Resumption of normal service?

WHOOOPEEEEEEEEEEEEE I now have broadband! And a box in the living room with twinkly lights so I can take my laptop anywhere in the house or garden (bit hot out there at the mo) to go online!
Now I'm going to attempt a post about last week's felting course which I went on with my friend, Penny (we were the ones knitting together at Greenbelt last year).
This was making Felted Shoes and Hats, at the Old Kennels in Devon. A fantastic venue, set in beautiful countryside. As it was a nice sunny day (and not quite so hot that week as it has been this week!) we were able to sit outside.

I was astounded by the before-and-after-felting slippers they had as an example. I hadn't realised the size diffence was going to be so spectacular:



Taffy, the tutor, had brought along loads of yarn from the US for us to use. It was mainly Brown Sheep Company Lamb's Pride Worsted (which is available from Getknitted now in this country), with a little bit of Malabrigo around too. Plus some delectable Crystal Palace bamboo circular needles. The patterns were from Fibertrends.


And we sat outside in the sunshine and chatted away over the knitting. It was a big improvement on being at work for the day (the course was on a Wednesday!)

Admiring the baby alpacas in the next door field.


And talking to one of the many cats around.

I got to have my first go with a swift, and was totally smitten. A swift is now on my wish-list! I'd brought along two skeins of Debbie Bliss Maya (from my stash, hah!) and bought a skein of Lamb's Pride so I had enough for the slippers. I know I'm on Stashalong, but I decided that skein didn't count, as there's not much point going on a course and not being able to make the item, is there?! Plus I used two stash skeins at the same time!

Back home again I set Monkey on with plumbing in the washing machine:

So I could get the second slipper finished (making slippers for apparently giant sized feet did raise some eyebrows on the train back from Devon!)


Monkey and I then stared mesmerized at the washing machine. Would the slippers felt? Would the washing machine leak all over the floor? Would the rest of my wash be covered in bits of fluff?

The pattern instructions were written for US washing machines, which sound to me like the ones you get in a university hall of residence here - enormous and top-loading so you can lift the lid up. I just had to put the slippers through a complete cycle cos it can't be stopped once it's started a wash cycle!

Getting them out was a little scary. I'd put them in a mesh laundry bag to save the machine from becoming too fluffed. And they'd turned into two balls:


Which fortunately straightened out into a pair of slippers perfectly sized for my feet!
I'm really really pleased with them. I think they'll be very comfy to wear this winter (it's far too hot at the moment!) as they have a double thickness sole). I've never been able to wear this sort of open-at-the-heel slipper before either as my feet are so narrow they don't stay on. But these do cos they were made for my feet!


Fingers crossed blogger will let me post all these pictures. Still to come in future posts:
knitting over the last month (apart from on courses!) and bits of my new house. The tidy bits. I'm trying not to think about the other bits.