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!

October Knit Along: Mostly Finished Cuff

Goodmorning, knitters. Sorry it's been a few days; I've been on the job hunt like crazy which has been taking up a lot of time. But a few days back I took an afternoon and finished my cuff!

The cuff before binding off or doing the I-cords.

One day I was trying to knit my goal progress for the week on the cuff, and then the next weeks, and then I had the whole thing finished remarkably quickly and easily, and all I had left to do was bind of and knit the I-cords.

I was more worried about the end of the pattern than I had been for any of the rest of the pattern. I had never knitted I-cords before and I was a little skeptical on how they would work and look. I also, if you remember, modified the pattern so it was 15 instead of 25 stitches which was fine until the end when that mattered. So I had to take what seemed like hours trying to figure out how many stitches to bind of before starting the I-cord and then what to slip and where to begin again and then how many to bind off. It seemed so complicated. But then I started knitting and, surprised as I was, the end of the cuff came together quite nicely.

The I-cords that will be the buttonloops and the bound off edge of the cuff.

Now all I need to do is find some buttons to put on the cuff, and I'll be finished! Well, almost since I've also been too lazy to weave in my ends. Okay, and I clearly haven't blocked it. Mostly finished, after all. But, since it's only mid-October, I bet I have enough time to make another cuff. I think I'm going to try the framed cuff.

Happy knitting!

Boyfriend's Finished Scarf

I finally finished boyfriend's scarf. It took me forever and I was knitting like a crazy woman, but it's finally done. I wanted to have it done on the 24th so that I could give it to him at his family's Christmas, but I missed that by three days. It's cool, though. He'll get it just the same, only now he won't get it until the 30th because I'm home for Christmas.

The finished scarf. It's about six and a half feet long when it's rolled out.

All in all the scarf didn't give me much trouble. After all, it was just knit. I did have to remind myself how to bind off, but I looked it up and refreshed my memory. However, I did make a mistake while I was binding off. For whatever reason, I lost my mind for a second and cut the yarn as if it was just an end I was going to weave in. Yeah, it wasn't, and I ended up cutting it at about half the length I needed, so I had to tie the ends back together.

A close up on the pattern of the scarf.

I'm still unsure whether or not I want to tie fringe onto the ends. I guess I can wait until I give it to boyfriend and ask him whether or not he'd like it.

It took me a year, but I finally finished this scarf, and I could not be happier. Is it the most refined project even I've ever done? No. Are there a few spots that look a little messy? Sure. But will boyfriend love it just the same? Absolutely.

Happy knitting!