Felting in a front loader

Oh yes you can!  I saw this adorable pattern on Ravelry Friday afternoon when my headache had subsided enough to be able to mess around on my laptop.  It was for these adorable slippers.  The soles are knit first holding 3 strands of worsted weight yarn together.  I had some Lamb's Pride worsted in a beautiful fuchsia but only 2 skeins so I used some other pink yarn for the third strand.  Then you knit two sides and a strap for each slipper.  Since it is done on size 15 needles it zips right along.  After sewing them up I popped them into a pillow case, tied the top and put them in the washer with a couple of towels.  When you're felting you don't want to rinse with cold before you're finished with the felting process, so it makes it a bit tricky and messy.  Since the whole idea with these newer front loaders is to get as much cleaning done with as little water as possible, one can stop the machine in mid-cycle and fish out the project to check on the progress.  I set the washer going with hot water and a longer cycle first.  After about twenty minutes I could hear the washer start to drain in preparation for a rinse so I stopped it and canceled the cycle and checked on the project.  It was felting!  I took out the straps, which felt fastest, and chose another hot cycle, this one a bit shorter.  Again, when I heard it start to go into the rinse cycle I stopped it and checked the slippers.  In hindsight I should have run them a bit longer because you can still see the stitch definition,  but I was so thrilled that it was working I sent them through their rinse and called it good even though the soles were still a bit long.  I figured I could mold them while drying.   I shaped them and the next day they were dry so I sewed the straps and buttons on.  And then set them out to photograph them and that's when I realized I sewed one strap on differently than the other.  I was going to take it off and try again, but after wearing them for a little while I realized my mistakes and I am just going to have to make another pair so that they are perfect.

My sinus problems hung with me through Saturday so I didn't go to rehearsal.  We have a gig booked for the Saturday after Thanksgiving and that's not so far away so I had better get this problem handled and quickly.  So I was home to watch the Huskies get humiliated on TV again.  Again.  It was terrible.  Frankly I turned it off after the 3rd quarter when it was apparent that they were not going to win or even put up much of a fight.  And again a 2nd string quarterback to boot!!  The Seahawks did well on Sunday so that kind of evens out.  Now if I can win a couple of quarters with the Monday Night Football game I'll be happy.  I came THAT close to winning my fantasy matchup.  I don't think I'm going to be last this week, which is better than nothing.  I'm in such a deep hole from the first few weeks that I'm just going to have to be happy that I'm pulling myself up from the basement.

It was storming most of the weekend so I didn't get finished pictures of the patio - he came on Friday to finally add the last bit of sand.  Here are a couple pictures - one before and one during.  The first picture - the before - is looking north.  The during picture is looking south and the two bushes from the north picture have been removed so one can move from the deck to the patio without having to go around.