Crafting: Oma Crocheted Slippers

After a Christmas season full of intense crocheting I thought I would lighten my load up a bit and make a pair of Oma Slippers. The pattern is super cute and they seemed easy enough to make.

Compared to the Norwegian House Slippers I made the Oma Slippers are really fast to make. I made a pair in less than four hours, so very quick to make up! However, they are not simpler to make as far as the actual crochet goes.

I found that there was something odd about the instructions. I had to re-crochet several rows. I think that sometimes the instructions mean to use the same stitch that you slipped stitched in the row and sometimes not to. I will have to make a few more pairs to be sure.

Another issue I have with these slippers is something that bugs me but may not bug others: These slippers are made with two strands of yarn with a big hook which makes them very “bumpy” on the bottom of your feet. I find them uncomfortable to stand/walk in.

The last problem is that they will not stay on my feet. I do not think that is a pattern issue, I think it is because I have fairly large feet and the slippers are designed to skim the sides of your feet. I think I could fix that by adding a strap across the top.

I plan to make a pair of these in wool to felt down to fit God-daughter #2. If that works out well I will try to make the pattern larger and do the same for myself, because even with the above issues I think these are cute and that they would be great for when I do not need super warm slippers. 

Christmas Cookies

This year I tried to limit the number of Christmas cookies that I made. I am not sure that I succeeded. I started with a plan to only make some cookies from “The Finnish Cookbook” by Beatrice A. Ojakangas. She has a basic cookie dough recipe that can be changed to make various types of cookies. One recipe of the dough can make four different cookies. I made Nut Cookies, Aunt Hannah’s Cookies, Anise Cookies and Egg Rings from the dough. By far the most popular cookie, of these four, was the Egg Rings. I think I will make those again next year and maybe try some of the other variations.

At this point I also made some Gingersnaps. What I like about Gingersnaps is that I can make the dough up early and keep it in the freezer. This way I can bake a dozen or so whenever I need some cookies. I love this recipe that I found on the Kitch’n blog. It has a nice spicy flavor. I baked a few of these up for Christmas, but I have the rest stashed in the freezer for later in the year.

Then I decided to make English Toffee. I used this great sounding recipe, unfortunately this did no work out so well. My plan was to cut the recipe in half, because we did not need two pounds of English Toffee in the house. The first batch I made I put in too much water and I lowered the heat too much. The results were edible, but not toffee. The second batch was better, but something happened to the chocolate and it all separated from the toffee! Oh well, it was still tasty.

I thought I would be done at this point, but then realized that I had not made any of the traditional cookies. So the question at this point was Krumkake or Rosettes? I decided on Krum Kake because I did not want to mess with hot oil for the Rosettes. I ended up making two batches of these as well. The first batch was plain and the second batch was chocolate. They went over well, but next year I have to make Rosettes. My niece was a bit put out that I had not made them. I told her that next year we would make them together. That will be fun!

From the top clockwise and then into the center: Aunt Hanna's Cookies, Ginger Snaps, English Toffee, Egg Rings, Chocolate Krum Kake, Anise Cookies (the diamond shaped ones) and Nut Cookies.