Today seems to be American Thanksgiving, which for those of us on the other side of the world means that
1. Our newsfeed fills up with crazy recipes like sweet-potato-and-marshmallow-casseroles (really, Guardian, even you? What were you thinking?)
2. Tomorrow is Black Friday, which means online sales. Conveniently for NZ, this falls squarely on our Saturday, so there’s no work to get in the way of an online shopathon.
3. I am giving thanks that winter is no more, and summer is on its way!
And with that, here’s some knitting I did MONTHS ago.
These are my first ever socks! Appropriately I used a pattern called Easy Peasy Socks for First Timers, but then used some very fine yarn (because isn’t it beautiful?) and had to try and adapt it. They’re far from perfect but I love them.
These are my second ever socks! They belong to the Fashion Critic. This time I had two 50g balls and not a scrap more, and so I used a toe up pattern (TDTU Vanilla All The Way Baby). The opposite issue this time – I had 8ply yarn and a 4ply pattern! It seemed to be OK.
By then I was pretty sick of knitting but it still wasn’t spring. Also I decided the Fashion Critic should wear slippers (he seems to be too cool for them, or maybe his feet really don’t get cold, I don’t know). So I ordered some wool on Trademe…
We wound it up…
… And I got to work!
It was pretty coarse wool (good for felting) and smelled just a bit sheepy. I used a pattern called Simply Felted Ladies Slippers (don’t tell you-know-who!). Because it uses two strands of 10-ply wool, it crochets up really quickly. If you want to feel like you’ve had a productive evening, try this pattern.
Then the fun bit.
It took three cycles. Initially I just washed them with a pair of jeans, but for cycles 2 and 3 they just went in with the regular wash. I actually think the regular wash did a better job – maybe because there are more clothes in there for friction? Here’s what they looked like after the first wash:
And here’s the final product:
(just have to put buttons on)
My friend has ordered some in purple for her birthday in April, and I’m looking forward to making them again. In the meantime, roll on summer.
sixty six stitches 
Good socks – I’ve only ever made one pair and they got holes pretty quickly which has put me off making more – loads of effort for minimal wear. Probably be okay to just wear with slippers during the winter the rubbing on shoes just from walking and producing holes just isn’t cool!
I haven’t worn mine enough for holes, because you’re right, they’re such a lot of work that they feel like they should be for special occasions. I do love them though.