Friday, January 28, 2011

Make Do & Mend

You might remember (or not!) my Pixie Slippers that I made almost exactly a year ago. I’ve been pretty much wearing the heck out of them ever since – except perhaps in the hot days of midsummer. I wear them around the house every day and they keep my feet nice and toasty. However they were starting to wear quite badly on the soles:

SlipperSoles_ouch

This is the better one and it’s already been mended and worn nearly out again. The other one needed some extra stitches over the holes but I already had the sole partially stitched on when I remembered to take pictures of the process.

It used up the last of the two balls of vintage Condon’s worsted yarn (that I had already knit double for the body of the slippers) when I crocheted the two new soles:

SlipperSoles_crochet

I used a 4mm crochet hook and a single strand of the yarn, beginning with a ch 25 and working sc around both sides of the ch and increasing in the ends as necessary. Since I didn’t have a pattern, I just worked a row on one sole and a row on the other alternately so they are more-or-less the same. The crochet was pretty tight because I want it to be as durable as possible. It only took an hour or so to finish. Then I spritzed them with water and pinned them out then steam-blocked with the iron for good measure and left them to dry overnight.

Today I used the tails of yarn to stitch the soles onto the slipper bottoms:

SlipperSoles_stitch

I also repaired a thin spot in one of the felt innersoles. And now they are nice and cushy and the life of my slippers should be extended for another year. I hope!

SlipperSoles

Of course now Milady Daughter wants a pair. They are pretty quick to knit the main slippers but the fun part is making the true felt innersoles! Maybe I’ll get her to do that part with me like I did when I made her dad’s pair. Anyhow, I put her request in my ever-extending and never-ending queue. I want to make Rosebud a new sweater first though. And I have to finish the socks for my niece which are nearly at the heel flaps. And we won’t even mention the rag quilt which seems to be stalled for some reason. I must get to it soon because I want my work table back! Plus I can’t justify starting to sew some clothes until I’ve finished that darn quilt. Why is it taking me so long?

Guess it takes as long as it takes.

T-Man is working at home today and we would like to get out for a walk when he’s done. It all depends on how wet we want to get and how hard it’s raining when we decide to head out the door.

2 comments:

Sharon in Surrey said...

That's a pretty good fix but I have something that will never wear out. P-H-E-N-T-E-X! A sole made out of that will never, ever wear out. I can send you several balls that were so unkindly donated to me by GAIL. Just let me know, I'll even pay the postage!

Louisa said...

NOOOOOOO....not Phentex! That stuff makes my teeth hurt it's so squeaky! Not to mention my hands hurting. Thanks for the offer, dear, but no thanks! Though I agree it wears forever. Unless you melt it with an iron - ask me how I know.