Thursday, December 14, 2006

tears of a clown

This was going to be a short light hearted post. First I'd show Day 1:day1 and tell you how these, my latest knits were sitting on the sofa.
Says a passing son " Ummm, Mom? Are you knitting clown shoes now?"

Then I'd show you Day 2: The cute little Felted Ballerina Slippers (Mary Jane style) for my niece. They are knit with a yarn that felts, is on record as felting, I have seen felted. No matter how you conjugate it, all should proceed as expected. The slippers would be about the length of the scissors, to fit her just right. I'd even sew on cute little buttons that I can't decide between.
bton And that'd be it. Short, amusing. HA.

Hear me sob?
Day 2, the reality:
Observe the scissors.day2 After 6 times through the washer, the slippers have ripped seams on two pillowcases and taken down an old bath mat, along for the agitation. You can see the white specks of deconstructed mat backing in the fuzz. The only thing more agitated is me.

Day 3: After assurances and virtual hand holding (there is no end to felting! it will go smaller still! persevere!) , I get serious. I am the grand torturer of slippers. They are doused with boiling water, plunged into cold water, pummeled in a low water level by old jeans, a towel, a tennis ball, a baseball and some kind of hard dog toy ball that rolled into my line of sight in the basement. All gnashing vigorously in the top loader. A baker's dozen of times through the cycle and they are smaller. I need more shrinkage. Amused, Dave suggests a multi-appliance approach: the microwave? A few minutes in the oven? Steam 'em in the dishwasher? I am not laughing. (maybe a little, its ridiculous).

My last best effort:
method
Out of the agitation 2 cycles later, I plunge them into ice water, then back to the washer for a last cycle.
.day3
The right one fits me, the largest female foot in the family. The left one remains capacious. The niece will be getting a pair that I'll cast on sometime later this week, in a smaller size.
(close with sounds of weeping).

11 comments:

Carole Knits said...

Bummer. But at least you got a very amusing blog post out of the whole mess.

Anonymous said...

Did you try the dryer?

Good luck with the next pair!

Zarzuela said...

You poor thing! What kind of yarn was it?!

Jessica

Carol said...

What a piss-off!

Kris said...

My only suggestion is to try the dryer

Anonymous said...

Ouch.

But it did make for a fun blog tale, and that's worth something, eh?

Happy Chanukah, anyway ..

Tracy Batchelder said...

I've never heard of anyone going to such extremes in felting! You gave it your best shot. Time to call it quits and cast on the next pair. You can always cut the slippers into interesting shapes and use them coasters or something.

Anonymous said...

Oh so sorry. I did that once with a pair of felted clogs. Fortunately, the giftee knew someone with size 15 feet, and regifted. Happy Hanukah anyway.

Anonymous said...

Wow - what an attempt!
In some ways, that is the really cool part about felting, and in some ways that is the really crummy part.
My suggestion is not to felt for a Christmas present. I did it several years ago and had to make three pairs of slippers for my sister and her son. They looked awesome, but it took a while to get there.
Happy Felting.
Holly
Hollyeqq.livejournal.com

Anonymous said...

Now I'm happy I've never felted footwear.

The pressure to fit is just too great.

Very weird that it ceased felting. Maybe it Seized Up. (That is the kind of thing my grandpa would say, rather unenlightening, eh?) xoxo Kay

Anonymous said...

Are you putting them in a zippered pillowcase when you felt them (not mesh)? If not, the lint could be coming from the bathmat. I have made at least 20 pairs of these without any catastrophes...it's got to either be the yarn or the felting method. Good luck next time!