A couple of hats, plus some felting results

I still have a few more Christmas knit items to show you.  First, is a hat for my son's mother-in-law ("B"). I made it to go with the scarf I gave her a couple of years ago. I use the Intuitive Hat pattern (rav link). It's a reversible slouchy hat that can be worn slouchy or with a rolled up cuff. With the cuff you have a more traditional type of hat. "B" has a headful of beautiful natural curls so I thought she might like this style of hat. She seemed to be pleased and noticed right away that it (or the yarn) matched her scarf from a couple of years ago.

I also knit a Cashmere ribbed hat
for my husband who has a new jacket this year. It was fun knitting this hat on the sly so it was a surprise for him on Christmas morning. He always insinuates that I knit for everyone else and never for him. You can imagine how happy I was that I could surprise him. He's been wearing it a lot since Christmas. It fits him well. He's a big guy and has a rather large head, so I had to increase the number of stitches so it would fit. I have the details listed on Ravelry if you are interested in how I made an XXL hat. I was pleased with the results. This pattern is my all time favorite hat pattern for men. Very easy and it looks great on.

I took the plunge earlier in the week and felted my son's slippers. I really was a little hesitant doing it in my front loader. The potholder came out fine, but these slippers can be a little tricky to felt even in a regular wringer type washing machine. My front loader is a Whirlpool, Duet Sport and you select different wash cycles, spin cyles and water temp, BUT once you start a cycle the machine locks and you cannot open the door to check on the felting progress. It took 3 washes to felt the slippers to a satisfactory degree. Here's how I did it: I put each slipper in a pillow case tied with a knot. Added 2 bath sized towels and a little detergent. The first wash was a quick wash, hot water and no spin. This didn’t do much felting wise. On the 2nd wash I used a normal wash, medium spin with hot water. The knot came out once I used a spin cycle, so I added a rubber band the next time. With the normal wash it just started to felt, but it wasn't enough so I finished it off with one more quick wash, high speed spin and hot water. Had my son try them on and we stopped. Probably should have put it trough one more cycle as one slipper is a little loose going downstairs. Was afraid it may shrink/felt too much if I did it one more time. I sewed on non-skid soles. Once again I used the black rubberized self liner I bought in walmart. It's the same roll I used for all my other slippers I made previously and I still have more left.  I'm sooo glad they are done. I'm not anxious at all to make another pair. Hopefully these will last a long time :)

That's enough for today. I think I have enough for one more post about Christmas knitting, plus I started a new project ....for my husband. Yes, the guy who thinks I never knit for him. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I sure hope everyone is happy knitting :)




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