Promised Fuzzy Feet Tutorial, Part one!

I know, I know, I promised Fuzzy Feet instructions, but I had to go earn a living darn it – it happens to the best of us.

That said, since nothing I am trying to do today is going right, I just took a break, bit the bullet, and threw said Feet into the machine to felt. I think I may have taken them out a hair too early and they are a little bit big, but I am new to this felting thing, and I got nervous. They are on my feet as we speak, drying out. They have a lovely wet sheepy smell to them 🙂 And now I want to go make many more pair. My mother’s feet are a half size larger than mine – maybe these need to be hers….. she just made me return her birthday gift because it was “too nice” and she would never wear it…sigh… she is 84, I really wish she would stop saving nice things for later, but what can you do. She asked me to return the cut velvet shawl I bought her and buy her a few nice cotton shirts instead!

So – here is the beginning of the photo tutorial

First photo – knitting the cuff. I am a DPN user, I had 15 stitches on each of two needles, 14 on the third, for 44 stitches. I made the cuff longer than the pattern called for, because I just felt like it. Felt, get it? Okay, I’ll stop.

Photo Two – the monster heel flap. I put all 22 heel flap stitches on one DPN so I don’t get confused, but that’s just me. It looks ridiculously out of scale, but it is still right, so just keep going.

Photo Three – Short Rowing the Heel. Short rows are pretty easy once you get the first two laid in, because the knitting is going to tell you where to stop. See the obvious gap where my index finger is pointing? There are the stitches before and after the gap mentioned in the pattern that I am going to knit together. If you pay attention to those little gaps, you can stop counting, which is a good thing, as I always forget to count.

Photo Four, which I remembered to center, picking up along the heel flap. Okay, this photo isn’t the clearest, but it isn’t easy to pick up with one hand a shoot a camera with the other. Every row that you started with a Slip 1 will leave you with a larger than normal end stitch (there should be 12 if you did 24 rows on the heel flap). Just scootch the point of your needle in that stitch, catch the working yarn, pull it through, and put it on your needle. Easier than it sounds, I promise.

NOTE – the pattern said topick up 12, but that left too big a gap on either side for my taste, felting be darned, so I did 14. I know others (ehem, Crazy Aunt Purl) have picked up more than 12-14. DON”T SWEAT IT – it will all felt out. Patterns are an inspiration and a guideline, not the holy bible, you won’t go to hell for changing things.

Okay, I am going to post this now to make sure it all works out – more to come, probably tonight.

Happy felting, mine are almost dry!

MBT