Archive for December, 2010

Several people have asked about the pattern for our favorite felted slippers that my mother-in-law, Kit, makes for us.  I’ve done a bit of checking and they are a Fiber Trend Pattern called Felt Clogs.  She uses one pattern for children and another for adults.  Here’s a link to purchase the pattern from Fiber Trends as a downloadable PDF.  If you prefer a hard copy pattern (mailed to you) here’s a link to purchase the Felt Clogs Pattern for Adults and for children.

Kit tells me the pattern is well written and is fast to make.  It does take a lot of counting and concentration and is suitable for an intermediate knitter.  They have a double sole that is comfortable and helps them last.  You do need to use 100% worsted weight wool for the felting to work.  Kit buys her wool from the Wool Cabin in Salt Lake City, which is also where she bought her patterns.

If you’ve never been there and you are in Utah, The Wool Cabin is one of my favorite shops.  They have a great selection of yarns and patterns, but that’s not the only reason I love the Wool Cabin.  The ladies there have been so sweet to our family.  I used to knit there every Wednesday when my son was a new baby.  We would sit around and knit and laugh.  My son was officially dubbed the “Wool Cabin Baby.”

When I was pregnant with my twin girls I started knitting little Debbie Bliss sweaters for them.  I was halfway through the first sweater when the unexpected happened.   I went into early labor and ended up having my girls at 26 weeks.  Unknown to me, Allison, one of the owners of The Wool Cabin, arranged to get the yarn and finish the sweaters for me.  It was the sweetest gift.  If you drop in, be sure to say hi from me.

It’s snowing and cold here and we are very happy to be wearing our cozy slippers.

I will be posting sporadically until after the New Year since we have lots of fun in our plans.  I wish you all the same!

Wow, what a week!  Crazy and wonderful.  This Christmas has been nothing short of magical.

We celebrated with old traditions and one cool new one inspired by the movie Tangled.  Have you seen it?  My girls and I went together and loved it.  The scene we loved the most was the flying lanterns.

Much to our delight, we discovered that Chinese Sky Lanterns are REAL…. and that you can make or buy them.  With only a short time ’til Christmas and no time for a big project, I opted to buy a few from Amazon.

Image via www.skylighter.com

Despite a deep fog swirling around our home on Christmas Eve, we all bundled up and went outside.  I carefully waved the lantern to fill it with air.  Then my husband lit the center fuel disk.  It was dramatic and a little scary as it took flame.  I held the lantern while the flame heated the air inside.  The kids held their breath.  When the lantern began to tug in my hands, I let it go.  As it rose my kids said it looked like the star of Bethlehem.

The lantern was much larger than I expected, the flames much more powerful.  This is not an activity I would recommend in a dry environment or on a windy day.  It also wasn’t for the kids to handle.  But those warnings aside, it was truly magical to see.  I can only imagine sending multiple balloons all at once would make it all the more cool… which I will soon find out… since we will be letting more off at my parent-in-laws’ New Year’s Celebration.