Here are some shots of a couple different shoe patterns BEFORE felting. I wanted to somehow capture the magic of felting and will attempt to calm “First Time Felting Blues.” If you’ve never felted before you are shocked and amazed simultaneously at how gargantuan your project seems. DON’T WORRY! It will shrink down to the appropriate size with the first, second, or even third felt attempt. Check out these MaryJane’s I made for my mom. The pattern comes from Funky Knits by Carol Meldrum and Julie Marchington.

Ok, so her feet aren’t 12 inches long, but after a few cycles through the wash they’ll fit a size 8 foot. I usually just throw my felting projects in with my clothes on wash day. This will slow down the felting process because the slippers don’t have the whole washer to themselves and will be less agitated due to crowding. That’s ok with me. It saves water and shrinks at a rate that I can deal with. If only one or two projects are in the washer with a little natural soap and hot water, they will tend to shrink down with only one (maybe two) washes. Natural SHAMPOO/laundry soap + HOT WATER + AGITATION = FELT.

Another hard to believe transformation are these little boots (from feltFORWARD by Maggi Pace).

Although 7 inches doesn’t seem so ridiculous for a child’s foot, these guys shrink down to fit a 2 year old nearly half their original size. The soles are about 2-3 inches longer than the upper shoe itself, and has to be eased in to fit the opening This is because the sole shrinks more lengthwise than widthwise. Here’s a shot of the little boat-like shoes BEFORE felting.

***Stay tuned for the finished shoes, and for an interview with the felting queen herself, MAGGIE PACE!

When my next door neighbor, Miss Molly found out I was making things from Charmed Knits: Projects for Fans of Harry Potter,  it slipped out that she, too, was a witch-in-training.

She confessed of her crush on Harry Potter and I mine on Ron Weasley. She was in Gryffindor, as I had been. Soon after, her mom commissioned me to knit the Gryffindor House Scarf being that Molly was a first year in kindergarten at the local elementary school here in the Redwoods. I had to send it off to Diagon Alley for authentification, but it was eventually delivered by owl of course to “the cottage on Oak Street with the shiny new car” on the harvest full moon. The next day Molly said that something “very strange” had happened lat night. She had received a package from the Ministry of Magic . There were owl feathers and claw marks! I watched her open it with shear delight and caution. No, it wasn’t an invisibility cloak, but she l-o-v-e-d her Gryffindor scarf! Now all she needed was her “badge” and she would be set. As we sat in her kitchen and ate caramel covered pears and drank tea I thought to myself “this is what life’s about…magic, wonderment, and getting to know your next door neighbors.”

I used Cascade 220 Superwash wool yarn.

Harry Potter colors for knitting: