A Weekend of Spinning and Washing the Results.

After spinning a whole lot this past weekend, I tried a new method of washing and setting the yarn. Before, I would have used a just a generic baby shampoo, but I had some Soak on hand so I decided to try that.

It was easier on my hands, but I worried that because of that, it wasn’t removing all of the dirt and grease from the fibers. And while, I did have to run it through 2 times ( I suspect my extremely hard well water), it did a nice job of preparing the skeins to be hung, weighted and dried. On their website, they recommend cool water. I’ve always used blistering hot, so that’s what I used; and just soaked the yarn until it was room temperature, I was surprised at how little bubbles it produced (again, the hard water, although they do tout this as a low suds formula), and what the water looked like when I removed the yarn. Yuck! (Another reason I ran it through twice). It is also formulated for machine use, but again, I’ve always washed my yarns, and wools, by hand, so I didn’t try the machine.

I used the unscented, as I’ve found some scents to be too overpowering. Again, I worried that the finished objects would still have that “wet wool” smell, but they didn’t. Have any odor at all. I liked that. I didn’t have to rinse, I liked that also.

Soak isn’t organic or all natural. I didn’t like that, but Soak is environmentally friendly. It is biodegradable and packaged in recyclable bottles which are printed with water-based inks.

Soak comes in 3 size options- Full (425mL), Bullet (130mL) and Mini (6mL).

I have a few other brands to try too, but I definitely will purchase more of this. You can find retail locations on their site, http://www.soakwash.com/Stores.asp. You can also order directly from them online.

Next Pattern:

The felted slipper craze that began last year doesn’t seem like it’s fading away. The Sailor Slippers, often striped knit and felted slippers made with super bulky yarn, because the project of the moment late last year (check out more knit slipper options in this post all about sailor slippers) and they’re still consistently popular with knitters.

Which makes sense because they are fun and fast to knit, and seeing them go from this giant thing to something that actually fits a foot feels a little magical.

I have always loved felting (in fact my first book was about felting knitting) and it’s always fun for me to see people rediscover this technique.

If you’ve knit enough plain slippers to fit all the feet you know, maybe it’s time to stitch up some tabi style slippers instead.

Maymade Knits has designed these cute tabi ballerina slippers, made with bulky yarn and felted. They’re worked flat at first and then in rounds, and are available in 10 EU sizes (the Internet tells me add 31 to your American shoe size to get your EU size). The designer says the slippers are meant to have a close fit and you should choose a size a little smaller than your foot for the ideal fit.

The pattern includes a video tutorial along with the written pattern.

You can grab this pattern on Ravelry. The same designer has her own version of the striped felted slipper as well, called Sarah’s Striped Slippers. These are worked in super bulky yarn and have a contrasting foot and a striped body. These are knit flat and seamed and there are 7 size options available. Check that pattern out here if you’re looking for a more traditional slipper shape. They also look roomier so you can wear them with socks if you like.

[Photo: Maymade Knits]

Next Pattern:

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