Slipper Clogs Made from Felted Sweaters

Slipper clogs made from felted sweaters...as opposed to the Felted Slipper Clogs I usually make.  I've been making the Fibre Trends Felted Slipper Clogs for quite a few years now and they are always well-received as gifts (we all LOVE them).  My parents each have two pairs and have brought them back to me a few times now so that I could put new bottoms on (from felted sweaters) since they wear them so much that they wear holes in them (yes I do accuse them of being "shufflers" and give them a hard time).  When I was repairing them yet again last month and thinking that perhaps they each needed a new pair, I thought that I should just find a way to make them - the whole slipper - out of felted sweaters, because that would be so much quicker and easier for me than knitting a whole new pair.

So...I thought I would use my Dad's upcoming birthday as a chance to try it out.  I made a pattern of what I thought the top should look like then traced the bottom of one of W's slippers to use as the slipper sole. 

I cut one top for each slipper and two bottoms each (since that is the part they always wear through I wanted to make it double thickness). 

Sewed them altogether then just slightly turned the ankle edge under (to the wrong side) to finish it off.

Then, even though I had already felted the sweaters before cutting, I threw them in the washer for a bit more felting to sort of tighten them up and finish them off. 

They came out quite nicely and I'm pleased with them.  W tried them on so I could be sure they would fit my Dad as well.  It probably only took about an hour total to make them and I think now that I've got it figured out I could make another pair in only half an hour - a big time saver for me compared to when I knit them.  We'll see if they pass the test when my Dad tries them out. If so, I'll have to tell him that now he can go ahead and shuffle to his foot's content since I can make slippers so much more quickly now.;-)

Things That Are Making Me Happy

There are many little things that are making me happy right now.  Today, despite the cold, I am feeling just the slightest bit springish.  It could be because I'm working on the garden plan  but I think it has more to do with the fact that at 3:39 it is still bright out with no sign of darkness yet...I'm  grateful for lengthening days. I'm also very much enjoying the geraniums I brought inside back in October.  The red ones bring such a bright splash of colour to our home and it is such a simple delight to have something blooming inside at this time of year.

Molasses Softies are a treat that have made me happy many times over the years.  I found this recipe when I was a child and it is still a favourite tea time treat - especially nice in the wintertime.  I've put a link to an online recipe, the only thing I've changed is that I don't use corn syrup so I substitute honey or cane syrup.

Being (and continuing to work on being) o r d e r l y  is making me very happy.  I know that more orderliness in our home over this next year will help to make our lives much more enjoyable as we go through some big changes this year and I am getting a surprising (to me) amount of pleasure out of the order we already have in place - such as weekly menu plans.  Truly it will never cease to amaze me how such little changes in our daily round can make such big differences in our enjoyment of our days.

And fortuitous book finds are, as always, making me happy.  Some weeks back I was cleaning out some of my boxes of books that have been packed up these last two and a half years.  I found an old Alexandra Stoddard book ( Living Beautifully Together) and enjoyed re-reading it SO much that I immediately ordered all of her books in our library system.  Books have always had a way of showing up in my life just when I most need the wisdom within them and so it is with Alexandra Stoddard's books - the timing is just right.

Another Trip Round the Sun...

There's something so invigorating about a new year.  A fresh start - so full of promise.  365 days, 52 weeks, 12 months, 4 seasons.  How will it be spent? How do we wish for it to be spent?  Because it will be spent whether we plan it or not.

I've got big plans for this year.  Exciting plans.  One of my dreams has always been to have a market garden - I love to grow good food and I love seeing other people excited about eating fresh food.  When I was a child one of the things I very much loved to do was to set up a little stand on the road by our house and sell flowers or rhubarb - it was great fun to me.  This past summer I was offered the opportunity to use the land where I've been gardening (for myself, for and with the landowner and for the foodbank) the last few years to start a market garden.  Well...it didn't take much arm twisting to convince me.  Ahem.

So there has been planning and dreaming (not to mention organizing our family life for this big change) in the works since summertime and this past week I've started getting down to the details.  The Seed Catalogs!  Oh my.  For a person who, when faced with going to a regular grocery store, desperately wishes that there were only two kinds of toothpaste to choose from these seeds catalogs can get just a little bit overwhelming.  So many choices. 

It has been an interesting week narrowing down the choices and figuring out just exactly what and how much I will grow.  How many bean seeds of each kind does one actually need to get?!?  How many tomatoes would be reasonable (this coming from a person who usually grows around 100 plants just for herself)? How much salad mix of each kind to buy to keep one whole garden section continuously succession planted in baby greens from spring to late autumn?!? 

It has been quite a learning experience working on sorting these things out.  It is important to me to have heirloom varieties of each crop as well because I've found that, over the years I've been growing, old varieties often have the best flavour...and if you're going to grow food, why not have it Grown for the Flavour.  Mmmm, I like that, I think that would make a very appropriate slogan.  Happily I am almost done now, just the corn to get sorted.  And even more happily we enjoyed some delicious baby greens from the greenhouse - these will (we think) be one of our most popular crops for our customers.  I think it may be a very exciting year. ;-)

Happy Solstice and Handmade Gifts

We have a tradition of giving the boys one small handmade gift at Solstice.  This year when I was wondering what I could possibly make for my 16 year old son he sent me a picture of this hat.  It looked simple enough so I googled and found a simple pattern on this blog.  After a quick reminder for myself on how to do a half-double crochet I got to it.

I'm pleased with how it turned out and, better yet, so is he.  It really does do a mama's heart good to see her teen son wearing some handmade goodness.  If you look at that first link you'll see that the hat had a label that said "Love" on it, I barely resisted the temptation to make one up that said "Mama's Love" to torment my son with.

Happy Solstice!

May the return of the light help you find much to be thankful for.

Simple Shawls and Simple Fudge

Today I finished another shawl.  I'm pleased to have these two shawls made and looking forward to gifting them.  The last four years some very special women in my life have had cancer - these two shawls are a celebratory gift to two of these women who have recently finished their treatments. 

I'm hoping they will keep them just a little warmer and cozier this winter and that they will feel wrapped in love and healing thoughts each time they use them.

This last one I finished binding off with just this much to spare!  And, during those last tense moments, when I thought I might run out, I wondered why on earth I hadn't just done one less row to be sure I would have enough yarn to finish.  I've made a mental note to remind myself next time but feel free to remind me because I'm sure to forget (I've done the same thing before).

I did make sure that I used a bigger needle to bind off rather than trusting myself to bind off loosely - it makes the shawl lay so much nicer if it is not bound off too tightly.

I really love this shawl and have one on the go for myself as well (using odds and sods of wool).  It is a simple but pretty shawl (free download Herb Garden shawl on Ravelry) and I especially love the rounded bottom instead of a pointy one.  If you've never used a shawl I highly recommend them - there really is a reason why women have used them for centuries.  They're Just Right for a little added warmth and comfort (and Perfect if you like to sit up and read in bed).

E has been wanting to try fudge for ages and so we decided to make a very simple recipe that I used to make when I was younger.

Not health food for sure but a delicious treat all the same (we used 2 cups of chocolate chips and 1 cup of butterscotch chips).

And since teens don't get the concept of Christmas baking being for Christmas...another batch of brown sugar buttons to replace the one that was scoffed eaten.

Gingerbread House Simplified

Throughout my childhood we had a fun tradition of making a gingerbread village - complete with church with stain glass windows, lights, skating pond, people and several houses.  It was all set up on a large board that covered the entire top of our piano. And, to my candy-loving young self it was Divine!  I loved it.

And so most years I have tried to make sure my boys have had the chance to have their own gingerbread houses.  We've never had a whole village but we have at least had one handmade house and sometimes a couple of them.  This year, while discussing ways to simplify the holidays (with the purpose of freeing up more time to spend doing the things we really value - time with friends, family and nature), we had talked about gingerbread houses and the boys had decided that they liked the plain old candy (a rare treat around here) as much as they did the gingerbread house making and so we had concluded that we wouldn't do gingerbread houses this year. 

Then one evening I was sharing this information with a friend as we talked about how different the holiday season felt compared to when our kids were younger.  After she left I went and talked to E a bit more about it and he decided that it was, after all, important to him to make a house.  So we decided we would simply buy an already cut and baked gingerbread house (instead of spending a few days making the dough, rolling it and cutting out house patterns and then baking)  thus meeting our want for this traditional treat as well as our need for simplifying. 

The next afternoon I quickly put the bought house together with melted sugar and then the boys spent an hour filled with laughter, royal icing, sticky fingers and taste-testing while they decorated their house.  Gingerbread Houses Simplified...leaving more time for a walk in the winter woods with friends - lovely.

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Goodies and Greenery

E and I have been enjoying watching A Victorian Farm and A Victorian Farm Christmas together.  It's fun to know that the way we decorate our home is not unlike the way a Victorian farm family decorated their home for the holidays. 

(we drove by these guys on our way to find a tree, by the time we got the camera all we could get was a bum shot)


We've been collecting greenery on our walks for some time and last weekend we set out to the woods to get our tree.  We came home with red cheeks, a sweet little tree (which, I admit, took some getting used to after two years of massive trees) and assorted other greenery (we are fortunate enough to have yew, ivy and lots of other greenery right on this property including these gorgeous red berries, no holly but oregon grape leaves do in a pinch).

I've had some fun making two simple green decorations outside - one in an old milk can and one in an old cream separator.

The rest of the greenery has been placed throughout our home - I couldn't resist tucking a string of white lights under some old glass insulators on our mantel.

Simple, lovely and all able to be tossed back outside afterwards to compost - my favourite kind of decoration. ;-)

We've been doing a bit of baking, some of our favourites - toffee, brown sugar buttons, seedy crackers - with shortbread, gingerbread men, thimble cookies and nanaimo bars still to go.

Yesterday we made a treat for our favourite canine companion and, since I've been working on planning a new business, E and I talked about a business idea for him - homemade dog biscuits sold at the farm stand.  This batch - carrot, apple, molasses - seemed to go down a treat so it will be a keeper recipe.  Happily we have our own very willing taste tester dog (and actually E tested them out too as they are made with ingredients that non-furry creatures can also enjoy). ;-)

And, I don't usually like to post photos of myself (camera shy and all that) but I thought I would share this one because I wanted to show this great hat.  I wear it all the time because it is so warm (felted wool). I've had so many compliments on it and I love being able to say, "Thank you, I got it at the dump.".  Fun to see the looks that gets.  This summer we were camping on a little island and they have a re-store at their dump, it is a place where people can drop their stuff off and then others can buy it for a small donation.  There is a similar place up near my folks' house (although things are free at that one).  I LOVE the idea of this and wish there were such places at all landfills.  Such a wonderful idea and interesting to me that it is often in island communities where you will see these.  I'd like to be able to say that I usually look much tidier than this but, no...that's me, hair knotted in a bun, stuffed in a hat and off I go. ;-)

Now...to get back to that knitting.