Mitts, felted slippers, and a sweater: A late winter creativity check

My knitting needles have been rather busy since the start of the year, and I wanted to share some recently completed projects, and also talk about my current works in progress.

Felted slippers for the family

I briefly mentioned it in Nicholas' birthday blog post, but I completed a pair of felted slippers for Nicholas for his birthday in January. Since I had never felted anything (on purpose) before, I opted for a solid version of the incredibly popular Sailor Slippers, a pattern by Annie Germain. With over 8,000 projects on ravelry, there is plenty of information out there that I found helpful, including notes on fit, tension, and tips for neat finishing. They are knit with a bulky weight yarn held double (or a single strand of super bulky) on the largest needles I've used in years (I used a US 10.5) and then seamed before felting. The knitting process itself felt a little strange, because of all of the above, but the pattern was clearly written.

And then, on Nicholas' actual birthday, when the knitting and seaming was complete, I felted them in the washing machine on the "towel" setting, which is hot and high spin, and I added a towel* to the load with the slippers for extra agitation.

After the full wash and spin cycle, I took them out, reshaped them a bit, and had Nicholas try them on wet to make sure the shape and fit were right before allowing them to dry completely. When they are wet, they can be stretched a bit to fit just right.

He loves them and has worn them nearly every day since! For more project details, please see my Ravelry project page.

*For future pairs (and there likely will be future pairs), I will try an old t-shirt instead of a towel, since I found some fibers from the towel made their way into the felted fabric.

The day I finished these, Cooper asked for a pair, as did Finn. So I knit two more pairs, same yarn and needle pairing, but using the Sailor Slippers Junior pattern. Coopers are a solid olive to match Nicholas, and Finn chose from the other colors of the Lion Brand Wool Ease Roving that I had and opted for a colorblock look and those might be my favorite. Both adult and junior patterns come with a coloring page so you can plan out your color scheme, which is helpful for a colorblocked or striped version. For more details, here is a link to Cooper's slippers and Finn's slippers.

Purl Soho Mixed Rib hat for Cooper

In January, I also knit a Purl Soho Mixed rib hat for Cooper. He and I were the only members of the family without a version of this particular hat, so his Christmas gift to me was a skein of Purl Soho Yonder to knit him one. He chose the "Red Oak" color, and it turned out great. This yarn and pattern combination has shown very little wear after more than a year for Nicholas and Finn's versions, so I was happy to knit another one. More details can be found on my ravelry project page.

Align mitts for the boys

And finally, I completed a pair of fingerless gloves for each of the big boys. Finn wore a pair of inexpensive black acrylic mittens around the house every day for months, but he would have to take them off every few minutes to use his hands. Nicholas suggested that I could make him a pair of fingerless mitts, an idea to which I responded, "Yes!" of course. I could not find a kid's pattern for fingerless mitts that had the characteristics I was looking for, so I opted to modify a pattern I've knit at least 12 times now, the Align mitts. It is sadly no longer available as a digital pattern, but I still have a PDF of the (free) pattern from years ago. I grabbed some leftover Paton's Kroy socks in a very dark, "gentry gray," and some US 1 needles, and modified my gauge and stitch counts a bit to fit an almost 4-year-old's hands.

The moment I finished the first mitt, he put it on, held it carefully with his other hand and gazing at it, said, "I love it." He slept with it on that night, and after I finished the second glove, he has slept with them on every night, and truth be told, he wears them nearly every waking hour, as well. I would definitely consider them a well-received project! For more details, see my ravelry project page.

And once Finn's pair was done, I cast on a pair for Cooper, this time in a red, per his request, but also in Paton's Kroy socks. I used the same needles and stitch count, but altered the lengths a bit to fit his larger hands. He was also thrilled with his pair of fingerless mitts, though they haven't seen the laughable amount of wear that Finn's have, as of yet. For details on Cooper's pair, see my ravelry project page.

Once Cooper's mitts were done, I turned my attention away from small accessories towards a few other projects, which brings me to my current works in progress.

Works in progress

My current on the go project is a pair of vanilla socks that will be a gift. I work on them on car rides when I'm a passenger, or during homeschool, or while Arlo naps on me. A few stitches here and there eventually, I have a pair of socks. I'll share more about them after they are gifted, but I am really enjoying the (special!) yarn.

I am still chipping away at a small scarf that I'm knitting with my friend Molly for a mini friend Knit A Long (KAL). We're knitting the Szachmat scarf and working with a yarn she bought in Maine for us (so special)! I have the basketweave texture mostly memorized at this point, so it's enjoyable to pick up and work a few rows on it, here and there, but I'm in no rush to finish it, since we're knitting along together. More details can be found on my Ravelry project page.

And finally, I am nearing completion of my Roads Sweater, a pattern by Ozetta. I am knitting this in Harrisville Designs Highland (coned version) that my parents gave to me for my birthday, and I have love every single thing about this project. I cast on January first, and I should have a completed sweater long before the end of March. The yarn is soft, but rustic, and so nice to knit with. And I cannot wait to block this sweater and see the fabric transform into an even softer, more cohesive fabric. The pattern is well-written and straightforward, with beautiful little details. I am just finishing knitting the body, and then it will be done and I cannot wait to wear this sweater. For more details, see my Ravelry project page.

I don't have any sewing to share this time, but I do have some sewing plans on the horizon. And I'll leave my future knitting plans for a post in the next week, where I talk all about my creative plans for the rest of 2026 (knitting, sewing, and anything else I can think of)!