Ruthless Knitting Archive

I wanted to show you progress pictures on Frances today, because I think it’s important that I not refrain from picture taking until the sweater is done and then say, “Here it is!” When I do that, it makes it seem as though I produced the sweater with no effort, when in fact I am madly knitting, knitting, knitting on it like Madame Defarge. Unfortunately, all of the pictures I took this morning came out blurry, so you’ll just have to take my word for it: much knitting is taking place on Frances, and she now has two sleeves and a body all the way down to the waist. I think it will take me about a week to finish the remaining bit of the body and weave in ends. I’m thrilled with how she looks so far.

Meanwhile, Zigzag Stitch has an enjoyable post today about her “best ever” handknit, and she asks at the end, “What’s your best ever?” While I agree with her that there are many different criteria with which one can answer this question, by her own criteria, I have a hands-down winner: my felted slippers.

My felted slippers, as you can see, are rather loud. These days, they are also rather ugly, misshapen things, with blue fibers mashed into the sides of the soles from our living room carpet. And they are starting to fall apart, to boot: these slippers have a double-thickness sole, and I’ve worn a hole straight through the outer sole on each slipper and am coming alarmingly close to wearing a hole in the inner sole as well. They are my best ever handknit simply because I wear them every night and every morning and I have done so for the last two years (nearly) since I made them. They have perfectly molded to the shape of my feet, they’re cushy, and they keep my toes warm.

The pattern is the ever-popular Fiber Trends Felt Clogs pattern (link takes you to one of many places where it can be purchased), with the bumper left off. I need to make a new pair soon so that I won’t have to go into mourning when these give out on me. I’m thinking they should be just the same, only less outrageous: blue soles would be nice, to go with the carpet fibers that will quickly get mashed in, and brown tops to keep them a bit more sophisticated than the first pair, yet also better able to disguise the inevitable dirt build-up.

What’s your best ever?