Second Shoe Syndrome, or, Ballet Slippers on Steroids

I'm hoping to avoid Second Shoe Syndrome. I'm not sure there is such a thing, but if there's a "How to Avoid Second Sock Sydrome" article on eHow.com, then there must be a thing called Second Shoe Syndrome. OK, I just Googled "Second Shoe Syndrome" and Yarn Harlot comes up second. But I'm not talking about knit shoes here, I'm talking about the hard stuff, leather.



I've crawled out of my January craft doldrums to try out cobbling again. I recently saw Earth and Living's Viking Shoe Tutorial and have been obsessing over it, waiting to find enough time to work on it. So yesterday I dug into my disastrous, post-holiday craft stash and pulled the thickest leather I could find. Luckily I have friends like Sara, who thought I might make something out of the big chunks of leather she had in her stash. Sara said, "I bought it for a wedding, but never did anything with it." I'd like to see what kind of wedding needs lengths of 2.5 mm black leather! The leather is definitely hardcore. I think the color makes my shoe look a bit Thunderdome-ish — different than the hobbit-y, Ren-Faire viking look I was going for — but, good none the less. And who knows how it will look paired with other handmade goodness — say, for example, a red hooded cape or something?





The tutorial was to my liking, lots of pictures and general instructions with a healthy dose of interpretation. I'm not sure why I didn't make some sort of muslin first — well, yes I do — I don't like to make muslins. I should have made some sort of mock up, though, because my shoe turned out a little bit wrong. The way I layed out the flaps that go over the top of the foot put them a little too far back and conflicted with my ankle — my mistake, not the tutorial's. I've modified the lace up and it works as is, but for my second shoe I will make the mods to match Earth and Living's design.

Now about those felted liners that she wears with her shoes — love them! My knitting buddy, Blender, turned me onto this tutorial, which led me to this tutorial and a whole world of wet-felted vessel making. Good grief, there's so much good stuff to make out there. I absolutely need those felt slipper liners, even if it's been bikini weather around here this week. I'd much rather wear a felted slipper than a bikini any day.

I think one way to avoid Second Shoe Syndrome will be to not allow myself to make the felted liners before the second shoe. Now, will I be able to keep my promise to myself? I hope so.

Here are some pics of my Viking shoe in progress.

P.S. Note the linkage below to older Green Kitchen posts. I got the idea from Smitten Kitchen, one of my favorite food blogs. I know blogs are a little difficult to navigate through old content and I thought this would help people to see some my favorite older posts. Can you believe it's been three years already? I hope you enjoy the archives.

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One year ago: Big Bad Wolves (Red Riding Hood painted wooden buttons)
Two years ago: Rainbow's End, New Beginnings (Mason Dixon Knitting's rainbow log cabin baby blanket)
Three years ago: Crochet Flower Scarf (made from Needlebook's tutorial)