Fiber Trends Clogs complete

Wool used: Elann Peruvian Collection Highland Wool, 3 strands -- pattern calls for 2 strands, but recommendations were 3 - for a total of 6 skeins
Pattern: Fiber Trends Felted Clogs
(I knitted the orange example in the pattern).
Felting time in washing machine, in zippered pillow case: 1 hour
Total cost: $14-15USD + time (several movies on a weekend)
Finish on bottom (not shown): leather cut to shape and glued on. (These slippers will make for massive slippage if you don't do something to prevent it.)

Pre felting:

Post Felting:
Completed with "bumper" row joining the two soles

Back of clogs (raised heel option)

What would I do different? The "bumper" section, an extra row or two added when the inner and outer soles are joined, is difficult to felt evenly. Next pair, I'll do a 3-needle bind off and knit a 3-4 stitch i-cord in the bind off to create a bumper. As it will be even all the way around, it is likely to felt more evenly.

15 August 2006 Update: When I made these clogs I glued leather soles to the bottom. I thought they were expensve (the leather cost $7.USD). Today I saw the Fiber Trends soles for $16.99 USD, and now I realize that purchasing a hunk of leather and cutting it to the size of the sole is very economical. And, slippage is prevented indeed!

Habu Textiles - experiment

When in Portland a few weeks ago, I discovered, quite by accident, Knit/Purl. 

It is such cool knitting store. If you are ever in the area, or online, check them out.

While there, I purchased some yarn from a Japanese textile factory. I had hoped to find some of the Habu textiles yarn while visiting Japan - but as life would have it, I found it in Portland!

Darcy Cameron, owner of Knit/Purl, recommended I purchase the [Habu item # A-33, 2/48 merino wool cone, color 40, 100% wool, 2241 yards in 3 oz] and [Habu item # A-21, 1/20 silk stainless B yarn (thread really), color 4, 69% silk, 31% stainless, 281 yards in .5 oz] - knit them on a US #10 needle, then felt it for an interesting light felted material. She said that the silk-wrapped stainless steel thead provides body to the yarn, and holds it shape when pressed. Indeed, it does.

When knitting a swatch, I went with Darcy's recommendation and used a US size 10 needle. I knit in garter stitch pattern (knit every row), randomly adding cast off of 2, 3, and 4 stitches with a cast on of 2,3, and 4 stitches on the next row. The penny is to show you how tiny the thread is...it's hard to see when knitting!

I felted the swatch by hand, and it felted almost instantly. I lost just a little width, but probably more than 1/2 the height. I love the "cobweb" effect. The hand is wonderful. The following is a closeup. The result is really a fine look, with cool organic edges.

This is destined to become the cobweb wrap. Now, to designing it! 

(note: color is not accurate. The yarn is a mossy/grey/green and the silk/steel is a grey color.)

Starting a new knitting group in my town - wanna join?

Although I'm in a remote area of Washington, I'm going to try and find like-minded knitters in the Monroe/Snohomish/Sultan area. If you are interested in a knitting group of folks who really want to improve their craft and share their knowledge with each other, come give us a try. Read about the new Bitch and Bitch Knitting group in Monroe.

Life is always better at your local yarn store, even if it's not local

Today I was able to break away from the insanity of work and have a few moments to myself to learn about Tokyo. And of course, what would be in my search but a local yarn shop. Initially, the Internet offered up a large craft mega-store -- something I presume on the order of a "Michael's" that the states has to offer. Instead, I opted for the dark-horse option and chose the small yarn shop that showed up in my MSN web search.

And, how delightful the find! See "Mother Earth BIS" , the natural-dyeing and gallery cafe run by Naomi Tokuni in Tokyo. Elegant yarn, amazing hand work with sport-weight yarn and small needles, wonderful colors. I don't know if I'll ever knit over a size 4 needle again. Naomi's projects are so beautiful and inspiring. The good news/bad news is that Naomi takes only cash, so I was limited to spending the 5000 yen I had on me.

See more of Naomi and her shop here.

Knitting Re-do, or .25 change in stitch gauge really does matter

Spent 10 hours knitting on the plane on the way to Tokyo. Got here and realized that the sweater I was knitting was going to be 5" too big. On me, great, on the sweater's recipient, not. So, rip-it, rip-it -- and I start all over again.

20 May 2006 - Carol's orange sweater update:

As of last night I completed the sweater front and back, almost ready to join the shoulder seams. Carol had requested a "plain orange sweater".  To avoid going crazy, I added a seed stitch border that took place just above the underarms. Last night when I had her try it on, she said, "I don't like the border." Damn. Rip, rip, rip. It is now back to a tube awaiting the separation between front and back. But, this project has been a continuous un-do/re-do/un-do/re-do project. I need to set it aside and wait for cooler weather.

Moral of the story: if the recipient of the gift wants it plain, just buy a plain sweater at LL Bean and have them gift wrap it.