Friday Updates

For a short week, it's felt long, so I was very happy to wake up this morning and realize it's my day off. Rainbow and I have plans to spend the day together, but she is still sleeping as I type this, so as soon as I post I'm going to take advantage of the cooler weather this morning and go for a long walk.

I have some updates for you this morning. First, I've made some real progress on my brothers sweater -- which could be a vest at this point!

The pattern calls for knitting the pocket linings next (which makes sense -- there's only the one front piece to juggle that way), then seaming the shoulders and doing the collar/button bands, but I might skip ahead and do the sleeves first so I can do all the finishing at once. Before any of that, though, I have some ends to weave in.

Yesterday I also managed to do about two-thirds of a chart repeat on the socks I am test knitting. This is a pattern that requires my full attention, but I think it will be worth it.

The stitch pattern has twisted stitches and cable crossings on every single row, so it's fairly slow going. I think this might require a good audiobook.

Finally, remember the slipper inserts I made earlier in the month? I wanted to let you know how they worked out -- which, I'm sorry to say, was not very well.

If you enlarge the photo, you might see that these have fuzzed up a bit from wear. The problem isn't in the inserts themselves but rather with the slippers. When I decided to make these, I was using a pair of faux shearling slippers in which I'd mostly worn out the lining under my feet. But soon after, I discovered that I'd also worn away enough of the lining on top of my foot to poke a hole in the leather on top, so those slippers were basically dead. I ordered a new pair to replace them, with a knit upper and faux fur lining, but the issue with the new slippers is that the lining is slippery, so the inserts just will not stay in place under my feet. They're very comfortable for the few seconds they stay where they should be, but very quickly they start to twist around. I ended up needle-felting only one of the two (the one on the right in the photo), and while that didn't do anything to help keep it in place, I will say that the felted insert doesn't stretch as much when in use. I may try wet-felting these to see if it helps any, but I think the slipper is the problem. Oh well!

I hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable last weekend in June!