Monday, March 01, 2010

victorious

.

What on earth is it?





The finished slippers in front of the Olympic closing ceremonies on tv!





I'd expected to model them for you this morning, but the heat hasn't been turned up yet, and they are still seriously damp (felt takes a long time to dry....) and cold, so you'll have to settle for seeing them here on this plate (which is keeping their dampness from hurting furniture while they dry).



They are a bit short, but I did that on purpose, as felted slippers I have purchased in the past have stretched out over time.

The proof is in the pudding; I'll report back in a few weeks as to whether these are a success in practice.

So far, so good.



This was a good challenge for me. The knitting wasn't challenging, and the felting wasn't exactly challenging, but persevering in the face of uncertainty was quite challenging. I did not enjoy the process. Many times I thought of just quitting.

In the spirit of the Games, I kept going......... Forging ahead when I wasn't sure what the outcome would be.

"Wasting" materials (making something that doesn't work) is very hard for me to do.

Even when I *know* that the only way to learn how to do it is to practice and have some throwaway results as I go down the Learning Process path....................

It's much easier for me to just put down the needles when I don't already know that what I am doing is going to work, than to forge ahead, knowing that if it doesn't work, I'll be throwing away more materials.

Even though I'll never get from Not Knowing How To Do It to Knowing How without the wasteful process..........................

This project used up the better part of a full ball of yarn, between the sample swatches and the sample slipper.

I realized, talking this over with my dad, that the fact of the matter is that I don't have a problem with *acquiring* materials, and that tossing them into the stash and never using them is a waste, too, and a worse one than knitting something that doesn't work (while learning, in the process, how to make something that *does* work!)....................

I'm hoping I can take that nugget of knowledge forward and use it to keep going in other situations where uncertainty may result in "waste" of materials...........

So interesting, don't you think?, that the Olympics can have good impact on people who have no interest in participation in sports................

.

4 comments:

Kady Cannon said...

"Knitting as a sport".

I like them. I think I need some. Must have pattern . . .

I watched barely any of the olympics this year, and it's the winter games that I enjoy. Now I have to wait another 4 years.

I need orange said...

Thanks!

As to pattern, well, I made them up as I went.

I'll document my process, and maybe that will be useful? Sort of? (I don't even know what size of needles I used -- they're dps and weren't in a case...... I suppose I could take them somewhere where there's a needle gauge.......... :-)

I can tell you just what I did for my 8.5 feet, aside from not knowing what needle size.....

:-)

I think a lot of it can be seen at nbc.com, but that's not the same as sitting around the tv (knitting :-) )

penni said...

They look comfortable. I can't wait to see them dry and on the model.

I need orange said...

I hope they'll be comfortable.

I realized when I was messing with them yesterday that at least one of them has the loose ends of yarn in the toe. Felted clumpy formerly-loose ends. That would bug me, so I'll be snipping 'em out.

I was surprised, late yesterday afternoon, when I stuck my hand in one of the slippers and it came out wet. The outsides were pretty dry to the touch, but up inside the toe -- wet.

One of these days I will model them.

:-)