A completed crochet project

I finished my first crocheted clothing item: a scarf.

 

 

A nice project for when I had a cold and couldn't go skiing.

Pattern: Wonderfluff Cowl from Knitpicks.com (free pattern!)

Yarn: Wonderfluff yarn from Knitpicks.com -  70% Baby Alpaca , 7% Merino Wool , 23% Nylon

Colorway: 1 skein of Atlantic Heather (blue) and 1 skein of Wellies Heather (black)

Crochet hook: 10 mm

 

My two skeins were free with Knitpicks orders last fall as a promotion for the yarn, which is new. The yarn is super soft with whisps of fiber in it, almost like a mohair. Since I had two different colors, I decided I'd just make a bold, two-tone look and crocheted with one skein until it ran out and then picked up with the other one. 

 

I'm a beginner at crochet. Two years ago I picked up a book to make Amigurumi (Japanese crocheted animals and toy figures) and I've made about six or seven of them since then. I recently crocheted a basket, which I haven't photographed yet, and I made a hat, but I frogged it because it came out too small. Eventually I want to learn to read charts so I can make some doilies and snowflake ornaments. This scarf was quite easy and a great beginner project.

Guest slippers

My latest knitting project are slippers for guests to wear when they visit us at our alpine place. I used a free pattern I found on ravelry.com: non-felted-slippers by Yuko Nakamura Designs. (you may need to have a ravelry account to view it).

 

The slippers are knit flat and then seamed from the back of the heal and down the center of the sole. Really simple! The gauge the pattern calls for is 13 stitches per 10 cm (or 4 inches), which is a bulky type yarn on size 10-11 needles. The pattern is written for one size - ladies' medium, about a European size 38-39 which is about a US size 7-8, but  you can fiddle with the numbers to make them larger or smaller.

 

Here are my specifics for the slippers from left to right:

 

Green

Yarn: Schachenmayr Boston (70 % acrylic and 30% wool)

Needle size: 10.5 US

Size: Ladies' medium

Amount: 1 skein (60 yards) per slipper

 

Navy blue/white

Yarn: Schachenmayer Boston (70% acrylic and 30% wool)

Needle size: 10.5 US

Size: Man's

Amount: 1 skein (60 yards) per slipper + a little bit of similar weight yarn for the last 2 rows +bind off

 

For the man's size I adjusted the pattern to make it larger. I explain the changes I made on my ravelry page

 

Light blue/red

Yarn: Schachenmayer Lova Fan (67% acrylic and 30% wool)

Needle size: 10.5 US

Size: Ladies' medium

Amount: about 2/3 of a skein per slipper

 

 

The slippers are really comfortable but I worried about people slipping on the wood stairs in them, so I sewed on little patches of ultra-suede at the toe and heel.

 

It's funny that I had this ultra suede for a long time and finally found a use for it. The ultra suede came from Nancy's Notions as a pack of 5 inch square samples of the colors they sold. I probably bought them with the thought I could use them as bits of trim or as a bound button hole or two. I never did. But one square cut into four pieces was the perfect size for these slippers and the colors matched ok as well. I do like it when stuff that I saved finally is used but it's a bad habit to save things "just in case"!