Tag Archives: knitting

Background info

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I grew up in a family where people made things.  They recycled things before it became fashionable.  My parents and grandparents lived through the Depression in the 1930’s.  They had a vegetable garden and canned those veggies for the winter.  We had quilts made from scraps of fabric used for our clothes.  Braided rugs made from old wool coats, suits and skirts.  I have two of those braided rugs in my home today.  When I look at them, I see pieces of skirts and dresses I used to wear, suit jacket scraps from my aunt handmade clothing, my sister’s old skirts.  Fond memories.

We also had redesigned blouses, skirts, and dresses made from out of style clothing.  Our clothes were custom-made and the first time I went to a store and tried on a dress that didn’t fit, I was shocked.  Store-bought clothes could be altered but never the way a custom garment fits.

Oversized mohair sweaters were the BIG thing when I was in junior high.  My grandmother FORBID us to buy one.  But my aunt bought one each for my sister and me.  We weren’t allowed to wear them around my grandmother for the longest time but eventually she found out.

My grandmother taught me to knit and sew.  My aunt introduced us to be paint, construction paper and felt.  My mom helped us with papier-mache and rubber stamps and provided a place to be creative.  We made spatter paint and stencil cards with felt and sequin embellishments.  So cool to a kid.

So my interest in all arts, crafts and handiwork came from those people as well as my home economics and art teachers.  I have friends who got me involved in cross stitch, ceramics, jewelry making, paper crafting.

We’re having a dinner party tomorrow night.  Last night I cleaned off the island in my kitchen, set the table and made wine glass name tags.  I’ll post a picture of those tomorrow.

I knit a few rows on the slippers and have four more rows before the decrease rows and then I will have one finished.  I don’t know if I’ll get the other finished by tomorrow or not.  They are a belated birthday present for one of my guest/friends.  I could give her one of the other pairs I have in my stash but I picked these colors just for her.  Again, pictures tomorrow.

The slipper story

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I love the green slippers.  I forgot how nice and comfortable they could be.  This is what I’ve been wearing on my feet since I tossed my leather moccasin-type slippers last year when the soles had more holes than leather.

Imitation-crocodile-faux-sheep-fleece footwear

They allow for NO air circulation and the faux sheep fleece is very hot.  No air circulation + hot = S and S feet  (sweaty and stinky)

Am I tossing the imitation-crocodile-faux-sheep-fleece footwear?  No.  I still need something quick to slip on when I have to run outside or go to the garage and it’s cold and wet…but only for a few minutes.  Anything longer and I’ll put on real shoes.

Green slippers Nov 2010

My grandmother and aunt used to have a stash of these slippers (only their’s were knitted flat) and we would get a new pair whenever the previous ones were beyond repair.  They used scraps of fabric for the soles to make them last longer.  Without soles, they would have holes in them within a few weeks.

At a rummage sale a long, long, long time ago my mother found a handknit purple dress with bright pink, grey and white stripes along the cuffs, neckline and hem.  I seriously doubt the dress had ever been worn.  Ugly doesn’t come close to describing it.  My grandmother ripped the dress apart, soaked the yarn to remove the kinks and wound the yarn into balls.   There was more purple than any of the other colors and enough to make at least two sweaters but no one in my family wanted any garment out of those colors.   So she made these slippers.  Using two strands of yarn held together, she knit purple slippers, purple and pink slippers, purple and white slippers, purple and grey slippers and some were made with all four colors.   Some had big purple pom poms on them.

When Mr. Aitch and I were first married, my aunt, Miss Kay, gave him a pair of these slippers.  He loved them.  When they wore out, I knit him a new pair.  I made these for my children when they were old enough to keep something on their feet.

Now that I found the perfect soles, I should knit at least one pair a month to add to my stash.

See pattern to the right.

Winner…

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…of the October Stitch Markers is: Leah. 

I already voted today and have the rest of the day to do as I please.

It would please me to knit all day but I can’t.  We’re having a friends over on Saturday for dinner and I really need to declutter and clean.  Why have all the spiders and other nasty insects decided to set up housekeeping (or web-keeping) in my house?

Last night I finished the green seamless slippers and sewed the soles on both the green pair and the orange pair.  I even sewed on soles for a pair I made for Mr. Aitch earlier.  I cut out extra soles to have ready for future slippers.

Orange and green slippers

WIP and a not quite FO

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Some people reserve Wednesdays for WIPs (work-in-progress projects) and Fridays for FOs (finished objects).  With me you get a WIP or an FO when I remember to post one or the other or, in this case, both.

I’m not quite finished with the orange seamless slippers I knit  but decided to take a picture of them anyway.  I just need to sew on the soles (black oval shapes) and make pom poms.

Orange seamless slippers

These were originally for me so I decided to cast on another pair using free green yarn and the variegated color to put away for later use or gifting.

Green seamless slippers WIP

 The green is much brighter than this picture shows but since I’m a green person, I love the color.  Mr. Aitch is a blue person.  Anyway, I have two  mistakes in these slippers.   The first mistake I discovered is the unslipped stitch on the back faux seam.  It’s hard to see in the photo but it’s very obvious in person.  A rib of stockinette stitches run up the triangle faux seam.  There’s a big bump there.  The second mistake is that I increased a stitch on the sole.  Not that big of a deal but I know it’s there.  So I decided to put away the orange ones and keep the green ones for me.

Ms Ida mittens are slowly coming along.  The slippers are semi mindless knitting and I needed something like that this weekend while I was trying to declutter and clean my house for a party we’re having this weekend.

Don’t forget to leave a comment about how you feel about your birthday (or birthdays in general) to win the five October Stitch markers.  Deadline is midnight EST tonight.

October Stitch markers