Last weekend I was at Yarn Forward and I picked up the Fiber Trends Huggable Hedgehog pattern, and some suitable yarn with which to make said hedgehog. It was a total impulse purchase. An I-must-make-this-right-now kind of purchase. I didn't have my needles with me, so I didn't cast on immediately (and yes, I considered buying new needles so that I could cast on while still in the store, but I resisted) – but as soon as I got home that thing was on my needles before you could say "oh my god that is the cutest pattern ever". I finished him the next day and there he sat in his unfelted state, taunting me with his cuteness, all week.

I do my laundry at the local laundromat, which is not an ideal situation for felting. Fortunately, my friend Amanda invited me to her house to felt in her washing machine. I went over there yesterday afternoon. I had planned to wait until he was completely finished before showing him off. But, well, I just can't. So here he is, blind and noseless and not yet permanently stuffed:

Does anyone know where in Ottawa I can purchase eyes and a nose for him? I tried Michael's at South Keys, but although they have a bear-making section, they did not have any eyes or noses (except googly eyes, which I don't want).

Since I knew I was going to be felting, I finished the second giant slipper, along with a second pair and felted those too:

Pattern: Fiber Trends Felted Clogs
Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool
Colours:  Denim Marl (1 ball – upper) and New Denim (2 balls – sole and cuff)

 Pattern: Fiber Trends Felted Clogs
Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool
Colours:  Grey Mix (1 ball – upper) and Dark Grey Mix (2 balls – sole and cuff)

I highly recommend this pattern. The design is ingenious and the pattern is extremely clear and well written. It makes great use of short rows, but you don't need to know anything about short rows before you start the pattern. You just need to do exactly what it says, line by line, and it all works out.

I did discover one little typo in the Women's Large size. I searched for an errata on line, and couldn't find one, so I thought I'd mention it here in case anyone else searches for it as well. The error is on Row 38. After the ptog, it should read p – (2, 2 / 3, 1) instead of p – (2, 3 / 3, 1).

I haven't yet put any no-skid stuff on the bottom. I had read that you could use Puffy Paint on the bottom, but I wasn't able to find that at Michael's either. Anyone know where I can find it, or what else I could use? 

So that's it for my new FOs. But I do have a couple of almost FOs. I have finished knitting the afghan squares and am now about to start grafting them together:

Now I'm not sure that it's going to be big enough. I had thought that each square was about 12", but it seems they are more like 10", though it's hard to get a really accurate measurement since the edges curl up. Once I've grafted them together, I'll decide if I need to add more squares before I put the border on.

My silk scarf is also almost finished, though I'm not going to show that until it has been completed and blocked. So now I need to start casting on some new things. Oh the possibilities! And to add to the possibilities, I received some goodies in the mail this week.

Recently, Mr. and Mrs. Twisted over at Twisted Knitster had a blog contest. Now, if you haven't visited them yet, I'm warning you that their blog can cause spontaneous drooling. Don't believe me? Check out the Flickr set of their yarn stash. They have a stash that would put many yarn stores to shame! Not only do they both have great taste in yarn, they are extremely generous. They decided to share some of their stash as contest prizes. And even though I didn't win, they decided to send me a "consolation prize" (whoever said stalking doesn't pay off!).

Look at these lovely stitch markers. Don't they make a lovely consolation prize?

Indeed they do, but the box also contained 1100 yards of beautiful purple Yarn Place Angel 100% Merino lace weight:

Oh, but that's not all. There were also 4 skeins of Classic Elite Premiere DK weight Pima Cotton/Tencel. Yummy.

But wait. There's still more! 10. Count 'em. 10 skeins of Manos del Uruguay Cotton Stria in assorted gorgeous colours. This stuff is so soft, so fluffy, and so rich in colour. And it is so getting swatched very soon to see what it wants to become. 

And that, my friends, was the consolation prize!