Welcome Back
This month on Create & Craft they have been talking about Get Britain Crafting, a new campaign to encourage people to try new crafts for the first time, or get back into crafts after a break. Inspired I began a shawl, but this has proved a bit of a big project. So I also began knitting some slippers. (They are the same height honest! It’s the way I stuffed them for the pic that makes them look uneven, DOH).
Regular readers will remember the slippers I knitted recently that I’d enjoyed so much. The pattern is on Ravelry by Yuko Nakamura called Non Felted Slippers.
Now its turned cold and my ankles were feeling chilly so I tried the pattern again and freestyled at the end. I added some 2×2 rib (knit 2, pearl 2) to the top of the pattern. This has worked brilliantly, they look good with 5, 10, 15 rows of that rib at the top. I’ve added 20 rows of the rib as I wanted to cover my ankles, but this also gives the option of folding the top down for a different look.
As long as I understand what I’m doing, then I do enjoy and find knitting relaxing. My RSI hampers how much I do, but small projects on larger needles like this, work up quickly and so build confidence. This pattern would suit a new knitter, other than knit stitch and pearl stitch and of course casting on and off, the base pattern (without the rib top) only has knit 2 or 3 together and also to. Slip, slip, knit, wasn’t a bit like I thought it was and woohoo to my knitting book and You Tube tutorials for explaining it.
There are lots of new fashion yarns around now, for those wanting super fast project and are ideal if you are totally new or have limited dexterity as you don’t need to worry about tension but get the hang of knitting techniques. You Tube has a great selection of tutorials, just type in the technique you want to learn into its search box. I’ve put links to sites I use a lot or have found helpful in the Yarn tab at the top of the blog.
Links
- Yarns (My knitting tab, which has links to; manufacturers, retailers and tutorials too)
- Knitting Tips by Judy Highly recommend this channel, great demos filmed from behind Judy so you see what you would see when you are knitting. She explains things really well.
- Ravelry If you are new to knitting Ravelry is a fantastic online community people share projects there are forums and lots of freebies on there for knitting & crochet too.
- Pheonix Knitting forum. A super friendly forum, a great place to chat to other knitters and swap ideas.
- Get Britain Crafting
- The Knitting Book. THE best instruction book for all kinds of knitting. Step by step photos.
Now we have long winter evenings to ‘look forward too’. Why not give knitting a try, snuggle up with your favorite TV show/music and create something wonderful for yourself, or as gifts for friends & family. A handmade gift really does make someone feel special. They know you have given the gift a lot of thought and your own time, a precious gift that cannot be purchased in a store.
How about you? What have you been making lately?
Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon
Billie 🙂
Your boot slippers look great Billie, the ‘freestyle’ bit worked out well. Your feet and ankles will be very cosy in these 🙂
Hugs
Lynn x
Thanks 🙂 They sure are cozy and just in time
They look fab, Billie! I used to love knitting/crocheting slippers!! 😉
HI Rosie
Good to see you, have you found Ravelry yet? Ohh its brilliant, so many patterns and ideas.
I love these slippers and started knitting them tonight but I’m having a problem. I’m a relatively new knitter so it’s likely me. I did fine the sole and was fine with the instep (I think) until Row 6 but I had problems at Row 7 where it says “K34, ssk”….At that point I still have 59 stitches so it seems like part of the instructions for that row is missing? I thought maybe it meant to just finish the rest of the stitches with ssk but I did that with Row 7 & 9 and then the same for the “p2tog” for rows 8 & 10…but now I only have 23 stitches and I am supposed to have way more when I start Row 11. I really like this pattern, if anyone could help clarify for me would be so helpful!!!
Hi Chelsey
I just had a look at my pattern, I re write mine out long hand.
My row 7 notes say; knit 34, slip slip knit [TURN]
after similar instructions on rows 9 and 10 you are meant to be turning the work around after you have completed that rows instructions, rather than continuing along the same row in the same direction.
The clue is that on row 8 it says (WS) for wrong side, and on Row 27 where it says DO NOT TURN. It took me a while to work that out too.
I believe this is called short row shaping. It looks a bit odd for a while but if you have a close look at the finished slippers you will see a ‘seam’ along either side of the top part of the slippers.
Rather than having to sew your slippers together at the end, these turning rows are joining the pieces as you go.
You will be turning these short rows until row 27 at which point it say DO NOT TURN and gives you instructions for what to do for the remaining stitches of that row.
If you are still struggling, Pop over to Ravelry, this is the pattern’s page
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/non-felted-slippers
There are forums and comments and I’m sure someone on there can get you back on track with your slippers if I haven’t made sence.
I’m dyslexic so often have to re read things a lot to work out what they mean. This is why I re write my patterns long hand, it helps you work though what you are meant to be doing and stops you getting lost in the shortened terms
Hope that helps
Billie