Just before Christmas, Mom made some “I want slippers” noises. I also wanted some. My sister and niece wanted some. I found a pattern for crocheted slippers in an old Workbasket magazine and adapted it. If you use RedHeart, the yarn cost for a pair of light green slippers like the one shown below is about $1.67.

Mamma and Baby Booties.

Note: Red Heart wears well for afghans, but it doesn’t do well if you walk over concrete. So, these are indoor slippers. Mom wears then as footwarmers in bed.

How to make the $1.67 slippers

Here’s the pattern for a woman’s feet:

Materials:
Roughly 2-3 ounces of Red Heart Worsted weight yarn in a solid color. Scraps of the other color. 1 size G crochet hook.

Gauge: 3 sc=1″.

Directions (Make two):
Start at toe: (Don’t turn while working this.)

• Round 1: Ch 2. Work 8 sc in the first chain.
• Round 2: Work 2 sc in each sc. join with slip stitch. (Optional, mark with safety pin.)
• Round 3: 2sc in next sc, sc in next 1 sc; repeat around. (You increased 4; 12 sc. )
• Round 4: 2 sc in next sc, sc in next 2 sc; repeat around. (16 sc.)
• Round 5: 2 sc in next sc, sc in next 3 sc; repeat around. (20 sc.)
• Round 6: 2 sc in next sc, sc in next 4 sc; repeat around. (24 sc.)
• Round 7: (optional): 2 sc in next sc, sc in next 11 sc; repeat around. (You increased 2; 26 sc.)
• For small slippers stop increasing now. For larger slippers, work a few more rounds increasing 2 each round until you have 28 for medium and 30 for larger.
• Work evenly in rounds until the length reaches the top of the wearers instep– approximately 4 1/2 inches. (The measurement isn’t that important, but you want both slipper to match. )

You are now going to work the heel. There are two options, and you don’t need to decide which you prefer quite yet.
Options for heel.
Easy option 1: Work even in sc rows until the heel is the length you want for your slipper, always working 1 chain to turn. Count the ch1 as an sc. (Approximately 9 1/4″ from toe to end for mine.) Sew heel seam. Finish off ends.

Shaped option 2: Work even in sc rows until the heel is the 1″ shorter than you want for your slipper. (Approximately 8 1/4″ from toe to end for mine.) Now, shape to “cup” the heel as follows:

Count the total number of scs _____. (Example: 26 including the ch 1 for small.)
Center stitches: 8
To find the number of edge stitches subtract 8 from the total number of stitches: _____ Example: 26-8 = 18 sc.)
then divide by 2. _____ ( Example: 18/2= 9.) This is the number of edge stitches.
You are now going to work decreases in the “center stitches”.

First decrease row:
Sc number of edge stitches (counting the turn chain as a stitch.)
Work 1 sc decrease in the next two stitches. (This is a decrease.)
Work 1 sc in next sc, repeat four times.
Work 1 sc decrease in next two stitches. (This is a decrease.)
Sc number of edge stitches. (You have now reached the edge.)

Notice there are now 9 edge stitches, and 6 “center” stitches.

Second decrease row.
Sc number of edge stitches (counting the turn chain as a stitch.)
Work 1 sc decrease in the next two stitches. (This is a decrease.)
Work 1 sc in next sc, repeat once.
Work 1 sc decrease in next two stitches. (This is a decrease.)
Sc number of edge stitches. (You have now reached the edge.

Third decrease row.
Sc number of edge stitches (counting the turn chain as a stitch.)
Work 1 sc decrease in the next two stitches. (This is a decrease.)
Work 1 sc decrease in next two stitches. (This is a decrease.)
Sc number of edge stitches. (You have now reached the edge.

Sew heel seam. Finish off ends.

You now have a usable slipper. But, lets say you want something prettier. Just add trim!

• Attach yarn at the back seam, work 1 round sc. (I work a decrease at the front of, but it really doesn’t matter. Anchor and break yarn.
• Attach contrast color yarn, work 1 round sc.
• Work 1 round crab stitch. Anchor, break yarn. Tidy up.

Once you get the hang of this, you can make loads of slippers. I wear mind around the house all day, so I’d like more durable soles. I’m going to be working out different designs with soles worked more like the baby booties. The booty designs shown work the sole first, then work “up”. So, I can use a durable yarn for the sole and then switch to a prettier yarn for the top. (I don’t bother for baby booties. Babies can’t walk yet!)

Are you wondering about the booties?

Those booties are from “Annie’s Attic Precious Baby Booties”
. They are pretty cute. The “ballet slipper” type are efficiently designed– and you can easily find that design for free on the web. The pink and white booties are cute but I was aggravated by the inefficient process for crocheting the flange on the pink and white booties. I’m going to re-organize and post a better basic booty design. (Other than the color and trim choices, nearly every one of these bootie is classic design available for free on the web. It’s a bit like socks. Annie’s Attic adds value by a) showing cute color combinations in currently available yarns and b) proof-reading the instructions. )

Script to fix google cache for someone.

© lucia for The Knitting Fiend, 2009. | Permalink | 45 comments
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The calculator

This calculator will calculate in case you don’t want to use toothpicks.
[-- sockulator(../blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/increaseevenlyspacescript1.php)sockulator--]

© lucia for The Knitting Fiend, 2009. | Permalink | 19 comments
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I checked…. and someone has noticed a bug in the program– from way back just before I stopped posting. Anyway…. I fixed the bug today. The bug was: If you used custome, the program over-wrote your head dimension. This meant users couldn’t make the neck tighter or looser for a given neck size.

I found the problem and fixed it. So, now those of you with big or small heads who want to knit yoke sweaters can calculate the shape. (Fitting in patterns is a challenge for more advanced knitters, and can’t be script-ti-fied easily. )

If you find bugs in other programs, let me know. I’ll try to fix them…. eventually.

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Anyway, during the superbowl, I made “Moose Towels”– more commonly knows as crocheted towel toppers. I finished the crocheting for 10 of these, but I don’t have buttons!

Figure 1: Moose towels. (Aka crocheted towel toppers.)

Next week, I plan to show my method for creating the first row which causes the towels to fold “just so” rather than rippling across the front. For many designs it doesn’t matter if the front ripples, but rippling would be a negative with these. The trick step to flat fronts that automatically fold at the sides involves masking tape, a ruler and a pen! Other than that, these are just normal crocheted towel toppers.

© lucia for The Knitting Fiend, 2009. | Permalink | 22 comments
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He evidently has a polyp removed when he had his colonoscopy. He was fine for a while, but then took aspirin, which he blames for the bleeding. (I’m not sure if his doctors blame the aspirin, but it’s plausible.)

He sounded chipper yesterday and I think he’ll be fine for the long haul. Of course, I am calling daily!

© lucia for The Knitting Fiend, 2007. | Permalink | 3 comments
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I’m pinging both the site and this comment.

I’m also testing my own
blog.

—
Update: This doesn’t seem to have worked. So, something must be wrong with my outbound pings. The used to work and I haven’t changed anything. It must be a problem at the hosting service. Sigh. . .

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You know, we all love weekends in the city, visiting the museum, going to the opera. Still, I suspect very few of us are going to knit a humongo-normous apple to wear on our chest just to show our love for the Big Apple! ( I also suspect some of us did knit and wear these sorts of things in 1989. Heck, I know I did!)

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