I know I mentioned these slippers briefly in a past entry and I promised to follow up on them and give more information, so here it goes.

The pattern is from Fiber Trends: Felt Clogs which can be found by following the link. I swear this pattern is like magic. Like any good recipe, it never fails. And it’s so much fun to knit up. I especially love the shaping parts. Once you know the pattern you really don’t have to keep reading because you know when you come to your slipped stitch it’s time to decrease and turn.

I first learned how to knit these cozy slippers (to me they are not clogs!) in a class taught by Julie at My Sister Knits back when we lived in Ft. Collins. {OH! How I miss that yarn shop! I could cry just thinking about it.} After that there was no turning back. I couldn’t be stopped from offering to make them for everybody I could think of.

The actual pattern calls for using two strands of worsted wool, but I knit them the way that Julie did. With Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky, so only one strand is needed. Plus, the Lamb’s Pride is 85% wool / 15% mohair which gives the slippers extra fuzziness when felted. I can’t imagine using anything else although I have seen other yarns used with the pattern and I didn’t think they came out looking as nice.

I always make them two color: one color for the sole and cuff (you’ll need two skeins of whichever color you choose); and one skein of yarn for the body of the slipper. If you make the largest men’s size you may need an extra skein for the body, as when I made Rick’s I had just barely enough! I double sole them, so the first sole is knit first and incorporated into the body of the slipper. The second sole is worked separately and joined on to the first. Some people put leather soles on them but we like them better without it. The leather sole takes away the soft, cushy feel. Of course without the leather soles you can’t walk outside when it’s wet in them because they work just like a sponge!

Here is the slipper with only one sole, the seam still needing to be sewn.

The pattern has the slippers being more of a scuff style where you can slip them on your feet but we prefer a higher heel, so I knit four extra rows before continuing with the cuff.

Close-up of the cuff.

The pattern calls for a more complicated joining of the outer sole, but again, I follow Julie’s easier join. It’s a matter of picking up a stitch from the first sole, knitting that stitch plus the next stitch on the needle together, then binding off as you go along. Simple!

The outer sole joined but not seamed.

Here is the slipper before felting next to Rick’s foot and next to his old slippers to give you an idea of how big they are to begin with. At this point you are wondering if they are ever going to fit properly!

Now for the felting process! I toss the slippers in a pillowcase using a rubber band to keep it closed. I also toss an old pair of sneakers into the washer along with the slippers to give extra friction for faster felting. Use the hottest water possible, only allowing the cycle to run until it’s ready to spin. Don’t spin your slippers!!! Take them out, gently squeeze the excess water out of them (I am lucky enough to have a laundry tub next to the washer) and reshape them while letting your washer finish its cycle by itself. Here they are after the first run-through.

Reshaping the slippers after each cycle helps to keep lumps and bumps from getting set in. You want a nice smooth surface for your slipper, now don’t you? Put them back in the pillowcase and repeat the process until you reach the desired size. Mine typically take three wash cycles before they reach the right degree of felting and sizing. Here they are after the second cycle.

And the third.

See what the mohair does for them? Look at the fuzz!

When you’re satisfied, gently press most of the water out of them but don’t wring them out. Shape them carefully by getting out all the little dips and kinks that might have popped up during washing. Just remember that they will dry in whatever form you put them in!  Place them on a thick towel to dry. I like to stuff mine with balled up plastic grocery sacks for the first day or so. It helps them to keep their shape. You can take them out when the slippers have dried sufficiently to hold their shape on their own. It will take several days before they are fully dry. Sometimes I put mine on our heated towel rack to speed up the process. Don’t worry about right and left; the slippers will conform to your feet once you start wearing them.

Behold the finished slippers!

Nothing else left to do now except put them on your feet and let them glory in the warmth and coziness! Rick swears he never needs any other kind of slipper ever again!

I am making myself a new pair now as my old ones are worn through. It’s time, don’t you think?

On the day I took my walk the sun was shining brightly. Everywhere I looked the crystalline quality of the snow was catching the light and acting like a prism. Just like someone had strewn jewels across its surface. It was beautiful. I tried capturing it so many times and each time when I viewed the photo back the colors were not there. The snow was glistening, but no prism action was happening through the lens. I took the camera off the mode I was using and tried a few different things. I finally got this image by using a slower shutter speed on the shutter priority setting at 1/320.

Well? What do you think?

The shadows this time of year are very long. Etched against the stark white background of snow they seem larger then life.

I was the only person to go down the forest path since the snow. The pristine surface so far had only been broken by the tracks of forest animals. Sometimes the shadows were combined with various animal tracks. These I think are rabbit.

These are possibly geese or swans.

Crossed paths!

Some tracks eluded me. Like these. A drunken mouse perhaps?

Other shadows were just interesting to me.

And to conclude, my prints and my shadow. How I hated to disturb the surface of the snow! Somehow it seemed as though I was an interloper here, but these woods know me well. They don’t always welcome me, but they know me.

A tiny trickle of water runs alongside the forest path. I found the patterns in the ice fascinating. If you look closely you can see what the water was doing when it became imprisoned. Delicate frosty fingers at the edges, little eddies and swirls; all held captive. Can you see the outline of a bird in the last photo?

 

 

 

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. We haven’t seen temps above freezing in a week. Yesterday it hit the 30 degree mark. Nights are in the teens and twenties, but so far no single digits. Let’s just say the temperature doesn’t fluctuate much from day to night. We’ve had a few little snows but nothing to write home about. It seems to come in dribbles and drabs. Nuisance snows are what I call them. Just enough to coat the ground and driveway, but not really enough to make it worthwhile to snowblow. A darned nuisance. We’re supposed to get another one tonight and into tomorrow. An inch here; an inch there. Big deal.

Even though it was cold and a bit windy yesterday, I bundled up in my warm down parka, slapped my “Elmer Fudd” hat on my head, grabbed the camera and went for a walk. After all the food over-indulgence of the holidays, Rick and I put ourselves back on the South Beach Diet for a few weeks and I figured a nice walk would help that along. What? You don’t know what an “Elmer Fudd” hat is? It’s the kind that has ear flaps on it that you can either tie up on top of the hat or pull down over your ears. I wasn’t trying to make a fashion statement here, just wanted to keep my head warm.

My goal was to walk through the woods and all the way down the road to Green Turtle (a little over a mile round-trip). I hadn’t been in the woods in a long time and a visit was long overdue. The sun was shining brightly which hasn’t necessarily been the case lately, a real plus when trying to take photos. I’m going to take you with me on the walk, but in small steps. I took a lot of photos! First we visit the part of Green Turtle that is right at the end of our street, the part where it drains out over the dam. As you can see: frozen. I tried to take a photo without my shadow in it but it didn’t have the same impact, so I’m in it, bulky parka and all.

Here there are some nice cattails growing even though they hacked a good part of them away this summer. Not sure why either, they didn’t look like they were harming anything to me. Because it’s the outlet for the lake, the water is not completely frozen here.

The ice that has tried to form around the base of the cattails look like glass UFOs, or maybe sombreros!  Very cool. Take a closer look:

My fingers nearly froze taking these shots. Old Man Wind was trying to give me frostbite! I was hoping that once I was in the woods I would be sheltered from him.

To be continued ...