KitchenAid... Not just for Bakers Anymore

Well, kind of.  I decided to go ahead with the hair-brained idea last night.

First Step: Choose Your Weapon

I figured the whatchamacallit on the right would get things done without getting little baby booties wrapped around it in the process.

Step 2: Get Together All your "Ingredients"

I started with about 3 cups of super hot water, a squirt of dish soap, and of course the booties.  From here the KitchenAid was turned on the lowest setting and locked down.  It splished, it splashed, water was everywhere.  I decided to check after five minutes: nothing.

I left the KitchenAid alone to do its work and check again after 20 minutes.  Felting was finally occurring, but things looked different than I expected.  It almost seemed that there was too much agitation.  The felted piece was thinner, flatter, and hairier than normal. I decided I would add more water.

You would have thought we had a flood in our kitchen, but then my genius of a husband reminded me that I actually have a splash guard for my KitchenAid... how did I forget?

So after an hour of the KitchenAid working hard (and a TON of shaping on my part), I ended up with these little buggers:

Yes, they still need a good trim and finishing- but they will work.  In a pinch, the KitchenAid came to the rescue once again.  Would I do it again?  Probably not!

In Absence

The least I can do is explain what I have been up to this week. The basement is almost finished. The problem is, I'm learning that "almost finished" can be a very long process.

Also, I am working hard to launch my baby bootie pattern. Since we're now approaching summer, I figure it's a good time for some baby knits. The felted baby booties were originally a knitted item I sold in my Etsy shop. Designing something to make myself and writing a pattern for others to use are completely different things, so this process is also taking a bit of time.

What's keeping you busy these days? Any big projects on your plate?

Parade of Shoes!

Parade of slippers, actually! Today this post is to serve as a link in my Etsy shop. Since the cold weather has started moving in, my fingers have been hard at work making custom slippers. I anticipate that the holiday season will not lessen this trend, and I wanted a place for customers to see slippers I have made in the past. So here they are!

~~~~~ Olive Green~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Aqua Teal~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pumpkin Orange~~~

~~~~~~Dark Purple~~~~~~~~~~~~Tennis Ball Yellow~~~~~~~~~~Mossy Green~~~













~~~~~Golden Harvest~~~~~~~~~~ Granite Gray~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Winter White~~~~













~~~~~~~~Tan~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lilac~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Black~~~~~













~~~~~~~~Yellow~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Coral~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sage Green~~~













~~~~~Heathered Gray~~~~~~~~~~~ Electric Blue~~~~~~~~~~~~ Burgundy Wine~~~

And we can't forget the ever-popular Heathered Oatmeal!

I originally made myself a pair of Heathered Oatmeal Slippers. Right now am thinking my next pair will be either Granite Gray or Golden Harvest. What color is your favorite?

Happy Slipper Day!

The day has finally arrived. Test knitters have given their input, final edits have been made. This weekend I gained designer status on Ravelry, just in time to officially launch my 'French Press Felted Slippers' pattern.

When I first designed this pattern, my only intention was to sell slippers in my Etsy shop. After a couple weeks I started getting emails from other knitters on Etsy asking if I would sell the pattern. At this point, the pattern was basically scribbles and graph paper charts.

Unlike other felted slipper patterns, these are constructed more like a shoe than a sock. Actually, the development of the pattern relied greatly on one of my favorite pairs of ballet flats. It all started by taking some fabric scraps and tracing each part of the shoe. Once I had the fabric pieces identical to the shoe pieces, I enlarged them to allow for felting and started knitting duplicates!

I would love to say that I assembled the shoe, threw it in the wash, and came out with the perfect slipper...but this would be far from the truth. It took much trial and error(and massive note-taking). In fact, if you were to look back at my twitter feed in April, I'm sure you could find one very frustrated knitter rambling about another messed up slipper.

Needless to say, they came together and the pattern is finally available for purchase on Ravelry and in my Etsy shop. Here's what you'll need:

Yarn: about 330 yards of worsted weight feltable yarn(wool)
My favorite kind to use is Paton's Classic Wool. You need just over a 1 (100 g) skein
Needles: size US 15 (10 metric)
Notions: Darning needle
Tapestry Needle
2 Matching Buttons

And of course, the pattern itself- so go buy it! If you have any questions, you can always post something in "Comments" below.