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One way you know your knitted gift was appreciated is when they wear it. They wear it a LOT. They wear holes right through it because they wear it a LOT. They were only worn indoors, but everyday indoors does add up to a lot of wear. She nicely asked if they could be repaired.
If the item (slippers, for example) was knit and then felted, repairs pose a bit of a puzzle. You can’t knit a patch in the hole because the fiber is different after felting. What to do? What to do?
Worse case scenario: find the yarn and make another pair. Patton Classic Wool is inexpensive yarn suited for felted knitting projects and the original colors are still available. Do-able… but…
I have a needle felting kit and some roving in a similar color range to the toe area of the slippers. Could I wet-felt the roving, needle-felt the original wool yarn to it… and then needle-felt all together as a patch?
Yes, I could. Yes, I did. I felt it all betterer and now I am so full of myself! <g> You can see the repairs if you look closely enough. The holes were at the big toes, each approximately the size of a quarter or so. The feel inside the slippers is good with no big welt or clot to disturb when walking in them. Yes, I checked.
I made several pairs of felted slippers as gifts this past Christmas. One recipient (coughcoughJeff) was so enthralled with them that they were worn not only in the house as shoes, but OUTSIDE in the winter in the snow (quote: “they are practically waterproof!”).
No surprise that his pair sprouted holes. He deserves to keep his holes for a bit, I think.
Right after this successful experiment, I ran across a recommendation for a felting enabler supplier with seriously cheap great felting fiber and tool supplies.
I will get you for that, Suzan B!
A co-worker used the term ‘dirt nap’ and after a beat or two, I got it.
Not ready for a dirt nap, yet… Unless it is above ground and doesn’t involve clergy, any dirt napping I may do would be the exhaustion kind that follows hours of manual labor in the yard. My body and clothes stained with sweat and mud streaks, I could see me sitting down to rest (just for a moment!) and my eyes drifting closed. Within a scant breath of time I would be dozing, impervious to rocks digging into my back, or grass and weeds tickling my skin… In that limbo time that stretches and collapses both seconds and hours, I bet I’d be smiling.
This restful, bucolic moment would be interrupted by a puppy lick and a wagging tail. If I am outside, I must be there to watch them play, right?
For they are cherished and loved in return.
Thank you for the flowers, dearest of daughters.
Thank you for the cheer embodied in a coffee mug, dear sister mine.
Thank you for you, DH, now and always, yesss.
This has been a banner birthday with well-wishes from those near and far. It was worth hanging out for 58 years to collect them all.
🙂
While I am not a chocoholic, I do appreciate Snickers and Heath bars and things of that ilk from time to time. Seasonal addictions for candy corn at Halloween don’t tempt me away from my carb slut focus. But when Easter rolls around…
I am totally all about the jelly beans. My current favorites are the Starburst jelly beans, but I love the original Brach ones, too… pure sugar with a touch of flavoring, crunching the coating and getting to the business end—the jelly part. Now, why I never really got into the gummy bear craze, I cannot say. Maybe it is the missing crisp sugar candy coating. I like contrasts, you see. Or not.
In my attempts at being a ‘good example for the children’ I have hidden camouflaged my addiction by focusing on the other celebration aspects of the holiday, namely, the Easter Egg Tree, and non-candy treats in the Easter Basket(s). (Don’t have a cow, mom, the religious aspect, the music, and the Christian faith all come before this part.)
As you may have noticed, my coping skill du jour is knitting. A *lot* of knitting. So the basket for our grandkids this year included just these and nothing else. What you saw above was Liam’s view. This was mine.
And this was Docious’s :
p.s. All credit for Eastery knitting patterns and ideas go to CCR who originally posted her versions of bunnies, birds, and eggs last month.
After days and days of unrelenting rain, driving winds, flooded roads, and endlessly dreary landscapes…
SUN!!!!
Our new best friend Dave continued to work on the brick laying through all but the worst of the torrential downpours. There is progress to report.
I am *in* the driveway!
I cannot convey the horrid spread of time that was Monday and Tuesday this week. Sheets of rain obscured potholes in roadways, buried the ground level below many-many inches of water, and swirled over sewer openings too full to alleviate roadway flooding.
Adding insult to injury, work was also endless—stretching time like a rubber band, making one day last more like three. In fact, they were more like days in February than days in March…
This afternoon the sun returned. I even drove home in sunlight and blue skies. Being able to actually PARK in my own driveway for the first time in over 18 months was WUNderful!
Life has many of these mini-victories and joys. Embrace them! It helps reduce the suckage parts.
KaliDo 