I recently had a friend contact me who has health issues and really needs some wooly items to help keep her feet warm and toasty. Jan wanted a pair of 100% wool socks and I also suggested some felted wool slippers as well.
I immediately casted-on for the felted slippers as the pattern I have used countless times over the years from
Fiber Trends. The yarn I picked for these slippers is actually a wool (95%) silk (5%) blend which felts up rather nice and dense called:
Clyde by Louet. It is bulky/chunky weight yarn. I knit this yarn held double and moved right along knitting one slipper with many interruptions in a day.
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| First completed slipper. Once both slippers are completed they will be felted in the washing machine. Felting is done by knitting an item oversized (100% wool or tested yarn to see if it will felt) and then purposely shrinking the wool to the correct size. |
Then to take a break from the slipper pattern I switched right over to the wool socks. I have a healthy allotment of left over yarn--no surprise! I decided to use a little technique that
Elizabeth Zimmermann talks about in her Baby Surprise Jacket. I found yarn that is the same weight for the most part and rolled up small balls of yarn and placed them in a bag. The only rule was not to have matching colors next to each other. With that in minded, I grabbed a small ball of yarn joined by my favorite method the old spit and felt and knit on which means there is no sewing in of any ends!
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| The colors of yarn I decided to work with for Jan's Grab Bag Socks. |
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| The beginning! |
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| First sock completed using Fiber Trends Hellen's Favorite Socks this sock pattern is my "work horse" pattern. I modify it slightly. This pattern gives all the basics one needs to knit socks and you can adjust/design easily to meet your fancy. |
