My First Attempt at Slippers

I've been wanting to try a pair of slippers for a while now. I have this black yarn that's kind of beaten up because it's been around for a while, so I figured I could make a trial pair of slippers with this yarn for myself. If there are mistakes, no big deal. I have also been dying to try the magic loop method. I poked around Ravelry, and much to my surprise, all of the types of slippers that I want to make aren't knitted in the round but on two needles. This was a little off-putting, but I don't want to dive into a pair of socks yet, and I did still want to use of that black yarn, so I picked a pattern that looked reasonable in the pattern as well as in the picture and set off.

I decided to practice my long tail cast-on for this project because I've only even tried it once before and then it was for a project that I frogged and haven't restarted yet. It took me three tries to cast on because the first time I didn't use enough yarn for the tail, the second time I felt like I had too much, and the third time I finally got it.

As I was knitting the first 14 rows of the pattern which are all worked in garter stitch, I started looking down at my ball of black yarn and started getting paranoid that I wouldn't have enough. At that point I decided I'd also work in some of the white yarn I have. I know there's going to be more of it than I need after I finish boyfriend's mittens, but I've never made this pattern before, and I wasn't sure how much of the white yarn the slippers would take if I knit the stockinette stitch body of them with the white. I finally decided that I could also start pulling from the center of the skein I'm using for boyfriend's belt since he wouldn't miss just a little bit.

Then I had to figure out when I was going to switch colors. I decided to do all of the garter stitch in the black, and then for the body have 2 rows of black in the middle, 4 rows of white on either side of it so it would really pop, and 4 rows of grey beyond the white on each side. Also by keeping each color in even numbers of rows, I kept the funny multi-colored purl side all on the inside of the slipper, although I don't think it really looks to bad. I almost wish it were the outside of the slipper.

I knitted the slipper with US 6 needles, and when I was binding off, the pattern suggested that I use a size 8 or 9 needle. I took a minute and decided on the 8, and now I wish I'd used the 9 because the cuff is a little tight, but not really uncomfortably so, so I guess it's alright.

I knitted one entire slipper yesterday. Partially because once I start decreasing I don't like to stop in case I get confused, although in this instance I don't think that would have been really possible, but partially because I still have a ton of time on my hands while I continue to look for a job. But I get lots of knitting and baking done.

Finally, I tried the slipper on after I made it and was pretty disappointed with my afternoon of work. The toe is weirdly pointy and there's a seam right up the middle of the sole which drives me crazy. I had boyfriend try it on, and he said it wasn't as bad as I seem to think. Still, I think I am going to give them as a Christmas gift after all. I think they look nice, they're reasonably comfortable, and they don't take long to make. Plus the color changes keep my interest.

There are a few things I'm going to do differently when I knit up the other slipper, but I haven't totally decided what yet because obviously I want them to look the same even if it means sacrificing a better way of making them.

Happy knitting!