I think I’ve mentioned before that I joined the Ottawa Valley Weavers’ and Spinners’ Guild this year. I took a spindle workshop there almost a year ago with my neighbour Elizabeth, and joined the guild this summer when I knew I’d have a bit more time to drop in to their weekly socials. It’s been quite fun to be a member of a guild, a word I first learned about through playing Dungeons and Dragons when I was a kid. It has a lovely medieval feel to it!
This past week I took another workshop with the guild. This one was how to make slippers using wet felting. I had taught myself to wet felt this summer, but I knew there were techniques and tips to be learned from the workshop leader Ann. I was right!
Going in to the workshop, I knew I wanted to make slippers with curled-up toes if possible. Why? Because I am occasionally ridiculous, and I knew they would make me laugh. Plus, I did not expect my first fitted garment to be great, so I wanted to approach the project with humour rather than being overly precious about it.
We started by drawing the resist, first tracing a foot (as in the one the slipper goes on, not the one that is 12 inches) and then sketching a shape approximately 50% larger to allow for 1/3 shrinkage. We laid out our loose wool onto the resists with four layers, each perpendicular to the one before it to allow for even shrinkage. Then followed wetting and rolling, and rolling and wetting. Ann unceremoniously dumped extra water on mine a few times, so it’s possible I was being a little conservative with my soapy water.




I was anxious about the embellishments. I’m teaching myself colour theory but progress is slow. Ann had all sorts of fun extras to add, in wool and silk of every possible shade, plus some lovely handspun yarn she had made herself. In the end, I followed my usual default and chose “all the colours” but tried to harmonize them against the indigo wool and some lovely coral multicolour handspun yarn.


Ann had to remind me to leave room for the cutout for the feet, but I did think to wrap the embellishments around the bits of the toes that would be curling up.
They took shape pretty quickly as I moved from rolling on a pool noodle and bubble wrap to just the bubble wrap to targeted rubbing and rolling with just some thin plastic. By the end of the workshop they had fulled enough that they shrunk down to fit my feet, but I wanted to work on them at home a bit more to tighten up the toes and then curl them up.

I was surprised at how easy it was to get the toes to keep the curl. I know wool is quite forgiving, but I wasn’t expecting it to be as easy as wet it, mold it, let it dry and voilà, but that’s exactly what it was. Well, mostly. I also used two tins of tomatoes and a half bag of spaghetti to keep them curled up and to discourage Percy, the Crown Prince of Chaos, from absconding with them while they dried.

Here’s the final product. I’m very happy with how they turned out! I don’t seem too prone to trip over the curled-up elf toes (very seasonally appropriate!) and the pet hair doesn’t stick to them any worse than any other socks. And they are SO warm and comfortable.


Next up, I think I’m ready to try a wet-felted hat. Stand by for that adventure!
These are awesome and fun!
You’re endless creativity never fails to astound me.
These are amazing!!! Love them so much!!!