I realize if this is your first or second time reading the blog I might seem a bit footwear obsessed. But I'm not, really!

I am however, comfort obsessed...maybe because I spend pretty much all day everyday on my feet so good shoes & slippers play major parts in my life.

I'm getting ready to head to Squam Art Workshops in just a few short weeks and I can't wait!  There is a thread on Ravelry which always inspires & panics me in equal measure.  It's titled "Things to make & wear to Squam".  Knowing I'll be surrounded by makers I want to be able to show off a bit. There is probably no where else in the world that your handmade wardrobe will be so appreciated (okay, maybe Rhinebeck) so it's the perfect time to pull out all the handmade stops.


I know Melynda Bernardi will be there teaching her lovely French Press Slippers, something I've had on my 'knit list' probably since they were released, and I figured NOW was the time to finally make them.

They knit up unbelievably fast, mostly in one evening with the seaming the next evening.  
I have to admit here, until this I haven't fulled/felted much of my knitting.  For most of my knitting life I lived in NYC with a laundromat as "my" only washing machine and they kind of frown on messing with the cycles...
So I was a little nervous pre-felting. They were comically huge as you can see in the pic below with my actual feet next to the slippers.

I bravely followed Melynda's written felting directions, well, almost.  I don't have tennis balls laying around (do most people?!) but I did have some plastic measuring cups I figured would serve the same purpose so I threw those in the washer with the slippers.  I checked every 5 minutes as directed and good thing because the change from not at all felted to totally felted happened in one of those 5 minute spaces!

I used my own hand dyed Catskill (2 skeins, with 77g remaining so 3 skeins would make 2 pair) a 4ply Merino and these fab, snap-on vintage buttons.

I am so thrilled with the way they came out!

I can't wait to wear these by the fireplace at Squam!  Although I'm enjoying them quite a lot in my studio on a rainy Monday too...

This project totally made me remember the joys of just knitting from another designer's pattern, not calculating or thinking ahead, just blindly following well written instructions.  I am going to try to knit from a pattern at least once a month from now on to remind me how much I love knitting.

What's next on your "must knit" list?