My Unproductive Snowy Weekend

Yesterday we had our traditional family Christmas cookie making session at our house.  It usually includes both of our daughters and our grandkids.  Yesterday our middle grandchild Sam had a basketball tournament all day so we just had one daughter and four grandchildren.  These kids didn't want to stick to the normal cookies.  Every one of our grandchildren think outside the box.  Previous to grandchildren with opinions, my daughters and I would make all the family favorites.  We had a great system and in no time we had many varieties of cookies.

This year we had varieties but very few that anyone will eat.  I take that back.  We did get a batch of soda cracker toffee and forty eight peanut butter temptations.  I had made cutout cookies the day before so we could frost them, but that didn't happen.  The rest of the cookies were the cast of Hamilton the musical, a gingerbread warrior and a variety of gingerbread men and gingerbread women.  It looks like I will be baking alone next week.  The good thing is that none of us need more sweets and calories so whatever gets done will be fine.

I can't identify but the five sugar cookie characters are the cast of "Hamilton", man bun and all.

A warrior with his spear and shield.

During the day my daughter felt chilly.  I was sweating bullets and was about ready to strip to my bra but that wouldn't have been appropriate.  We had the pellet stove going full blast, and I also gave her the slippers I recently made.  They were cozy, warm and she liked them for a while.  http://auntekristy.blogspot.com/2016/09/better-dorm-boots-deluxe-free-knitting.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FScDwg+%28Kriskrafter%29&utm_content=Yahoo+Search+Results

Then she discovered a bump in the heel.  These slippers are made on two knitting needles.  They have to be sewn up with a seam on the bottom.  Apparently the knot I made on the bottom was uncomfortable.  My husband can't stand his socks bunched either.  I call both of them the Princess and the Pea.  I can walk around all day with a stone in my shoe, and it doesn't bother me at all.

As a result of this, I decided I needed to make some insoles to put inside the slippers.  It would serve a couple purposes.  It would cushion the sole so the knot couldn't be felt, and it would add stability.  The bottom wouldn't wear out as easy either.  After a little brain storming, I decided to cut some insoles out of an old wool sweater.  In the past 100% wool sweaters could be purchased at thrift stores for almost nothing.  Not anymore.  With the popularity of woolen mittens and other felted items, it's hard to find them.

Mittens made with a felted gray sweater and fleece lining.

  I happened on one the other day not knowing exactly what I would use it for.  I'm glad I bought it.

I took the sweater apart.  When you find a sweater to take apart just make sure the seams are stitched and not surged together.  If they are surged it means that the seam is stitched and cut like fabric.  When you try to unravel it, all you get is short pieces of yarn because it has been cut.  The sleeves were a solid color so I was able to unravel them easily.  The main part of the sweater had a pattern so that is what I used for the insoles.

The sleeves could be unraveled without a problem.

I traced an insole pattern larger than what I needed.

I used a double layer of sweater fabric and pinned it together with safety pins. The sleeve yarn I wound into balls.  If you have been reading this blog for a while, you may remember this post.  It was about making your own dryer balls.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/02/wool-dryer-balls.html  

I prepared everything and tossed them into the washer in hot water.  This process shrinks the wool into a matted fabric.  It is called felting.  I misjudged the size of the insole.  Wool yarn shrinks more than I thought.  If or when I try again, I will make it much larger.  The process worked well, but it's a lot of work to go through for a little stinking knot. Another option for the slipper would be to slip a flip flop sole into the slipper or cover the flip flop sole with the felted insole.  I will figure something out.

As far as the dryer balls, they are burgundy.  I don't think the color will bleed onto the clothes but I will not use them on whites for a while just in case.   If I had a cat, they would make a perfect cat toy.

So all and all I was very busy all weekend and didn't really accomplish much.  Everything came up a little short for the effort involved.  Ah well, as my husband often says, sometimes you get the bear and other times the bear gets you.