Tuesday, August 31, 2010

FO: French Press Felted Slippers

french-press-slippersFO

Pattern: French Press Felted Slippers by Melynda Bernardi

Yarn: 2 skein Cascade 220 Wool in Lime Green

Needles: US 15 circular needle

Started: August 13, 2010

Finished: August 15, 2010

This project was on and off the needles so fast I didn't have time to do any work-in-progress posts. I started the project out of hopes to have something to wear to the Friday Night Pajama Party at Stitches Midwest. The PJ's you see in the photo are my newly acquired awesome Peace Frog pajamas that I got special just for the occasion. I didn't win a prize for wacky pj's but that's okay;)

While in the market on Friday I also lucked out and found the perfect buttons to go with the slippers, phew!

french-press-slippersFO2

Overall I loved the quickness of the pattern and it was easy to follow. I did however run into a few hiccups that would make me do adjustments for future pairs.

I would go up a size on my next pair. On average I wear a 7.5 - 8 shoe, so I figured going with the 7-8 pattern size would work. Yet, when I started the felting process the wool wasn't reacting like I hoped. The overall fabric was still showing the lines from the rows and the seam was not coming together. I think if I doubled yarn for seaming that would take care of that issue. Ultimately I ended up reinforcing the seam edge for stability.

During the felting I kept putting it in for longer and longer hoping it would fix its self and the lines would go away… but I had to stop because they were becoming way to small.

Also the top flap should have different sizes instead of being one size for all slippers. The finished piece was a bit small or perhaps I have wide feet?

2 comments:

Tricia said...

So cute. What a great Xmas gift they'd make and I just happen to have some Cascade 220...Just wish you didn't have to make two.

KathyR said...

Love the green! It goes so well with your cute PJs!

I made a couple of pair of the slippers for Christmas presents last year. They took ages to felt (maybe my machine is too gentle??) but I didn't have problems with the seams (I can't recall if I used the yarn single or double for seaming) or the rowing. I used Ashford's Tekapo yarn as I knew it had a good reputation for felting. I thought the sides were a little low in the finished slipper (rather dainty, though) and, like you, felt there could have been a little more length in the top flap. A couple more rows would have made a big difference. Overall, though, I loved them and would probably make some more.