Sweetheart Baby Slippers (free knitting pattern)

I was going to have the pattern for the Sweetheart baby slippers as a pdf, but my computer had to be completely reinstalled, and the software is not back on yet, so I will just post it to the blog.



Materials:

-Left over worsted weight handspun or commercial worsted weight yarn in 2 contrasting colors. (approx. 1 oz for light color, and 1/2 oz for the contrast or dark color).(I used left over handspun Romney).
-Set of US 5 dpts
-Darning needle

Gauge:

6 stitches per inch in garter stitch on US 5

Instructions:

Make 2 hearts using the dark color(DC).
Cast on 21 stitches.
R1: K9, Sl 1, K2TOG, PSSO, K6, K2TOG, TURN.
R2: Sl 1, K13, K2TOG, TURN.
R3: Sl 1, K5, Sl 1, K2TOG, PSSO, K3, K2TOG, TURN.
R4: Sl 1, K7, K2TOG, TURN.
R5: Sl 1, K2, Sl 1, K2TOG, PSSO, K1, K2TOG, TURN.
R6: Sl 1, K3, K2TOG, TURN.
Repeat R6 until there are 5 stitches left. BO loosely.



Continue as follows to knit the 2 slippers.
With the main color, in my case the lighter one (LC), pick up and knit 20 stitches. You will start picking up at the point where you ended your bind off, you will pick up 10 stitches down the first side of the heart on needle 1, and then 10 stitches back up the other side on needle 2, stopping at the point where you started your bind off, leaving the bound off stitches unused. On needle 3, cast on 20 stitches using the knitted cast on.

Join the round, start with a purl row, then knit in garter stitch until you have six ridges (6 ridges = 12 rows).(To get garter stitch while knitting in the round, you will knit one row, then purl the next).

Break LC, now using DC, purl 1 row.
Next row: K5, K2TOG, K1, K2TOG, K2TOG, K1, K2TOG, K10, K2TOG, K1, K2TOG, K2TOG, K1, K2TOG, K5.
Purl 1 row.
Next row: K5, K2TOG, K2, K2TOG, K10, K2TOG, K2, K2TOG, K5.
Purl 1 row.
Next row: K4, K2TOG, K2, K2TOG, K8, K2TOG, K2, K2TOG, K4.
Purl 1 row.
Next row: K3, K2TOG, K2, K2TOG, K6, K2TOG, K2, K2TOG, K3. (20 stitches)
Purl next 5 stitches.

Use a 3 needle bind off to close the sole of the slipper.
Place 10 stitches on one needle and 10 on another needle. The needles will be on each side of the point of the heart. Using a third needle, bind off loosely. Turn the slipper inside out. The wrong side is now the right side. Weave in all ends.



With LC, starting at the center of the back of the slipper, pick up and knit 2 stitches at the edge of the slipper, *BO 1, pick up 1*. Repeat along the foot opening until you are back where you started ending with BO of the last 2 stitches. Weave in ends.


Happy knitting!

Done!

I am happy to tell you that I was very good yesterday! I finished Mr. SockPixie's Shetland socks. Mark Twain was right, the best way to deal with temptation is to yield to it.
I yielded, I spun some of the delicious red roving, and then satisfied, finished the socks!



To recap the socks were made from my handspun, 2 ply, light worsted Shetland in a natural chocolate color, and some left over handspun 2 ply Romney (a left over from the EZ's mitered Mittens) also a light worsted. The socks were knit on US 5 dpts.

There are really no words to tell you how much I enjoyed the whole process of spinning the yarn, and then knitting the socks. Complete is maybe the word that comes to mind. That's it, the experience felt complete...even if I do not...yet... raise the sheep that will produce the fiber, that I will spin, to make the yarn, that I will knit into garments, that my loves will wear...

Romney Mitered Mittens

The Romney Mitts are finished and already claimed by little Miss SockPixie! I know that they will be well used and appreciated here in Boston.



To recap,I spun the light worsted 2 ply yarn from a natural silver colored Romney roving. The spinning was done from the fold using a short forward draw on my Louet Victoria spinning wheel.

I used Elizabeth Zimmerman's Mitered Mittens from her great little book the Knitter's Almanac.

The miters are a wonderful way to make really simple mittens look very attractive. Knitting the miters takes no more concentration than back and forth knitting. EZ's mittens are the perfect, relaxed, quick winter project!



I knit the mittens thumbless, following Elizabeth Zimmerman's advice, and inspired by her "unvention" did the thumb trick .(Follow the link to find pictures of the thumb trick process.)



Now I just need to knit a pair for myself so that I may take part in my family's snow ball fights!

EZ Thumb Trick

I finally took the time to work the magical trick Elizabeth Zimmermann "unvented" to make thumbs into mittens after the fact.

The great thing about the trick is that you just knit the mittens kind of thoughtlessly, without worrying about a thumb, and only add it once you are finished with the knitting of the body of the mitten. You do not even need to hold a few stitches with a waste yarn! All you need to do the trick are the mittens, scissors, your DPTs, and strong nerves if you are thumb trick virgin!



Place the hand of the recipient in the mitten and ask them to bend their thumb. With one of you DPTS lift a stitch where the thumb bends, roughly in the middle of the joint in order to mark it. The recipient can remove their hand.



Next, with sharp scissors, and after having taken a deep breath, snip the marked stitch.



Next, using a DPT gently pull the cut yarn through, releasing live stitches on the left and on the right of the snipped stitch.
I like to use the DPT, as it exerts less pull on the fabric, and seems to minimize the risk of loosing stitches.



The total number of live stitches you need to release will depend on your gauge, and the size of the hands of the recipient.(I released a total of 10.)



Take a first DPT and insert it through 1/2 of the released stitches, with a second DPT, pick up and knit 3 stitches , place about 1/2 of the remaining live stitches on the same needle, then on the 3rd DPT, place the last of the live stitches, and then pick up and knit 3 stitches.



You are all set to start knitting the thumb, just join the yarn, and knit away!

I hope this will inspire you to try knitting mittens the EZ way!

More Romney Mitts

Meet Mitt 1 and Mitt 2...



Oh what fun we will have making the thumb trick too!

Romney Mitts

I was at a bookstore in Cambridge the other day, and found a great book In Sheep's Clothing, a Handspinner's Guide to Wool, by Nola and Jane Fournier. I got home and started reading...So many sheep... I thought wouldn't it be fun to spin yarn and knit projects from as many kinds of sheep as possible?

So here we are with candidate number 1: the Romney Sheep.



I wont bore you with a dry technical description, I will just say, that like so many great things, The Romney Sheep came from England, and a British colony, New Zealand improved the breed to produce a lustrous fiber with a tight crimp with a medium staple length of 5 to 7 inches, making it an ideal spinning fiber for the beginner. Best of all, the Romney comes in beautiful natural colors.

I purchased 16 ounces of silver Romney roving.



I hugged and smelled the soft, fuzzy roving. I set out to spin it over the fold using a short forward draw for a semi-worsted. (But between you, and me, the fiber just told me what it wanted me to do!)

I plied 2 singles together to get a light worsted yarn. I love how the lustre of the fiber expresses itself gently in the spun yarn and still has a soft halo.



I never spin with a project in mind. I prefer to let the fiber, and its yarn tell me what they want to be. I had barely spun 4 oz, that I heard the yarn calling for mitts.

But which Romney mitts? When in doubt, I always turn to one of my favorite EZ books, the Knitter's Almanac. In the Mittens for Next Winter chapter, I went right to the mitered mittens. I did a quick gauge, 5 stitches/inch, not a problem. If EZ has taught us one thing it is to work with the yarn. I changed the total number of stithes to fit my plans, grabbed my mini chop stitcks in US 5 and started knitting this delightfully mindless pattern thnumbless, as my plan is to do EZ's thumb trick (snip a stitch, unravel a few stitches, pick up, and knit a thumb.)

Before I knew it, mitten 1 was done.



I can hear the word embroidery, there, can't you?

Here is what is waiting for me tonight, fun with my other mitt!