Knitters Are Exceptionally Clever People

OK. That's a pretty obvious statement. But sometimes the obvious just has to be stated. Case in point:

My Friend Cindi & I decided to host a felted slipper contest during our cruise. We thought it would be a good way to meet some of the other 115 cruisers; we thought it would meld nicely with the planned pajama party night; and we were kinda curious about what kinds of things folks would come up with.

Some of our local knit shops and friends donated some awesome yarny goodies as prizes: Babetta's, Knitique, Lorna Miser and Fredrikka Payne from Aurora Yarns, Betsy of Cultured Purl, and VicKnitChik, a fellow cruiser. Let me tell you, those were some NICE prizes. And they took up an entire suitcase! (Which was OK with me, because after the prizes were awarded, I had something to hold all the goodies I acquired on the cruise!)

We awarded prizes in 4 categories: Cruise Theme, Embellished, Knit-In Design, and Cruisers' Choice-- to be voted on by all. Amy Singer and Brenda Dayne were gracious enough to join Cindi and me as judges for the first 3 categories. It was a lot harder than you might think!!!


Some easy eliminations: a couple of entries weren't eligible for voting because they were created by judges. Like this pair, which were mine:


And this pair, by Amy Singer, the Best Knitting Sport in the Entire World. Amy is allergic to wool, but wanted to support our contest. So she found some acrylic yarn in Seattle that would give a felted-wool-like appearance when knitted. Then she nearly wore out her hands knitting like crazy on these faux-felted slippers to have them ready for the contest-- knowing they weren't eligible!! How wonderful is that!!?

Now I want to show just a few of the stellar entries that didn't win. And I gotta tell you, every single entry was a similar work of art. (BTW-- the judging took place one night during a pajama party. We usually dressed in regular public-facing clothes during the cruise!)This is Sharon, our very talented on-board accupunturista with her Alaskan Cruise slippers. Using a variety of techniques, including needlefelting, intarsia, and embellishments, Sharon's slippers represent cruising by day and cruising by night. They feature the aurora borealis, icebergs and glaciers, sea life, high & low tides, and all sorts of wonderful tiny details that you discover only by examining each slipper very closely.

Deborah's beautifully shaded monochromatic slippers each featured a bouquet of intricately felted, embroidered, and beaded flowers -- each one a little masterpiece.

Angela's slippers were orcas, cavorting through Alaskan seas... complete with tails!! And pectoral fins!

And none of these slippers won!!

See? Being a judge is really, really hard!
In a future post, I'll show you the ones that did win.

Hold on to your needles.