bits and pieces

I've been busy making new (and better fitting:)) slippers in knitfelt. and bingo - this time it worked! I used a different pattern this time, same material, and I even needed less, so that I could replace the "hoof covers" with proper slippers. I felted them once and let them dry and the size looks good, but because they are so small, I cannot try them on myself. those are the two pairs before felting - for giant feet obviously:

 the ruler is a normal 12 inch/30 cm one! the upper slipper is supposed to be a size 42, the lower one size 36. sorry for the bad light, it's always raining outside and the flash has a life of its own:(

this is the larger (my) pair after felting. I had enough to knit a border around the opening for the smaller size, but not enough to do the same for this pair. I've experienced this before - I added a simple crochet edge - and it shrinks differently in the wash! it stays looser, which (with hindsight) makes sense, because normally crochet is denser than knitted stitches - and can't shrink as much. I knew that, it was just hard to estimate how many stitches to work to avoid having the hole too tight! I figured that it's better to have a bigger hole for the feet than one too small:) works fine for me, I just had to add some "anti slippage" goo to avoid accidents on tiles and timber floor!

I also made a pin cushion following a pattern I found in the interweave holiday gifts 2010. the original is done in fine wool, but I wanted to use cotton instead. this is handspun cotton in natural white and natural green. from the top....

.... and from the bottom. I do find it a bit weird that most of the pattern is visible from the bottom - and the fleur-de-lys looks odd the wrong way round! if I ever did that pattern again, I'd start later with the pattern, so that the tip of it is closer to the middle of the upper side...

I added the beads on a whim, because I thought it could do with a bit more colour. I stuffed it with wool, because the natural lanolin is supposed to keep pins from rusting. this one is going to be a gift - I don't think I need another pin cushion, even though it's nice and big with lots of space on it! but it was a fun knit anyway.

no time for diddling about now - I have to get going with that quilt! the main fabric is with birds, but it wasn't all that easy to find fabrics with birds in the right size and colour! I managed to find a few due to the help of quilting friends, but eventually I decided to quit hunting around further. I had some silicon stamps in stash, bought a few fabric paints to go - and started to print my own. the first batch wasn't that great, because I had to figure out how to add the right amount of paint, not too much to make blotches and not too little, to have the motif well covered... eventually I found out that I get the best results if I spread some paint evenly on smooth cardboard (glass or plastic would work, too), dip the stamp lightly into it and stamp - it doesn't leave smudges and gives clear results. you can even make multicolour motives by blending different paints only a little. it's fun to do - and I got rid of the leftover paint by playing mad artist on the last piece of fabric:)  I just have to wait for them to "cure", iron over them - and start quilting. in the meantime I'll cut the rest of the fabrics to shape.

I also finally started on the black shrug made of handspun merino. I found a better pattern than the one I had planned in one of the Barbara Walker pattern collections and did the gauge and calculating yesterday evening. it's only a 4 row repeat, with purled wrongside rows, which makes it easy enough for tv knitting. I won't be able to sew on the quilt all day! off to dig out the cutter and mat now...