A Fail for Me is a Bonus for John

Christmas is over for another year. The fridge is full of leftovers; the dishes are done and put away and our tummies are still feeling the effects of an overabundance of good food.

Now, it’s time to get back to normal. I go back to work tomorrow. *sigh*

Oh well, the last few days have seen more than just food. As you may recall, I posted earlier this year about the state of our felted slippers. Both John’s and mine have holes at the heels and the balls of the feet. I decided it was time to make myself a new pair; I’m more bothered by cold feet on these floors that John is, it seems.

I found a promising pattern on the Drops website… this one. I had no intention of making them in red with fuzzy trim, though. I went stash diving and found the remains of the brown wool I had used for the Brown Blob (um.. Quonset Cardigan). The pattern is a simple one, really, knitted flat, seamed and then felted. There was one small glitch. One sentence was somewhat confusing, lost in translation.

As a result, I added a few rows before realizing that I was supposed to continue in garter stitch, not knit in garter stitch to the finished measurement. I figured that the extra rows wouldn’t really affect the overall product as they’d be felted anyway, right?

Wrong. After putting the slippers through two complete cycles, they’re too long. They fit John perfectly. They’re just waiting for him to wear them. I have a feeling he’ll wait until his current slippers pretty much fall off his feet.

So, I’m back to the drawing board. I could just go with the same pattern I’ve been using all along, the Fiber Trends felted clog pattern. I’ve knitted that one a few times already; I’m bored with it. I went hunting and then remembered that Cat Bordhi has a felted boot pattern in one of her Treasuries of Magical Knitting (the moebius books). I didn’t want the moebius “handle”, so it’s been left off and I am, basically, knitting a huge pair of socks that will be felted down and, hopefully, fit.

The wool I’m using is akin to the old White Buffalo. I’m using two strands held together. The pattern calls for two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, so I’m hoping this will work. If they still end up too big, John will have two pairs of slippers and I’ll be investing in some worsted weight yarn and making the felted clogs again.