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!

App Review & Giveaway: Stash 2 Go

The developers for a paid Ravelry app for iPad and iPhone called Stash 2 Go contacted me earlier this year to see if I was interested in writing a review or their app on their blog. While I don't own an iPad or iPhone, I was able to gift a download to a knitting friend who had an iPad and was willing to let me play around with it for the purposes of this review! This is the first time I've ever accessed Ravelry via an app (on my Android phone, I typically use the m.ravelry.com site), and I found most of it to be easy to use. Some of the features weren’t intuitive to me at first, but once I got the hang of the idiosyncracies, it was smooth sailing. Stash 2 Go makes the most of API functions Ravelry has opened up to developers (there are still several areas which have yet to be completed in the Ravelry programming interface, so developers can only implement what is available through www.ravelry.com/api ). Most of the app's functionality allows the user to view the ...

Australian Superfine Merino Yarn Review & Giveaway

After more than ten years of knitting, I can still have new experiences - even with well-covered territory such as merino yarn! This recent merino experience actually took me by surprise: I've spun with it, I've dyed it, I've knit with it, and I've even crocheted with it...I was pretty sure I knew all there was to know about merino! Turns out, there are four different classifications of merino fiber, sorted by micron count range . At the bottom of the spectrum is Strong Merino , which ranges from 26-22.9 microns; above that is Fine Merino , which ranges from 20.1-23 microns; next up is Extra Fine Merino, which ranges from 20-15.6 microns; and at the very top of the heap is Superfine Merino Wool , with a micron range of 18.5-15.6. If you're into numbers and wondering how these four classes stack up against other fibers you may be familiar with, here are a few for comparison's sake: BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester) has a micron range of 24-28, Cashmere goat down ...

A Finished Sweater, With Cat Hair

After losing Tilly and Robin within a year of each other, I sure didn't think I'd be finding cat hair in my knitting any time soon. But the universe had other ideas. Over the winter, a white feral cat adopted us. I'd noticed her when we moved into our apartment last summer - I would see her hiding in the bushes or sunning herself in the grass when she thought no one was looking. I assumed she was someone's cat until I realized how skittish she was around humans, plus she had a tipped ear, which is a universal sign that a feral/stray cat has been spayed. Neighbors confirmed that she was a feral kitty (descended from several generations of feral cats, in fact), and that she has survived on her wits and whatever food various residents put out for her. We had some bitterly cold days over the winter, and I just felt so sorry for this poor kitty! I started offering her treats and slowly gained her trust. She didn't even want to come inside our apartment at first, much le...

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