Felted Clogs Finished! Yippee!

I finally finished sewing up the Fiber Trends felted clogs last night. They knitted up very quickly, I just had a hard time motivating myself to get the sewing done. They have double soles to make them last longer, and each sole is seamed down the center - that's 4 seams - and then there are all the ends to weave in - lots of ends! Sunday night I just sat down and finished them. Then came the hard part, trying to get a picture that could show exactly how enormous these were. I tried but this is really the best I could do. My husband was convinced they would never shrink enough to fit anyone we knew and my kids had lost all respect for my ability to judge sizing. They really thought I had finally lost it. But then, I washed them! It really is amazing what a little hot water and agitation can do to wool. The before pictures were taken at night so the colors look very dark, the after pictures are a more true color.

Everyone was amazed with the turn out! I love them. They were fun to make, easy to felt and (even thought they are still a bit damp) exceptionally comfy!

Pattern: Fiber Trends Felted Clogs
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool - New Denim (2 balls) & Denim Marl (1 ball)
Needles: #15 circ.
Start/Finish: Feb. 27 - March 4


I just received the Duet Sock yarn I ordered in Turquoise Tranquility. I like it but it's not as blue as I had hoped, it's more aqua then turquoise, though is doesn't really show in this picture. I guess that will help to keep me from getting out of control ordering on-line. I am sure I will like it more once I start to knit with it. It's probably just my mood or something.

I do still have my new Rockin' Sock Club yarn that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! I am very excited to get started with this beautiful yarn. (No picture because 1. mine is in a safe place and 2. you may not have yours and still want to be surprised, if not Alyssa has posted a picture of it).

The ladies at Blue Moon could not have started with a better color. I was nervous that the first color might be a "girly" color, especially because my husband and son were standing right next to me watching me open it. We all liked the color and everyone wanted it, even the cat, who jumped up on the counter, grabbed the hank of yarn and ran under the bed in the guest room with it. It took some coaxing, but we finally got the yarn away from him and put it in a safe place. My older son was disappointed that we opened it with out him and he missed the opportunity to call "dibs". They all decided that from now on, we will open it as a family to give everyone a fair chance. They are getting kinda weird about this, don't ya think?

Some socks for me.

These were fun and quick to knit up and I learned two new things;
1. none of my boys like solid brown colored socks and
2. "cables on socks are girly."
I really thought my youngest was going to claim them, I did get him to try them on and he admitted that they were incredibly comfortable, but then when they were finished he told me, "That's ok mom, you can just have them." So, I ripped back the toes and shortened them up for me. They are quite comfy!

Pattern: Whitby from Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Louet Gems in Caribou
Needles: #2 dpn
Start/Finish: Feb. 23 - Feb. 27

Group Wednesday night was great, I love our new location, and I especially enjoyed show and tell of all the new yarn acquisitions. Alyssa and Claire both had the Duet sock yarn in Turquoise Tranquility that I have been coveting. I have never been able to bring myself to order yarn on-line ( I did sign-up for the BMFA Rockin' Sock Club, but that doesn't count). I am always afraid that I might not like the yarn in person, it might have a different feel or color than I expected. This yarn was exactly what I expected, perfect! I actually had a dream Wednesday night in which I was knitting with that yarn! I finally broke down and ordered the yarn on-line the next day. I was sure that it would be sold out but the order went through and I even got a confirmation email. I am happy but at the same time I am worried, if I am now comfortable ordering yarn on-line this has the potential to become a real problem.

I did not get my Fiber Trends felted clogs finished. Wednesday night after Group I did sew one of the bottom seams and weave in all the ends, but then I got bored and went to bed. I didn't even look at them on Thursday, I started a new pair of socks instead, in Mountain Colors Bearfoot - so soft and warm and fuzzy - I just love them. I don't think I am quite ready for Spring to come yet, these are really warm socks. I will try to get myself to finish off the clogs and get them felted so I can bring them to Group on Wednesday. I will get some before and after pictures to post as well. I must admit, these clogs have been fun.

THIS JUST IN - It's here!! It's here!! I just received my first shipment from the BMFA Rockin' Sock Club and I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying it is absolutely splendid!!

A bag, some socks and no scarf

I am pretty sure this was instigated by Lynae's great adventure bag. I think I wanted a felted bag but didn't feel like felting a bag so I just knit it at a very tight gauge and it almost feels felted. I knit this during my breaks from the Irish Hiking Scarf that I have been having some yarn shortage issues with. I guess I have been a bit distracted because I had to restart this thing 8 times! Talk about determination. Just silly little things - cast on wrong # of sts., forgot to knit edge sts., started over on wrong needles - every time I got about 1-2 inches before I realized it and had to start over only to make the same mistake again! Finally all went well until I got to the strap which I decided to change (knit roughly 20 different ways and settle on the first change anyway!) It's done and I am happy, and the scarf, for now I am done with that too!

I started the Irish Hiking Scarf with some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino that I had 2 balls of (not enough to make the scarf) but that didn't slow me down, I figured I would see if I even liked it before I worried about the little things, like having enough yarn to finish. It knit up quickly and I liked it so when I got to the end of the 1st ball I had to make some kind of decision. I bought the yarn last summer at a little shop up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, on clearance. There was very little chance that I could match the yarn and I didn't want to try so I figured I would just pickup a ball of the same yarn in a different color for the middle and finish with the 2nd ball of the 1st color. I went to my LSY and she didn't carry that yarn, but she did have this wonderful Zara yarn that matched nicely. I added the new yarn and the gauge was perfect, the colors matched nicely, the only problem was that I liked the Zara more and now I wanted the entire scarf in the Zara. I ripped it all out and restarted with the new yarn. I only bought 1 ball of the Zara so after knitting that up I ran over to my LYS to get 2 more balls of the Zara and guess what? She sold all 8 balls that she had in the 24 hrs since I was last there! During a Blizzard! ARG! So I picked up 3 more balls in matching colors and started again. Now the colors matched too well. I started over rearranging the colors. Over and over I tried different color combos. I took breaks from the scarf and worked on the bag until finally the bag was finished and I accepted the fact that I just wasn't going to be happy with the yarn compromise on the scarf. That was when I realized I didn't really need to own this scarf, I just needed to knit it. I rewound all the yarn and was done with the scarf. What I finally ended up with was; a new knitted bag, 2 balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino returned to my stash, 4 balls of Zara added to my stash and a whole week worth of knitting fun!


After all that I was in need of some relaxing knitting so I finished up these socks, they were supposed to be for Valentine's Day but better late than never (and you guys think I get to Group late).

Pattern: Basic sock w/ Chevron stitch
Yarn: Regia 4 color
Needles: #1
Start / Finish: Feb. 2 - Feb. 22