Warm Again!

I'm harsh on slippers. I've often said that Mother's Day is 6 months from Christmas because that's as long as my slippers last. I love the Fiber Trends felted clogs, but I wear through them surprisingly quick. Last fall I made their "ballet slippers", but the first pair was huge, and I wore out the second pair a month ago (I cut the soles off and use them as insoles in my boots!). I made a couple pairs of crochet slippers, but I don't like the feel of the crochet, they're too holey, they don't fit well, etc.
Last year I had made a few pairs of "14 minute slippers" (I was sort of ticked recently when I realized that the "ugly slippers" on Lucia's "KnittingFiend" website was a generator for making your own 14 minute slipper pattern and I didn't have to work out all the math myself!). They are warm, however, they seemed too low around my ankles. So when I found Diana Sullivan's lined slipper pattern, I knew I had to give them a try. And the new Singer 155 would be perfect! Suddenly, we can't find the camera, so I had to use the laptop camera, LOL. Any roughness around the toe/grafting is due to my own laziness and late night sewing, LOL. There is one difficulty though--the tension given in the video is different than in the .pdf. I followed the video and the first slipper was too small. I ripped it as I knit a new one, and I used 30 rows, T4 and T2. I did run out of the outer yarn after 3 of the 12 cuff rows, so I just switched to the inner yarn, and made the second one to match. The outer yarn is a jumbo ball of something cheap; the inner yarn is a Bernat, jumbo ball, 20% wool. They are warm and cozy! And, since I have a punchcard, the next pair might need a bit of fancying up!

Speaking of punchcards. The Singer 155 comes with only 5 cards! Dumb. There's only one Fair Isle style card. I want an earflap hat to match my beige flip top mitts, so I did some swatching with the Moda Dea superwash wool. Look at that backside! Ever seen anything neater? What about the front?There were a couple cards that the previous owner punched herself. I tried the first one, wasn't too impressed, maybe it was for a tuck pattern. The second one, although not suitable for the hat, might be interesting for something else. The Singer 155 has a 12 stitch punchcard while the standard gauge has a 24 st card, but you can use them for the 12 st machine, as long as you punch the right columns....if you look at the left most section of the swatch above, you'll see it doesn't represent the card at all. The remedy is simple--turn the card around! In fact, you can actually punch one pattern on the front of the card, and one pattern on the back of the card!! I haven't gotten around to testing it again though. So many things to make, so little time! And now the afternoon sun has returned to my studio, so I really want to be down there, plus, I finally got my sewing machine out again....