Slippermania 2011!!!

It has been a positive slipper-fest this past month. I am on pair # 5 since February, and still going strong. Clogs and French Presses abound. First, M wore through his first pair of clogs and waited patiently through me finishing a sweater for him. When I started to murmur about other projects him-intended, he stated (gently, but firmly): "All I want you to knit for me are slippers. I don't want anything else until I get new slippers. Please please please PLEASE make me new slippers." He then waggled his toes through the holes in his old slippers' soles.

Right. Duly noted.

The kids helped me pick colors for him: bright green and navy blue. Pair #1.

Then, my school's scholarship auction rolled around. I made one pair of clogs, size men's 10-ish, and one pair of French Press slippers, size women's 8.5-ish. (Sadly, because--as usual--I was up against a deadline, I neglected to photograph these and now feel too weird about asking my colleagues for pictures of their feet.)

I also decided to donate a pair each of custom slippers to the auction. Interestingly, the custom pairs were more the rage and brought in more cha-ching. So, enter pair 4, clogs in Husky purple and gold (just the soles, but finished product to come):

And pair 5: French Presses in beautiful navy blue (in progress):

It's been percolating that I'd like to do a toe-to-toe comparison of how various so-called "workhorse" brands of 100% wool match up when they become French Press Slippers.

During my slipper-felting career I've used: Patons Classic Wool, Cascade 220, Stitch Nation, and Wool of the Andes. I know there are other wools out there that people swear by, like Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted, Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool, and Valley Yarns Northampton.

So...here's the plan:

I will knit at least 5-6 pairs of slippers in these wools and chronicle the experience.

Here's where you come in.

Do you need some slippers?

If so, leave a comment with your shoe size and color preference. Send the link to friends, foes, strangers. First six commenters win. It may take a while, but I'll get there. And having the intentionality of you in my mind will help.