Felted Clogs

I know, I know.  You keep tuning in to see progress on my colour block sweater. Friday I promised you  progress stories on Monday.  Instead, come Monday,  I told you about my yarn crawling adventures.  Today, yet again, I am opting out of the  progress report  (If you are beginning to think there is  no progress, you might be right) to tell you about my soon-to-be-felted clogs.

 Recently, several of my knitting friends have been struggling with Bev Galeskas famous Fiber Trends pattern

 

trying to knit felted clogs.  When they asked me for help, I had to admit, I hate that pattern.  Well, hate is a strong word but the pattern is definitely not my favourite.  Sure, I love the finished product.  What I dislike  are all the words. 

I realize that paper size and number of sheets of paper are all restrictive issues that designers must address when putting their ideas to print.  But still.  Knitters, I think, need patterns that provide information in an   easy-to-see-at-a-glance, format.  After all, we are doing two things at once. Knitting and reading.  Make it easy, please,  Miss Designer.

Not being of any help to my friends trying to decipher the  roughly 250 lines of instruction

 (come on  - it's slippers,) I decided there was nothing for it but to re-write the pattern.

My knitting time, these last few days has  been taken up with  that project. Instead of line-by-line 'blind-followers' instructions, I have re-written the pattern so that the knitter is told where they can expect to end up and how to knit their way there.  Then I let them go to it.  My version reduces the centre 104 lines of pattern info to 19.  That is something a knitter can read at a glance. 

And as a result, I have a great pair of slippers, ready to be felted.

 

Tomorrow I will share this info with my friends and hopefully the felted clogs will begin to roll off their needles.  While they do that, I will start Colour Block. Promise.

Yarn Crawling

It has been awhile since I have yarn crawled. But Saturday a bunch of like-minded knitting nuts and I took off for our closest Big Smoke.  That would be Barrie.  Perhaps I should call it the Mini Smoke.  It isn't Toronto, but it does have two great yarn stores.

First up. we hit what used to be called Knit &Quilt but is now called True North Yarn Co.  What a great store!  Easy to find  - just a couple minutes off Hwy 400 and boy is it Big!  Bright! Clean! and Spacious!   And - there is a  discount room which  literally snatched the self-control right out of the needles  of some of my fellow crawlers.   With my stash already containing several bags of sweater quantities, I restrained myself nicely.

But there was no restraint when I walked in the door and saw Bolivia.

 

A gorgeous, multi-fibre yarn from Barcelona.  Smart marketers those True North people!  Strategically placed, right inside the door was a skein knit up into a simple scarf. The tag outlined the pattern; 10mm needles.  Cast on 18 sts.  Knit.  I can do that.  Purchase #1.  And lucky for me, needles were on sale.  The 10mm needle the scarf requires cost me just $4. 

Next the  baby yarn caught my eye.  My entire stash of baby knits have been distributed over the last few months - a baby boom in Thornbury, it seems.  Long winters, you know.   Time to stock up on baby knits.  Wicked, from King Cole Yarns,

a bright, happy, laundry-friendly acrylic was purchase #2.  It will be  one of Cabin Fever's Top Down Baby Cardis, very shortly. 

The group was starting to fade, so off we went to be watered and fed before stopping at Eliza's Buttons & Yarns.  Eliza's is Barrie's newer yarn store.  What a delight.  True to it's name the first thing inside the door is  a cabinet filled with buttons.  If you ever need that 'certain' button to finish you knitted garments, Eliza's   would be the place to find it.  And of course there is  yarn too. Lots of it. On display was a great tam and curly scarf knit from Liberty Wool.  My itching fingers said -   'I want to knit that.  In exactly that colour.'  But figuring I already had enough hats, I settled on only  one  ball for the scarf.

 Big mistake.    I wonder if Eliza ships.

Even the tough, snowy, winter drive home could  not dampen our enthusiasm.  It was a great day.  Definitely put the city on your radar if you want a great yarn-crawl day. 

 

Ready, Set ...

Knitting has been on the back seat of my life since mid- December.  Back seats can be  a mojo killer.  But, the last few days, I feel something.  The mojo is coming back.  It is starting to percolate.  That little knitting urge, currently buried  under 'life'  is  , like the flowers in spring, starting to assert itself.

So much so that my yarns are ready and waiting  for my 'colour' block sweater. 

The purple is left over form Vignette.  The greens and orange were gifts- Sandy B's sister Sue again.

While the yarn was a gift, the pattern I am stealing.  At least the concept.  I am going to do a sweater similar to Chris Bylsma's Kaleidoscope Top.  Mine will be a cardigan. Knit in the round from bottom to top.  And probably have no ruffle.

Tonight I will finish up Kitimat mitten #2  -  then  - "Let the mojo return,"

 Check with me on Monday to see progress.  In the meantime, have a great weekend everyone and thanks for reading.