E-Z Felted Slippers

Here are some slippers I am making for my dad for a belated Fathers Day/thank-you-for-the-terra-cotta-warrior gift. I used Nancy Lindberg's pattern for "Felted Scuffs". Note that the first time I made these felted slippers a few years ago, it was as a Fathers Day gift and they turned out GIANT---around size 13 (my dad wears 9). He wore them anyway, to show his love for his, er, slow daughter. You need to make sure of these things: that your water is very hot, that your detergent does NOT say "safe for hand washables" on the label, and that you put your item to be felted item into a zippered pillowcase or some such thing to keep fuzzies from really messing up your washer. It's also helpful to throw some jeans or towels in with it, as agitation and "roughing it up" actually help the process along. I use the timer on my stove and go down to the laundry room and check them every 5-7 minutes to check sizing. If you have an old washer that lets you keep re-setting the initial wash time you can get buy with one fill up of hot water and just keep setting the time back. Since the water's so hot I use tongs to pull the pillowcase out.

This is the "before" pic. They are about 14 inches long for a men's size 9. They should be shrunk to about 10.5 inches long. I made an extra bottom for each and sewed it on to make them nice and comfy. The "after" pic will follow shortly.