Knitmas '13; Harlequin Slippers

So quite a few things have happened in the craft world of Malice since I last posted, although there iss a good reason I have left it quite so long since updating. Namely, it is because all of my major/interesting crafting projects have been Christmas presents and I know the recipients read this blog so... Couldn't exactly show them what they were getting now, could I? Well, that and a slight case of 'getting a degree', cutting heavily into my crafting time, let alone my blogging time.

The other interesting things have only happened in the last few days. Mostly Christmas presents I have received. However, as there is now (quite rightly) a bit of a crafty backlog, I'm going to update you over the next couple of weeks rather than cram three months worth of crafts into one blog post.

Today, then, I shall begin with the first Christmas project I was working on; a pair of hand knitted slippers! My mother specifically asked for these and I got her to help me choose a pattern that she liked so that I wasn't going to knit her something hideous and then, when I returned to the lands of University, popped over to (one of) the local craft shop and purchased some lovely marbled//variegated yarn; one was a deep plum and emerald, and the other was a pale teal and lilac, I would hazard. Fortunately, I already had the needles I needed. I already have most needle sizes, if I'm honest, due to inheriting a bazillion sets off of my Gran; I just lack DPNs/circulars (truth be told, although I own a couple, I have never actually knitted on the latter).

There's a pair of slippers there, honest...

So the pattern basically wants you to knit out a scarf and then fold it up in this weird way to create a little pointy toed, elfish slipper. The pattern actually called for all garter stitch, but I switched this up a bit by making the plum squares moss stitch and the teal squares garter. Unfortunately, I'd bought chunky yarn, when the pattern asked for super chunky (not the first time I've used the wrong weight, but definitely the least traumatic as this time it was intentional; I just liked the colours too much) so I had to play around a bit to get the sizes right. Each square was meant to be 9x9cm to make a slipper that would fit a UK size 6 foot, but somehow this didn't quite work out and mine ended up being 10x10cm; it all adds up! I thought they would be a little large when I'd knitted them up, but when mum tried them on they rather drowned her feet. Ergo, if I use this pattern again, sizes need to be adjusted. (It's okay, my mum is some sort of master seamstress and, after a little discussion with me on how best to go about it, took five minutes to sort them out to a better fit. You wouldn't even really be able to tell.)

Assembly Pattern

The most difficult part of these slippers was putting them together. I've included the assembly diagram here; for the life of me, I could not get the seams to line up properly. I kept ended up with a twist in the fabric somehow. I don't know if the diagram has a mistake in it, or I was just being a tool that night and incapable of understanding it (probably the latter), but I had to look at the 'assembled' diagram in the end, and fold the fabric around until I got it. Once I started using that part, instead of 'assembly' bit, it made perfect sense and I had it folded and sewn in about an hour or so.

Elfin top!

There was meant to be a crocheted border on the slipper, but I decided against that because I'm not a crocheter, I'm a knitter. Didn't want to ruin all my hard work so close to Christmas (although I finished knitting the first slipper at the end of September, I took a break to knit my next Christmas project and ended up finishing them off in the beginning of December). Now, normally this would be the end of the project, all knitted and sewn but I'd bought a bottle of 'ABS Latex' for another project and figured it would be worth using here, too. For those of you who have never worn hand knitted footwear, smooth surfaces + knitting = falling over and breaking something (yourself, if you're unlucky). I know this from experience; as much as I love the bedsocks I got for my 18th, I daren't wear them in the kitchen. Anyway, this ABS Latex is designed to prevent that; you draw little pads onto the sole of the slipper/sock/whatever and it turns them from 'disaster waiting to happen' to 'grip central'. It's pretty cool stuff, really, and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who wants to make an article of clothing (hand made or not) non-slip. It's not too expensive, either, providing you have multiple items to use it on.

Pawprint non-slip; best idea ever.

I decided paw prints would be an apt design to have on the bottom (they were made using the included stencil). Painted them on, put them on the radiator, left them over night and voilà. The slippers were done. Then, as custom dictates, I wrapped them up and placed them under a shiny, twinkly tree and waited for the 25th December to present them to my mum. She seems pretty pleased with them and so am I.

The facts of this project then! I needed 200g of yarn for this project (100g of each colour); the yarn was James C. Brett Marble Chunky. The needle size used was 6mm (UK 4), to match yarn weight. I used a free pattern that I found on Ravelry, DROPS slippers in garter stitch. Not including the time out I took to work on other projects (including academic ones), the slippers probably took me about a week to knit. The ABS Latex is by a company called Regia and I purchased it from Dragon Yarns, as I found them to be cheapest (and included the stencil free).