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A Sad Slipper Tale

Not-So-Tiny Slippers, as they were intended.
A few weekends ago, I decided to myself a new pair of slippers, as my store-bought ones were ready to be put out to pasture. I grabbed a skein of Berocco Vintage Chunky from my stash and casto on for Ysolda Teague's Not-So-Tiny Slippers from Whimsical Little Knits 3. After a day of knitting, they were done...but just ever-so-slightly too big for me.

In hindsight, I realized I made two major mistakes:

Mistake #1: Not checking my gauge.
Mistake #2: Continuing to knit even though they seemed too big.

Time for damage control! I tossed them in with my next load of laundry to see if washing and drying them would make a difference - no such luck. Magical laundry elves did not resize my slippers in the laundering process.

I decided the best course of action would be to felt them down to size. While the yarn I used was superwash (and one of my favorites, might I add), I have found that even the heartiest of machine washable yarns cannot withstand being exposed to extreme temperature changes and agitation without felting even a little. I had a tiny glimmer of hope that this would work.

The first felting experiment got me closer to my goal, encouraging me to try again. I didn't have anything left in the laundry hamper, however....so I grabbed a towel and tossed it in with my slippers. Unfortunately for me, I grabbed an unusually pilly towel, which brings me to mistake #3: not putting the slippers in a pillowcase when felting them. This is something I briefly thought of doing, mind, you, but then shook it off before proceeding full-steam ahead. I'd like to think I should know better at this point in my knitting life, but that clearly isn't the case!

At any rate, this is how my slippers came out after this final felting experiment:


Sure, I could use my nifty little sweater shaver and salvage what's left of them, except for one minor detail: THEY STILL DIDN'T FIT. Argh! I think this is a case of operator error mixed with a pinch of the universe not wanting me to have avocado green mary jane slippers. Ok, universe. Message received.

I picked up the pieces and cast on for some new slippers (on I Love Yarn Day, as it happened), using some Chunky Noro I had hiding in my stash. These were also a no-go. Perhaps I misread the directions, but they produced the weirdest non-foot-shaped slippers I've ever seen. Perhaps I'm not meant to knit myself some slippers? I don't want to give up just yet, but it seems the universe is trying to tell me something.

If anyone has a favorite pattern for quick-knitting slippers (preferably in worsted or chunky-weight yarn), I am all ears!
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Comments

  1. cleancupOctober 19, 2012 at 11:23 AM

    I can't help you with a pattern, but I am currently knitting a sock, and the gauge is off, and I appear to not be stopping. I just keep knitting, even though every row I look at it and think, "The gauge of these is not sock-appropriate." It appears to be a thing...

    ReplyDelete
  2. LaurenSOctober 19, 2012 at 9:05 PM

    I feel your pain :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. cleancupOctober 20, 2012 at 10:57 AM

    Back for a second comment-- there's a slipper pattern in the new Knitscene...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Handmade by StefanieOctober 20, 2012 at 11:24 AM

      Ooh, I'll have to check it out, thanks for the head's up! Hopefully your socks turn out ok. Perhaps the knitting elves will be kinder to you!

      Delete
  4. Gracey is not my name....October 20, 2012 at 6:56 PM

    Gosh so sorry how they turned out..I love the color of them

    ReplyDelete

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