Rhonda's Great Idea

With this cold weather (I never heard of an "arctic vortex" before, but even here in Central Texas, good grief, it's been cold!), we've had mainly orders for "Footnotes," my slipper book.  I guess this weather puts people in the mood to make warm slippers.

Rhonda's been making the No-Sew Slipper (from "Footnotes") and felting it.  Cool idea!  I haven't tried that - yet - but I will!  She is getting a very warm, super-cushioned slipper once it's felted.  She had a problem at first with it getting shorter but staying wide, but she figured out that she could put something in it to stretch it the long way and get a good fit.

Felting is a bit unpredictable.  Remember, when you felt in the washing machine, once the slippers shrink a little bit, check them every couple of minutes!  Wool shrinks faster than you might expect.  I made a pair using a different pattern for my nephew, and I made my poor husband keep trying them on sopping wet. 

Here's what Rhonda said about her husband's brown pair, the first ones she made:

"This is the pair I made by the size mens 10, made from Ragg Wool from Peter Patchis online store, he doesn't have colors listed but if you call he will tell you what he has....very nice people. I usually use Patons Classic wool which felts nice and have used Lambs pride wool with mohair which felted really nice. 

This pair came out 13 inches long and 51/2 inches wide before felting.  After felting they were 11 inches long and 5 inches wide...."

Rhonda also sent me a photo of the Ragg Wool she used - it comes on cones!  I plan to go check out that website for felting wool. 

Rhonda made herself a pair, too - a beautiful green and photographed on her very pretty homemade quilt: