Tuesday, January 5, 2010

The case of the cursed slippers

Ever had one of those projects that just won't cooperate? Something that fights you at ever turn! Unfortunately these very cute slippers have turned into one of those projects for me.

It's not the pattern (which knit up really easily) but rather the felting that's gone completely off the rails.

I'm totally in tune with the fact that since I tried to cram 3 pairs of these in as last minute Christmas gifts they were probably not going to go smoothly but I really wasn't prepared for just how difficult this was going to become. Perhaps the holiday cramming meant they were doomed from the start?

Let me qualify this by saying I don't have a washer in the house. I usually felt at my mom or my mom-in-laws house. That wasn't an option with these because I couldn't make the trip to either mom's house (both are 45 minutes away) and get all the other holiday stuff done- plus they were supposed to be gifts.

The first attempt at felting these involved a late day at work, thereby missing the last wash at all laundromats near me and driving around with bad directions to the only late night mat around (which btw, I never found). I will admit- once I missed the Christmas deadline, felting these went on the back burner a bit and I didn't try again until this past Sunday.

The second attempt to felt was at the laundromat down the street. One thing you need that's pretty important for felting is hot water- something this place didn't actually have. Cool to lukewarm water.... yes. Hot...no.

Three washes later I ended up with soggy slippers much larger than they were when they went into the wash. Ugh!

Take three at our usual laundromat a short drive from me- they had warmer water than the last place but sadly not hot water. I now have half felted still too large slippers.

Really, a sad pathetic sight wouldn't you say?

The person working at the last mat said none of the other places really have hot water either
so I don't see any way to felt these other than at one of the mom's houses. I'm definitely starting to feel like no matter what I do these slippers just won't turn out well. I think they might be cursed.


  1. Oh no! I get so frustrated when stuff like this happens! Well - to brighten up your day (hopefully!) I left you some love on my blog today! :)


  2. Why not just felt them at home in your sink? Yes, it will take some time and some energy, but just fill the sink with water as hot as you can stand, toss in the slippers, and repeatedly mush them up, rub them together, knead, wiggle, etc. And it's okay to take breaks, letting them continue to soak in the water (and let your hands cool down 'cause water that hot hurts). When you're fairly convinced they've felted (and/or you've given up), run them under cold water, roll them up in a towel to squish out the excess water, unroll them, and then lay them flat to dry for a few days. I've actually had better luck with this method than I have with boiling my wool objects. Agitation must what makes the difference. One of my friends beats her to-be-felted creations with a wooden spoon during the felting process. Me, I just treat them as lumps of clay and pound the heck out of them with my hands.

  3. Thanks Mrs Sweetpeach. Good to know that you've had success with this a non-washing machine method. You don't hear to much about that!


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