Tag Archives: slippers

May28

A bit of a dry spell

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The crafty mojo has been in a bit of a slump. I want to sew and crochet and stuff  but haven’t had much ooomph and so there has been minimal activity.

I have this weekend off which means I have the time to make something. This is an item I promised a friend…

It’s a panel of sunshade fabric with two small tension rods for a skylight in her apartment. It gets so hot in the summer that I made this up and hope it works.

I also cut up an old pair of slippers that were from Costco years ago. They were wearing out. I used the pieces as templates for a new pair.

The knit fabric, fleece and grippy fabric were all in stash.

I could have made them a tad smaller but they work!

There was a little bit of knitting this week. I finally used some of the cotton yarn that I dyed with Procion MX dyes.

I ended up with a small towel and two large dishcloths..

I know, it’s bright. This was only my second dyeing attempt. I’ll be interested to see how colourfast it is.

And I completed another task off my To Do list – the seasonal closet clearout. Every spring and fall I pull everything out of my half of the closet and rearrange it, depending on which season we’re going into. Today most of my sweaters went up to the top shelf. There was a reasonable pile of things destined for the thrift store too.

Everything is now hanging neatly back in the closet, ready for summer.

Mr Fixit and I will be going to the gym soon. We just have to wait for the black beans for tonight’s quesadillas to finish cooking.

Have a great week!

Dec29

Sewing day!

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A friend came over today, bringing her sewing machine and supplies with her, and we set ourselves up at my dining room table, she at her machine, me at mine. One of the things that puts me off sewing, I think, is going downstairs to do it. Yes, I have a craft room with everything I need in one place, but I prefer it upstairs where it’s brighter and more comfortable, which is why I usually opt to crochet on the couch.

However I have been partway through a sewing project for months now. I made a table runner from a gorgeous panel of fabric that I bought at work, and I had the eight coordinating placemats cut out and pinned. I just needed to sew them up, turn them right side out, and topstitch them.

The placemats are reversible – heron fabric on one side, cherry blossom on the other. I still have a bit of this fabric leftover so I’ll have to pull it out of the drawer and see if I have enough for napkins. I know there’s none left at the store.

Once I was on a roll, there was no stopping me. Out came the Weekend Sewing book and the pattern tracing paper, and I started on an apron. This fabric was one I spotted as soon as it arrived at the store – so funny – and I just had to get some. I only bought 0.8m (about 31″) and I really could have done with a bit more for the apron, but at the time of purchase I didn’t have any specific plans. In future I’ll know that a metre is an absolute minimum cut.

 

Luckily I had some green fabric that worked for the facing on the waistband and ties.

It was very enjoyable to be sewing again, especially with company. I must do it more often.

I have also completed a second pair of the Slipper Boots, this time in Pewter. Two strands of Red Heart with Love and a 7mm hook work perfectly and I just extended the upper and sole by three rows at the widest parts to make them man-sized. The ones I made for me are in constant use and very cosy.

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Now that Christmas is over, I must get back to swimming, piano, and that one WIP that has a very definite deadline. Happy New Year to all.

 

 

 

Dec26

The aftermath…

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Well hello folks. I hope you have had an enjoyable few days. If you celebrate Christmas, I trust your day was awesome, filled with family fun, good food and warmth.

Christmas Eve was a quiet one, with my commitments including bread-making (so that I had wholewheat and white bread for the Brazil Nut Roast the next day) and pastry making (again for the nut roast). I did a quick search online for rough puff pastry as the commercial frozen pastry has crappy ingredients, and I found this one which turned out brilliantly. Making it a day early and refrigerating overnight probably helped it to be flaky and delicious.

Christmas Eve dinner for the five of us was a very basic nut roast made from almonds, cashews and pecans, plus scalloped potatoes from a recipe from the very wonderful Silver Hills vegetarian guest house recipe book, and salad. I got a bit carried away and made two desserts from the same book – a pear coconut pie and chocolatey pecan squares.

Day 1 – stuffed!

Entertainment involved watching The Nightmare Before Christmas (creepy, Jack Skellington reminds me of the pin men on an old British TV show that gave me nightmares) and Cards Against Humanity, played in front of a real fire for a change.

Christmas Day morning was relaxed as we decided to have dinner rather than lunch as we planned to go to the movies to see Rogue One in the evening. I crocheted most of these slippers that day, which I am very pleased with…

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They have non-slip fabric on the bottom which I bought from work. These took most of a skein of Red Heart With Love in Mallard, two strands held together, and a 7mm hook. The pattern is Slipper Boots by Erika Knight. It is an ingenious design, easy to understand and execute. I think it will be simple to adjust it for bigger feet too and I’m thinking of making another pair for Tai Chi Man’s uncle (he visited last year and absolutely loved and appreciated the slippers I made him).

So the prep for Christmas dinner was pushed back to the afternoon, and that involved assembling the Brazil nut roast (while watching Love Actually for the tenth time on my laptop), parboiling the potatoes for later roasting, cutting up the Brussels sprouts and carrots and broccoli. I roasted the sprouts along with the potatoes, steamed the carrots and broccoli, and made a simple gravy. Plus of course we had hot apple cider as always. Dessert was Bananas Foster without the rum, which basically means simmering them briefly in a sweet caramel sauce. The recipe is in my Betty Goes Vegan book, which is always over the top on sugar, and I cut the maple syrup quite drastically. We had it spooned over plain cashew So Delicious ice cream.

Day 2 – stuffed!

The movie, Rogue One (a Star Wars prequel to Episode 4)  was good, full of loud explosions and storm troopers and rebels of course.

We rounded off the day with hot chocolate and vegan marshmallows.

Tai Chi Man and I didn’t have to work today so it’s been another day of relaxed vegging on the couch, finishing off the slippers, checking out my new Twitter account (I am now on Twitter @nicolaknits) and eating leftovers. The kids are still in bed at 1.30 in the afternoon. We have horizontal snow blowing past the house which doesn’t exactly inspire me to get outside.

I am thankful.

 

Mar31

Sock monkeys!

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The theme for today grew out of darning slippers.

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These slippers. Despite having added sturdy crocheted patches to the bottom of the feet some time ago, or maybe because of it, I had a large hole to deal with. Right along the edge of one of the patches! It was a rough and ready fix, but inspired me to show you my other resident sock monkeys.

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The Walmart sock monkeys, which I have only had for one winter and which aren’t expected to last for another. The cushioning has flattened out and the lining is wearing out, but I don’t want to say goodbye to them yet. They’re warm and have a proper sole which is handy in the kitchen in case of wet spots on the floor.

And then there’s this…
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My knitted sock monkey friend from way back. He has been a bit neglected lately as he has been stuffed in a corner of my craft room.

I saw some awesome photos on Ravelry this week. One crafty crocheter makes baby gifts made up of a blanket plus a sock monkey in the same colours. I loved it so much that I had to ask her whether she had a pattern, and she said that whilst her first monkey was made from this Patons Crochet Striped Funky Monkey pattern, she had adapted it over time to work better for her. I have queued it and will definitely have a go.

Sock Monkeys, Sunshine and Spring – what a wonderful combination for a random Thursday.

 

 

 

 

 

Oct3

Groovy blanket coming along nicely

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The stripey strip has grown. It’s only 30 stitches wide and grows very quickly. I started to attach it to one of the granny strips so that I could be sure of getting the length right. As it turns out, 16 rows seems to fit one granny quite well.

Laid out like this on my living room floor, I’m really liking it.

And what do you think of my impulse buy? Sock monkey slippers! How could I resist 🙂