Happy New Years! I ended 2012 year with a month of fabulous knitting time. For long time I've wanted to make felted footies/houseslippers so I finally dove headfirst into this project.
Pattons Classic 100% Wool.
Suggested Knitting Needle 4.50 mm, US - 7 / Recommended Knitting Tension 20 sts - 26 rows = 4" (10 cm)
Weight category: 3.50 oz / 100 g, 210 yd / 192 meters per skein.
My needles: US 9 addi circs
My gauge: before felting ended up being 6st - 6 rows = 1 inch
3rd time's a charm. the orangish ones bottom left..finally got the shape i want. but i really like the colorway & patterning on dark bluish purples ones much better. It so hard to envision how the striping pattern is gonna work out when you buy a skein. the orangish ones started out great than went into wide spirals.
Note: all slippers in above photo are post-felting.
I used needle size 9 addi circs on all three pairs. This was my first ever felting project and I just went to Ravelry, chose two patterns and than on the first pair I threw all my faith & belief into it that all would work out ok! [psst...I'll tell you secret. With top grey one this is first time in my life I've ever consciously put blind faith into something based on someone elses word and forged ahead without alot of thinking, rechecking and math... and you know what..it wasn't such a bad feeling after all. See I think that's why I haven't done as much knitting as other people. I love to Knit, but sometimes I'm terrified and it's hard for me believe that it's going to work out like their pattern says it will. I guess if I was rich and could buy real yarn at a whim any ole time it'd be a different story for me. But it's as if I have to make sure each and every skein of yarn is not wasted ! Maybe this experiment will get me a step closer to achieving that feeling in my spiritual world.]
My gauge ended up being 6 sts - 6 rows = 1 inch
These are listed in the order that I knitted them.
1. top - tall grey [colorway: 00225 Dark Grey Mix ]= single strand, 60 stitches cast-on.
(followed pattern Fjord Felted Slippers). I have these stuffed down inside a pair of LL Bean winter boots as felt liners. Working great !
2. right - wide bluish purple socks [colorway: 77436 Palais ]= double strand, 60 stitches cast-on; heel flap is 14 rows. (pattern based on Fireside Footies Noro) Also knit from 2 center pull balls made from one skein held together for double strands. If you look at this pair you will see that both the left & right socks pretty much match up! But there is a bit more pooling of color on the right sock and more clear striping on the left sock. These turned out W.I.D.E ! silly me forgot to change down my cast-on #. apparently single strand felts much more than double stranded. Is it because the dbl stranded is so much thicher?? anywho they'd be great for someone who has really swollen feet due to health problems. Since I don't anyone like that I'm using them ;) I have a pair of storebought fluffy doggie houseslippers that I adore but the soles are so THIN and not warm at all. So I just stuffed them into my doggie slippers and I don't have to worry about them being too wide & falling off my feet because they stay perfectly put inside the doggie slippers !
3. left - orangish ones [colorway: 77236 Harvest = double strand, 48 stitches cast-on; heel flap is 16 rows. After gusset, after I decreased two extra stitches (46) and knit the foot 27 rows before toe decrease begins. Also knit from 2 center pull balls made from one skein held together for double strands but this time paid particular attention to make sure my starting strands matched with each other as best I could. As far as the left matching the right it was spot on! But for some reason after the gusset the pattern effect took a turn into wide distinctive bee stripes until I got to the toes ! ? why?
Notes to self: for sock #3 begin with cast-on of 46 sts; increase heel flap to 18 rows; maybe increase foot rows to 28
-Major lesson learned for me was difference in felting properites between single and double stranded knitting.
-Another lesson learned for me was about self-striping effect when two strands are held together.
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