment, as opposed to tension issues.)

The thumbs. You see here two mittens, rather identical except for the thumbs. Did you ever wonder about color dominance? Or ask yourself if, when push came to shove, it really mattered which hand you held which color in? Or, if you don't bother using the TWO hands the good Lord has given you to hold yarns with, how you hold them in a single hand?

Yes, Virginia, it does.

The mitten on the left has a lovely thumb. Pink, with little splotches of green, staggered 'just so.' The mitten on the right, in comparison, rather looks like the green flecks are about to take over the thumb. They are exercising dominion over the pink, are taking many steriods illegally, and are no doubt making orations to their lesser brothers on the hand to Rise Up and Conquer!

All because I don't *like* working with the yarn in my left hand, so I assigned the green to that hand since there's less of it than there is the pink. Ahem. I ignored my preferences when it came to knitting the thumb on the left. Such a cute thumb. No scary Asparagus Supremacy sprouting over there. Let that be a lesson to you. I gave the green a serious talking to (stretched the steroids right out of that thumb) and they are now behaving much better. Subdued ... until the next time.

The cuff is a much happier story. It wasn't *my* dumb error. But I wasn't quite aiming for the effect I got. It's supposed to look more entrelacquie. The pattern hinges on an adjacent m1 and k2togtbl, but I didn't know WHAT kind of m1. So I started off with a m1l, because that was the easiest to do. (I hadn't done the thumbs yet, so I didn't know to steer away from that on this particular mitten). When the results turned out Not Quite As Desired, I decided that a m1r was the thing to do. (That's the right mitten.) But as you can see, those results were even less than Not Quite As Desired. So it must (MUST) be an open m1. I've never worked anything calling for that. But I will! Because I need to write a pattern up for these mittens, and knit some up for photographs, and guess what kind of m1 I will use? You're RIGHT!

I will also hold the fleck color in my right hand while working the thumbs. Trust me.

Keeping things in order

We'll begin with the Crockpot Pound Cake Flop.

I have been enjoying a wonderful blog lately, A Year of Crockpotting. The recipes tend to be gluten free, which makes it even more appealing to me. When I found a pound cake recipe, I thought it would be the perfect birthday cake for my GF husband. Foolproof, even!

Not so foolproof as to survive a crockpot that has been around as long as I have, give or take five years. But still, how hard could it be? Grease crockpot, mix ingredients, pop them in, vent the lid, and cook for four hours.

Except after 3 hours, a burning smell filled the house. Maybe it cooked fast? Old crockpots can be temperamental, I suppose. So, I turned the crockpot upside down with a plate held in the critical position, tapped, and awaited the deliciousness of pound cake.

But to no avail. This is what glared at me from the crockpot.










And, after carefully loosening the edge of the cake and trying again, this is what came out. Ashes of Pound Cake, and a buttery-eggy ooze.

Not good.

If a cake is unbaked, but burnt, what does one do? I decided not to try for longer, but rather to see if there was anything edible. So, by cutting the cake in to fourths and using an extractor, I was able to get it out of the crockpot (which, after 2 days of soaking and some water changes, was back to its normal self). The cake was incredibly dense (undoubtedly helped by my substituting a GF flour for Pamela's Baking Mix, and not realizing that the baking mix included baking powder and other goodies), but the semi-cooked/not-quite-burned-parts were good.

I think I'm getting a newer crockpot for Christmas. Maybe mom wants this one back? It is GREAT for soups and mulled apple cider. The cider is on today's menu.

Tagged?

It's been too long since I last posted. And there's so much to say! I could write about

• the Pound Cake Disaster
  
• the Terrible Thumb Trickery
• Sleeve Issues
• what I've been knitting
• my new pattern on Ravlery

but no, I tell myself I should really write a post about Knit From Your Shelf 2009. Because, it's time to remind those of you insane enough to think this is a good idea that we have 26 days left to plot out our first project. I've not gotten around to writing that post yet.

Because TwistedinStitches tagged me. Otherwise, I'd be knitting right now and doing things other than staring at this computer and typing.

Sigh.

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random, arbitrary things about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.

5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.

6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Thing One and Thing Two are done. Six random, arbitrary things?

1. I don't do random and arbitrary. It's not in my genes. I'm sure there will be a trend in what is to come, but I'm not writing them down beforehand and selecting them. It's as random as I get.
   
2. I have sold FOUR original designs this year.
3. I own a sewing machine and know how to use it. I'd just rather not. At this time of year, there are Christmas PJs to make.
   
4. I bake bread from scratch without recourse to a recipe or measuring implements. It's edible.
   
5. I love parsing sentences and diagramming them, and even have a small job doing just that.
   
6. I can't draw worth a hoot. Or beans. Or whatever goes for next to nothing in this economy.

Tag six people? Oh dear. I'm not a tagger, and so shall decree all who wish to participate in this after reading my blog, or those who don't want to participate but wish they'd been tagged, to consider themselves tagged.

Now, those of you who are going to Knit From Your Shelf 2009 ... fess up and join in! I will stretch my abilities and pop in a sidebar with a list of who is setting this worthy goal.

Another step in the Felted Slipper Saga

My blue clogs are felted.

Very felted.

Curiously felted.

How, I ask, does one knitter, using one brand of yarn, in just one weight, by dropping down one slipper size, and by felting ten minutes less, end up going from a Ladies size 10 narrow to a CHILD's 13?

Heathered yarn. That's got to be the answer. I wanted the red clogs, but about 1/2" shorter. I dropped down a size, and on just the SECOND check of the washer (the red ones took 5 checks, and I was afeared they'd get too narrow if I kept trying to get them shorter) out popped these cute little piggy covers. This makes four (4) slippers that I have knitted and felted in an attempt to replace my current pair. First pair - too small. Second pair - nice, but they let in too much cold air at the ankle. Third pair - a trial for the real pair. Fourth pair - struck by shrinking dust.

A fifth pair will jump on the needles shortly after my next yarn order. It's got to. My current slippers already resemble a pair of sling-back flats more than they do their original shape.

A neglected blog

A neglected blog is an uninformative blog.

So, what's been happening here in the background, whilst nothing is happening in the foreground?

At long last the Baby Leggings are done. I will like them better when I see them on a tot, no doubt. But at the moment, they are done, and that is a very nice thing about them.

Finishing the leggings allowed me to tackle some yarn that arrived last week (or was it the week before? Things have been package-rich around here, and I forget).

First, the clogs. Two felted, two unfelted. The unfelted ones won't be so tomorrow noonish, if the morning goes as planned. And having them almost done allowed me to put on the needles, with good conscience, some dishcloths. Four need to be done by the 22nd, and I got the yarn for the first two yesterday. Two down, two to go.

And now there is nothing on my non-super-secret-Christmas-knitting needles. There are three--no, four--things on my to-do list, but I'm not quite ready to start any of them because I may get some Serious Knitting to work on tomorrow, and I don't want to have just started something if it should arrive.

But, let me talk about last Thursday and Friday. Thursday was a Long Day. First off, it was pouring rain. And in the pouring rain we went out to do our big monthly shopping trip. Thursday made me glad I cancelled school on the last 'nice' day of the year, Monday, so we could sit outside reading. But Thursday was cold and rainy. And dashing into stores is all well and good, but if one of the shopping party (and trust me, we had a shopping party) walks slowly, and the other has a wheelchair to load and unload ... well, dashing in becomes somewhat impracticable. So, we got a bit wet. And we got lots of stuff. Two shoeboxes' worth of goodies for Operation Christmas Child. New not-so-mentionables for a child who shall remain anonymous because said child vowed said child was down to just two pair of aforementioned item. Groceries. Lots of groceries. And then, we rejoiced because the rain had gone away temporarily and we could unload in relative comfort at my mom's house. The afternoon was spent at mom's (knitting, of course!) and then KnitNight in the evening, then home to re-unpack the groceries, tackle the day's 200 e-mails, and head to bed.

Friday was a day that should go down in the annals of conflicting emotions. In the morning, I checked to see if I should scurry to the post office to get a box from Amazon. Project delivery was the 10th, so I decided not to scurry. In the afternoon, I got an e-mail from Amazon telling me my package was unable to be delivered and I could pick it up at the post office. So, off I scurried. Package! Replacement for Bible which is in multiple pieces! Joy!

Walking home, I did not scurry. I trod slowly and heavily, laden down by TWO boxes. Large boxes. But packages are good, so all was well in my world.

Then I opened the packages (over the next few hours, which tells you loads about my Friday). The yarn I got London Tweed Bag Sale at Elann) wasn't the color the website said. Sniff. But liveable. The actual Tuesday sale was a bit of a frenzy ... twice I got to the checkout only to find that the color I wanted was no longer available. The color that my mom wanted, and the color that my friend wanted ... those were still around. But not my Autumn Glory, nor my Mallard.

The books were yet another matter. Herodotus has a mildly dinged corner. I can live with that. Thucydides was paperback, not hardback. I goofed :( and it's not fun to good. And my bible had a different binding from what the website said it did. That was annoying. But, the sunny side was that one part of the order was undinged and correct, and we've all been enjoying it.

Tomorrow is package day at the post office. I'm sending out yarn, books, and some miscellany. Who knows what I will get?

Next Monday will be the mailing date for hats. We've got a big box full already, and more are dropping off the needles of an industrious Filia daily.