So I seem to be all about the quick projects lately. My attention span is short, what can I say? I think it’s spring, and the feeling of infinite possibility that you get when you feel the sun on your face and an actual breeze in your hair (as opposed to a freezing arctic blast.) I want to KNIT ALL THE THINGS and then organize my leftovers. Odd, that, since (as my mom will tell you) I rarely feel the need to organize anything. But recently I wound up all my leftovers by hand into pretty little balls, and got a basket and giant mason jar to organize them. (and, incidentally, cruelly tricked my boyfriend into thinking that the jar was full of candy. Sorry Greg.) That is so terribly unlike me. I have been making an effort in my life to be more put together, and it actually appears to be working? I tidy my house more, I’ve started doing HAIRSTYLES occasionally (instead of just going with whatever wildness my mop of curls intends to dish out that day) and I’m gradually getting rid of the clothes I have that don’t fit. Seriously.
As I said, I think it’s all the energy I have from not being confined inside all the time. I’m totally a hippie earth-loving lying on the grass and absorbing the sunlight kind of person, and winter is brutal for me. So now that it appears to be over, I’m crafting up a storm and loving it! Case in point: these slippers.
These are crazy-sauce thrummed slippers for my Aunt Kelly (who isn’t my aunt by blood but I’ve adopted her. My mom was sensible enough to become best friends with her before I was born and I love her.) I’ve been wanting to try thrums forever, and since Kelly lives in a drafty (but beautiful) old house here in Massachusetts, and even better, she’s Canadian and I’m pretty sure they invented thrums.. I had to make her some slippers. Also? She’s a knitter and appreciates knitted stuff. I have a glorious red and cream fair isle sweater she made me that is so warm I only wear it in the dead of winter. (it’s somewhere in my Instagram feed actually, if you want to see it) She knit it for me my freshman year in college because it was my first time living in a place as cold as Mass and she was worried that I would be homesick.
She totally loved them, and put them on right away and wiggles her toes around in the glorious squishy merino goodness. Then her cats climbed into the gift bag. It was awesome!! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept, thrums are little bits of spinning fiber that you knit into things for extra insulation and coziness. I started with this:
(and then had to go get more roving because I ran out)
And I pulled strips off the roving to make the thrums.
I have a thing about mason jars. Not sure why.
The slippers were really quick! (for knitting, that is.) I really enjoyed making them, and kindof want a pair of my own now.. I used the Thrumbelina pattern by PDXKnitterati, and it was very clever and enjoyable. She has you incorporate an I-cord edging into the top opening of the slippers and it’s very sneaky and cool! (it took me forever to figure out that that’s what the instructions were having me create. At first I was just extremely perplexed.) I used a leftover skein of Ella Rae Classic Heathers, but I knit it at a much tighter gauge than I did last time so hopefully it won’t pill as much. The sweater I made out of it pills way more than I would expect from a 4-ply yarn. >:(
That’s pretty much it!! I seriously loved making these, and she’s never going to take them off, which delights me to no end ^.^
