Clog Clarifications
So, on reading some of the comments from yesterday and then re-reading my post from the other night, I realized that some clarification is in order. I am, in fact, quite pleased with how this little project turned out. It really didn't take that long to knit these little guys up - in fact when I said that I was getting about an hour of free time a night, I was being quite literal. I bet I only worked on these clogs a total of maybe eight hours, and that includes the felting business.
While they weren't the mindless blankie-knitting that I seem to crave so much lately, these clogs certainly weren't difficult. I just had to pay attention a wee bit. I find it embarrassing to admit this, but by the time I get to my one hour of free time at night, my mind is so fried from answering a million and one Julie questions all day, along with the details of multi-child household life management and meal planning - well, it doesn't take much to irritate me. Which also explains to some extent why my posts sound so much more irritable than I usually mean for them to.
What else? Oh - I used Cascade 220 yarn. Cascade does felt pretty well, but there are other choices out there that do better. Joe's clogs were knit in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride, and they felted really nicely (albiet, also with a little stitch definition left in the end). As for the extra laundry that got done, it all needed to be done anyway, so it's not like it was more trouble. In fact, most of the washes were in the cold-cold or warm-cold ranges, so I probably could have gotten them felted in fewer washes if I had been willing to run cycles just for the sake of the clogs - say hot-cold ones with a couple of old towels thrown in for friction. And Lisa had a fine suggestion in the comments - felting in the dryer works wonders. I didn't do it in this case because dryer-felting can happen awfully fast and I didn't want these slippers to get *too* small.
What I'm trying to say is - if this is a project that you had previously considered, please don't be dissuaded from it on my account! They are incredibly cute and fun.
Wanna see a few more pictures? Too bad. Here they are.
Julie is very pleased with her clogs. They fit her little feet perfectly, and I think she considers them in the same category of play clothes as her shiny satin ballet slippers. Maybe, just maybe, she will wear them after the new wears off.
We made a little trip to the fabric/craft store today and found some sparkley glitter paint to put on the bottoms. I wanted puff paint, but they only had that in multi-color packages that were much more expensive, and this will do nicely. This picture was taken while it was still wet - it's drying to a more transparent background and looks like it will be ready to wear in the morning. I chose not to go the way of leather soles with these as I did with Joe's for a couple of reasons. Those leather soles are expensive! For a child's item that will last only a season, and may or may not actually get worn, $15 worth of yarn and paint plus whatever the pattern cost me last year is already plenty. The other thing is that those soles are a pain in the ass to sew on. I hated every minute of it when I was doing Joe's, and I do not at all look forward to sewing on the leather bottoms when I make him another pair one of these days. Bleh.
By the way, I have another finished object to report. It seems that finished object come in streaks around here, and there may in fact be yet another very small finished object to report later this week. Are you ready? The Jaywalkers are done.
I'm too lazy to dig back and recall when exactly I started these, but it was some time at the end of the summer - a couple of months ago. I haven't blocked them yet, so they still have the weird bumps at the tops of the toes. I'm wearing them now, and after a day in my shoes the bumps have subsided somewhat. These are comfortable socks - nice and scratchy-warm the way I like winter socks, at least. I have a feeling this yarn is going to wear okay, and I'm already feeling an empty space in my stash after having used up this one skein I bought at Shepherd's Harvest. I think I'm going to have to go over to her site and poke around a bit. I've mentioned it before, but they are Sandy's Palette Pair of Socks yarn. I suppose I should go share the photo with Grumperina too.
Laters!
While they weren't the mindless blankie-knitting that I seem to crave so much lately, these clogs certainly weren't difficult. I just had to pay attention a wee bit. I find it embarrassing to admit this, but by the time I get to my one hour of free time at night, my mind is so fried from answering a million and one Julie questions all day, along with the details of multi-child household life management and meal planning - well, it doesn't take much to irritate me. Which also explains to some extent why my posts sound so much more irritable than I usually mean for them to.
What else? Oh - I used Cascade 220 yarn. Cascade does felt pretty well, but there are other choices out there that do better. Joe's clogs were knit in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride, and they felted really nicely (albiet, also with a little stitch definition left in the end). As for the extra laundry that got done, it all needed to be done anyway, so it's not like it was more trouble. In fact, most of the washes were in the cold-cold or warm-cold ranges, so I probably could have gotten them felted in fewer washes if I had been willing to run cycles just for the sake of the clogs - say hot-cold ones with a couple of old towels thrown in for friction. And Lisa had a fine suggestion in the comments - felting in the dryer works wonders. I didn't do it in this case because dryer-felting can happen awfully fast and I didn't want these slippers to get *too* small.
What I'm trying to say is - if this is a project that you had previously considered, please don't be dissuaded from it on my account! They are incredibly cute and fun.
Wanna see a few more pictures? Too bad. Here they are.
Julie is very pleased with her clogs. They fit her little feet perfectly, and I think she considers them in the same category of play clothes as her shiny satin ballet slippers. Maybe, just maybe, she will wear them after the new wears off.
We made a little trip to the fabric/craft store today and found some sparkley glitter paint to put on the bottoms. I wanted puff paint, but they only had that in multi-color packages that were much more expensive, and this will do nicely. This picture was taken while it was still wet - it's drying to a more transparent background and looks like it will be ready to wear in the morning. I chose not to go the way of leather soles with these as I did with Joe's for a couple of reasons. Those leather soles are expensive! For a child's item that will last only a season, and may or may not actually get worn, $15 worth of yarn and paint plus whatever the pattern cost me last year is already plenty. The other thing is that those soles are a pain in the ass to sew on. I hated every minute of it when I was doing Joe's, and I do not at all look forward to sewing on the leather bottoms when I make him another pair one of these days. Bleh.
By the way, I have another finished object to report. It seems that finished object come in streaks around here, and there may in fact be yet another very small finished object to report later this week. Are you ready? The Jaywalkers are done.
I'm too lazy to dig back and recall when exactly I started these, but it was some time at the end of the summer - a couple of months ago. I haven't blocked them yet, so they still have the weird bumps at the tops of the toes. I'm wearing them now, and after a day in my shoes the bumps have subsided somewhat. These are comfortable socks - nice and scratchy-warm the way I like winter socks, at least. I have a feeling this yarn is going to wear okay, and I'm already feeling an empty space in my stash after having used up this one skein I bought at Shepherd's Harvest. I think I'm going to have to go over to her site and poke around a bit. I've mentioned it before, but they are Sandy's Palette Pair of Socks yarn. I suppose I should go share the photo with Grumperina too.
Laters!
posted by Shelly Kang at 11:52 AM
3 Comments:
Cute foot coverings! I love the painted feet. Did you send the picture to Grumperina? Maybe you'll win some yarn for your blankie! Just what you need, right?
:)
I love the painted foot idea! I just bought that pattern last week to make my little boy some clogs for his cold feet, but wasn't sure how to make them less slippy on our hard wood floors! (He's always falling and hurting himself on the stairs! You'd think by 6-almost-7 he'd have figured stairs out!) I will definately be doing the paint thing!
Oo, recommendations on the painting-the-soles-of-slippers issue please.
What kind of paints are best? (I need lots of details. I'm new to craft stuff outside yarn).
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