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. 

Crafting: Norwegian House Slippers Part IV ~ The Christmas Slippers

I like to get a little something for Rodney on St. Nicholas Day each year. This year I decided that I would make him a pair of Norwegian House Slippers. Little did I know the trials and tribulations the completing of those slippers would be!

As you may know, St. Nicholas Day is on the sixth of December. It is holiday where children put out their shoes and hope for a small gift from St. Nicholas in the night. I like to get Rodney something small and place in or on his shoes the next morning. It is almost always a surprise for him. I always languish over what to get him. Sometimes I get him lottery tickets, sometimes candy, but this year I thought I would just make him a sort of shoe! Not quite what the holiday calls for, but…

So about a week before Thanksgiving I set to work on making the slippers. First I had to find the right yarn. I wanted to make them in Iowa State colors, for he loves all things Iowa State, but I figured if he were to see a bag with yarns of those colors laying around he would know something was up. Instead I used a grey and cream twisted wool yarn from Patons (they call the color Grey Marl). For some strange reason I believed I would only need one skein, so that is all I bought on my first outing.

At first I thought I might knit the slippers, since the original pattern is actually knitted. Well, I started them that way, but I soon ripped them out. I figured that I was way too slow at knitting to get them done in time…this should have been a moment of foreshadowing for my brain, but no, I went on merrily in crochet. The next issue was how big to make them. You need to do a bit of guessing because you do not know how much the yarn is going to felt. I had felted some other projects in the same yarn, so I thought I was good to go.

I started crocheting. I got what I thought was almost one slipper done on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. At this point I realized that I would need two skeins of yarn. I figured I could pick one up the next day, and, even though Rodney would be home Thursday and Friday, I could get the slippers done and felted easily by the end of the next week.

Oh the best laid plans… The next day I did pick up the yarn, but I also got a phone call. By the end of the day I had a job and I would be going to work on the following Monday for what I thought was about twelve weeks. Hmmm….how was I going to get those slippers done now?

The following week I tried to crochet at lunch time, but that was not working. I was able to crochet for about an hour before Rodney came home, but I was not making much progress. About this point I realized I was not going to get the slippers done for St. Nicholas Day. So I had to contemplate what I could get him instead. I also realized that I would need yet another skein of yarn. I was getting worried that Rodney would ask why I needed more yarn when he only saw me working on hats for our niece. (I also thought he might realize something was up because Hawthorne would not leave the bag I was keeping the project in alone. We would be sitting watching TV and all of a sudden Hawthorne would be attacking the bag. I thought for sure Rodney would look to see what was in there that was so fascinating at some point!)

Niece hat #2. (My cellphone seems to have deleted 

pictures of hat #1. I will update the post if I can 

resolve that or get the niece to take a picture of it.)

So on St. Nicholas Day I put a Ritter Sport chocolate bar in Rodney’s lunch bag before I left for work. That day I made sure to eat lunch at my desk and to crochet my heart out. That afternoon I was told that the lady I was filling in for would be returning and that I would be done by Monday (yeah... ten days instead of 12 weeks). Well…at least now I knew I would have time to finish the slippers before Christmas. I possibly did not need to eat at my desk that day, however!

Now you would think that is where this story ends, but no. I finished the second slipper and I was about to sew them together when I realized that I had only crocheted six squares not the eight the pattern needs! So I set about adding to what I had already done. I was merrily crocheting away when I looked at the “L’s” I was making and realized that I was making “V’s”!  I had to rip out the new squares I had added. 

Finally they were done and I sewed them together. I expected them to be large, but not this large!

I think I could fit several feet in there!

I was a bit freaked out by this. What if they were too big? Would I have felt them several times? Would they ever shrink enough?

Well…I should not have worried. This is what they shrunk to:

Only one foot will fit now!

Now I was worried that they would not fit Rodney at all! They were tight on my foot. What could I do? And then an idea came to me. I would put on a pair of my flats and then put the still damp slippers on over them to dry. That worked like a charm! They dried well-formed and did stretch a bit. I was able to get them under the tree the Monday before Christmas.

The slippers are in the package to the right of

the tree that says "Merry Christmas".

Okay, you might think that is the end of the story, and it is sort of.  On Christmas Eve we left for my mom’s house. Rodney packed up the gifts we were taking with us there. It was decided that he would bring one of my gifts from him to open there because I had a gift for him already at my mom’s (it was this shaving set).  Well we got to the opening gifts portion of the night and when Rodney gave me my “gift” I said, “This looks familiar…” Then I noticed that it was actually the slippers. He had grabbed the wrong gift. I was going to make him wait to open it, but I wanted my mom to see the slippers.

Rodney was very surprised and could not figure out how I had got them done. And, you know what? I am not all that sure how I did either!

Happy Earth Day! ~or~ Hankies - Part 1

It is a grey and gloomy Earth Day here in Minneapolis. According to Weather.com we might see a glimpse of the sun for an hour or so this morning, but that my dears will be all we get and then later it is supposed to rain. I am going to try to be out walking during that sliver of sun, but the rest of the day will be spent indoors.

I have a plan, however, to fill those indoor hours: I am going to make hankies from old sheets! Rodney and I have at least two old sheets with holes in them. I have been saving them because I knew I could make something out of them. Well after we went through TEN boxes of Puffs in March, I think I know what we need: Hankies! And lots of them!

My plan is to get a good start on some hankies today. First I will need to rip the elastic out of the sheets and then I will need to cut them to the right size. (Hmmm…I wonder how big a hankie should be? Tissue size? Napkin size?) After I get everything cut comes the really hard part: convincing my sewing machine to sew. It has been being quite stubborn lately.

I will post pictures when I get them done. I am not sure I really need 2-3 sheets worth of hankies. What else could I make with them? Napkins, of course, but I have several cloth napkins. Any ideas out there?

I have to get ready for my walk now, or I will miss my short time window of sun and no rain. Have a great Earth Day! 

Crafting: Norwegian House Slippers Part III & Miscellaneous Crochet

More slippers! I am about slippered out at this point. However, a week or so ago, while I was ill, the only thing I wanted to do was crochet. Reading was too much work and I found I did not have the energy to do much else. So here are the slippers, napkin rings and a ring that I made, or finished, during that week.

The first pair that I finished was this pair of slippers for my niece/God-Daughter #1:

This photo shows how slippers look before I stitch them together.

Here is what they look like once stitched together and before felting. 

This is what they looked like after felting. 

Another project that I finished was a second pair of slippers for God-Daughter #2. These where made the same way as the ones above, except that I used only one color. 

Then I got it in my head that I could make myself a crocheted ring. The first one I made was way too big but it made a great napkin ring, so I made a second one for Rodney to use. We always use cloth napkins, so it was a very useful project in the end. Now we always know who's napkin is who's. 

This is before felting. 

I did succeed in making a ring. I kind of like it too!

I had planned to be done with slippers, but I had mentioned making a pair for our other niece. I did not want her to go without. I started this pair of slippers on Friday and I finished them this morning. They will not be felted. I quite like the way they turned out.

Now I need to make something for my nephew. He is 5 and lives in Arizona. I am not sure he needs slippers, but I am not sure what else he might like. I am going to have to think on that for a bit!

Crafting: Norwegian House Slippers Part II

So as an experiment I made another pair of Norwegian House Slippers. The original pair I made I was not 100% happy with. This time I used Granny Squares to make them. I got the idea from the pattern I used for this pair of slippers:

They are put together is a similar way as the Norwegian House Slippers, except they are made with 6 squares instead of 8. I thought that it would be interesting to see how the Granny Squares felted. So I set off to make a pair. This is how they looked before I felted them:

And this is how they looked after felting:

I don’t think I like the felted look for these. I like to be able to see the stitches on the Granny Squares. They also didn't shrink quite as much as I thought they would. I am going to have to re-felt this pair to make them small enough for my littlest god-daughter. She is only about 20 months old, so they need to be quite a bit smaller.

My next project will be another pair of these slippers for my older god-daughter/niece. I have bought some really bright colored wool for her pair. I am going to use the same basic method as the first pair I made without those weird white lines I added!

While I was waiting for the slippers to felt to day I made this cat toy for Walter:

This is the second toy I have made him. I made him one a week or so ago, but now I can’t find it! I had found it under the couch a couple of times, but now I have no idea where it is. He seems to like this one just as much.

Crafting: Norwegian House Slippers

I have been doing a lot of crocheting lately. I have been crocheting for many years, but I am not extremely skilled. I am hoping that over the next year to improve my skills. For Christmas I tried to make slippers for everyone, but I did not have enough time. In my search for neat slippers patterns I found a great pattern for crocheted Norwegian House Slippers. They are similar to another pattern I have been working on, but what I liked about these slippers is that they are felted. I thought that felting would make them warmer and more shoe like. So I set out to make a pair. Well I made a few missteps. My biggest mistake was adding the white yarn stripes. Even though the brown and white are the same yarns, the white shrunk more. The other mistake I made was making them too small! If you look at the before picture you would never think that would be a problem. I mean look at them, they are over 18 inches long!

But look what happened when I felted them:

They shrunk over 7 inches! They also puckered along the white yarn lines. I am a bit sad about how they came out. Next I am going to try a similar method, but I am going to use Granny Squares to make them. I wonder how big I am going to need to make them. I suspect that Granny Squares will shrink even more.