Saturday, March 6, 2010

Saved by the Stash

What is this monstrosity???

A giant slipper from Noro Kureyon that I will knit then felt.


Can you see that I'm running out of yarn??? Uh-oh!!

Perhaps I should have tried harder to get gauge.

Perhaps I shouldn't have extended the cuff by an inch.


Luckily, I have this purple yarn in my stash that I think would make cute purple toes on both of my slippers. (The Kureyon skeins are slightly different colors.)


I'm thinking of knitting the toe with two strands for durability and because the purple seems a little thinner than the Kureyon.

All of you experienced knitter/felters.....do you think that will work???? Adding in a different yarn? Knitting with two strands of that yarn??

I could always frog this and keep the cuff the right size, so then I could eke out enough yarn for the toe.

Related posts:
Starting this project last fall

Even though my LL Bean slippers are on their last legs, I repaired them so I got another winter out of them. (I sound confident that spring is here, even though we've just had one sunny day in the 50's. (10-15 C))

I'm more confident that I'll have these slippers done for next winter!!

14 comments:

Tina J said...

I did that very thing with the socks I was knitting for the yarn olympics! I had forgotten that the sport wt yarn has less yardage than the sock wt. I had no time to order another skein so my blue socks have brown toes! I like it, and I think I will do the same to a couple more pairs, just for fun!
Tina

Life Looms Large said...

Thanks Tina for the vote of toe confidence!!!

Glad I won't be the only one with toes in contrasting colors!

Sue

LA said...

You gotta love the yarn stash!!! It sure comes in handy!

Julie said...

Yes it will work just make sure that it is 10% wool or it won't felt!

Theresa said...

As long as it's wool with no silk in it or super wash, double it and knit away on your fuzzy feet. I did multi yarns on a few of my pairs when I made them and it worked out just fine. They do look silly before they are felted though, like a pair of socks made to go in clown shoes!
Isn't stash a wonderful thing!

rona said...

Hi Sue,

One word of caution! Different yarns will felt at different rates. I'm pretty sure that the two ply yarn will felt slower, and maybe even slower if it is doubled. You should be able to make up the difference if you felt by hand and apply extra agitation to the toe.

Happy felting!

Rona

Cindie said...

I second that on different yarns may felt at different rates - that was my first thought. Doubling should work just fine. I think the purple toes will be cute!

Acorn to Oak said...

I like the colors. And, I think that's a great idea about doubling the yarn for extra strength and durability. My first thought was the same as on some of the other comments though...that yarns can felt differently. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Can't wait to see them. I bet they'll be cute. :-)

charlotte said...

The only way to find out is to try - but often different yarns felt differently, depending on how hard they were plyed, spun, if the fiber is worsted or combed, and which sheep race it's from.
I've even had som bad experiences with the same yarn, but diferent colors. I made something striped and the stripes shrunk differently...

Benita said...

Ahhh, what I heard called "An opportunity for further creativity." Thank heavens for stashes!!

ladyoftheloom said...

I agree with everyone, typical for me. It will felt, it might felt as a different rate and it will probably be fine.

Another solution, though not the most convenient, would be to frog the sock (sorry) and knit the cuff out of the stash yarn, then you would have enough of the noro for the sock itself.

Alice

Life Looms Large said...

Thanks for your ideas and moral support!! I've been thinking all day that I could make this work, but tonight I started to wonder if I should just buy more Noro.

Or use Noro to do the cuff and then if the felting is uneven it will be hidden under my pant leg.

Then Alice said that exact idea in her comment.

I need to sleep on it, but I don't want to mess up the whole project by taking a silly shortcut.

Hmmmm.....

Sue

Jennifer said...

Don't you just love Noro yarn? I'm working with some now and I'm in love...

Glad to see that you are getting through the power outage well!

Delighted Hands said...

Love the color rich yarn! The rate of shrinkage will be different but the new yarn is onl at the toe so that will be a good thing.