Vacation Knitting: Add-A-Bootie Slippers

 It was two days until our vacation when I decided I wanted to work on making a pair of slippers big enough so they would fit my feet.  I had knit them two years ago when I realized that cement slab foundations were very cold in the winter,  BUT the second slipper was too short for my foot.  Something else must have taken priority but now was the time to do a re-make.

The pattern is in Knit One Knit All by Elizabeth Zimmermann.  These are all in garter stitch and so easy.  They are made so you can make a double or even triple sole to make them extra warm and snuggly though I only knit the one sole. Well, a brand new sole so it is the third sole I have knit. After finishing the first slipper’s new sole, I decided to re-do the second one as well.

Here they are: finished!  What I did was to use a larger needle which did the trick.  This photo shows the difference in the nice top knitted with a US 8 and the sole with US 10 needles.  Not so nice looking but they fit so…good enough.

May I say that I absolutely love Schoolhouse Press and their staff.  I had misplaced my Knit One Knit All and Elizabeth’s grandson very kindly helped me out is such a timely fashion.  I will always recommend them for all things knitting.

The yarn was also purchased at Schoolhouse Press:  Québécoise. At least I am pretty sure it is that…or maybe some other Briggs and Little yarn.

Elizabeth Zimmermann Adult Surprise Jacket, Steeked and Ready to Wear!

Years ago I took a class at Country Woolens in Lebanon, New Hampshire.  Debbie, the store owner, taught us how to knit Elizabeth Zimmermann's Adult Surprise Jacket. (You can find the pattern at Schoolhouse Press.) I knitted up a Baby Surprise Jacket on size 8 needles and worsted weight yarn to make a giant "swatch" which I was able to give to a granddaughter as a gift.  That worked up in two evenings and was very successful, so...on with the Adult Surprise Jacket.

There is math involved as you are beginning the jacket.  Once that has been worked out you just knit knit knit!  It is a garter stitch with a few strategic increases then later some decreases.  You end up with a humpy rectangle that you fold up then stitch the shoulders/arms together and that is it depending on what you want for the front closure.

For mine, I decided to put pockets in the fronts and a sturdy zipper closure.  I was very happy with this sweater except for one thing...I had not trusted my math and continued knitting on for a while.  The jacket ended up with 4-5 extra inches on the sleeves.  That meant I had to fold over those inches thereby making a double thickness cuff.  You might have thought that was a good thing, but it was not. At least, not for me.

Extra bulky fold-over cuffs

For quite some time I have been thinking about how I could rectify the problem.  A few months ago I decided the smartest thing was to steek off the cuff and replace it with a ribbed cuff.  This week I did it!

Here is the completed Adult Surprise Jacket post steeking!  I am ever so happy with it.  Of course, I will need to winter somewhere else if I want to wear it...!

Maybe next week I will share the process.  Today I am not up to a longer post. (I have been brushing dead dry skin off my face.  I am grateful it is dead and am hopeful that there will be good new soft healthy skin underneath.  Dear One keeps reminding to stop touching the face.... All this face stuff is taking it out of me.  I look forward to the end of the line on this minor situation.  I am grateful that it has been such a small trial but now I am ready to move on...!)

Using the Table!

The other night I was not sleeping. Again.   Because we have a cement slab instead of a foundation and cellar for our house, when I sit in the living room my feet and legs freeze.  I am pretty sure this will change when the summer heat comes to town, but now, since last fall, I have not wanted to spend much time in the living room.

What to do, what to do?  As I was putting books into the bookcase Knit One, Knit All by Elizabeth Zimmermann came into my hands. I had purchased the book years ago because I love all things Elizabeth Zimmermann.  She was such a knitting mentor to me starting with her book Knitting Without Tears.  She is someone I will be looking up when I cross the veil after wonderful reunions with family and other dear ones.

Anyway, there is a pattern for slippers in Knit One, Knit All that kind of appealed to me.  I decided to order yarn from Schoolhouse Press which was Elizabeth's business which is now run by her daughter Meg Swansen and her grandson Cully.  When the yarn came it was bundled in skeins and needed to be turned into balls or cakes before I could use it for knitting.

The night in question I went to the workroom closet and brought out the Stanwood Yarn Winder and the knitting swift and carried them into the bedroom.  I also collected the yarn and placed that on the table as well.  Because by now it was well after 1:00 AM, I was nice enough to leave the project for daylight.

Here is a picture of the yarn winding project on the beautifully repaired table (yet another reason why I love Dear One!).

These yarn cakes are the result of the yarn winding.  If you did not know about yarn cakes, you can see clearly that yarn cakes will not likely roll around on the floor as balls of yarn do because of their flat bottom and top.  At least, when I wound balls of yarn from skeins they ALWAYS rolled around.  Unless, of course, I put the balls of yarn in a clean plastic milk bottle or other flat-bottomed container and threaded the yarn end up through the top.  That got old.

One cool tool I have around here somewhere, but which I used often in Vermont when I was sitting in my knitting rocker next to a table, was a spindle-like thing on a lazy-Susan type apparatus. It was small and just perfect to place a yarn cake on it and just start knitting.  This spool just unwound the yarn as I was knitting.  Love that thing.  My set-up here is not the same but I am sure when that item shows up I will be able to make it work again!  I just love useful tools!!!