Gloria Kullmann

Gloria Kullmann is Mari’s sister and lives in Wisconsin. She began knitting scarves three years ago, and soon found herself making them as gifts. One of her three children encouraged the family to make Christmas gifts for each other and that set the stage for knitting. Gloria got the idea from Mari to make felted slippers, so she purchased the pattern, the wool, the needles, etc and began knitting. This pattern takes a great deal of concentration. No talking with husband or anyone else, even TV is a distraction. Listening to music is calming and OK.

The yarn must be 100% wool to felt properly.  For a medium size pair (8.5 - 9), the slippers are knit to about 14 inches in length and are reduced in size to about 10.5 to 11 inches in length after the felting process.  To proceed with felting, the slippers are placed in a zippered pillow case and placed in the washing machine with a low water level, heavy duty cycle setting, and washed with a small amount of mild detergent in very hot water.  An old pair of jeans should be added to the wash water, but not placed in the pillow case, to provide for better agitation.  The slippers must not go through the Spin cycle.  It takes from 10 to 20 minutes to complete the felting process, depending on the thickness of the wool and how much reduction is desired.  After the slippers have been properly felted, rinsed, and squeezed, they are wrapped in towels to release more water.  The slippers are removed from the towel and stuffed with small grocery store plastic bags to shape them while they are damp. The bags are crushed and stuffed inside the slippers. Eight to ten bags are used for stuffing if the bags are small.  The pair is air dried for 2 to 3 days depending upon the thickness of the slipper.  Bags are removed after the first day of drying to allow for better air flow and to speed up the drying time.

This is a very time-consuming project but well worth it. Gloria has the time because she is retired from her job as administrative assistant in a mental health clinic.