Slippertastic

Slippers for middlest

This is a guest post by husband.

This crochet nonsense is getting out of hand.  Wife stupidly mentioned that she would actually wear some slippers if I made some.  No problem I thought, but these ones have got to be special.  I'd made slippers for eldest, which were rubbish and have already fallen apart, but completed much better ones for middlest and youngest (see below).  I was much happier with these, particularly the built in stripes for youngest that I completed in one evening.

Slippers for youngest

Crochet Slippers at Etsy

Wife's slippers were going to be special.  I decided on a whole new design.  I was now an expert, I was getting ambitious. I found a lovely pattern at etsy (that I had never heard of, but wife is a regular apparently) that should have looked like this.  I paid real hard cash for them.  They were going to be a big surprise and they were going to be great.  Looking at Etsy now, I found another view of the slippers that I think would have made me think twice before making them.  As it was, I beavered away, making and remaking the sole with entirely inappropriate fluffy wool that drove me to distraction as the pubic twirls got caught on my hook when they shouldn't have.  The blind test of the slippers (wife had her eyes shut) looked like this, and I was so unhappy I asked her to check.

Hmmm

First pair, looks a bit odd to us

We decided that they were a no go (though they look remarkably like what they should look like, a big step for me!), and I would go with the traditional design from my original book from the library, Simple Crochet by Erika Knight.  I knew I could knock them off, so made a start and then forgot about them until the last minute panic before Christmas.  Wife tried them on plain but had no idea what decoration they would get.  I painstakingly created a stitch perfect copy of our family shield and crest.  I am sure I don't need to explain that one is a "falcon rising" and the other is three swords with a crescent Moon.  I was delighted to give them to wife, and a tear was in my eye after all the pain and suffering that went in to them (I might have had a stray eyelash).  She had nobly put them on her feet more than once and says polite things about them, so I dare say they are a success.  Ideally I would like to find something sensible to put on as a sole to make them last a little longer.  I am open to suggestions.

Finished item on Christmas day

Weeks later, note the wear on the bottom!

Relaxing

The next project will either be some crazy amigurumi (wife gave me this funny book), slippers for eldest that will last more than a month or a hat for me (I bought £20 of merino today in preparation).

Guest post: Slumpy Hat Crochet

This is a guest post by Husband.

Random crocheting continues.  I decided that I needed to move on from crap nets and (steadily improving) slippers.  I still have endless problems with counting rows, rounds increasing mysteriously by one stich and joins that look nearer to the San Andreas fault than a neat row of stitches.  Ah well.

So, I thought "Beanie for me", did my usual thorough research on crochet patterns and with my usual precision found myself making a, er, Marguerite Beret.  To be honest, I might have been influenced my Grandmother churning out slouchy hats for Daughters and the lovely looking triangular stitches.  Anyway, tongue clamped firmly between my teeth I was soon twisting and turning the hook trying to work out "what the hell was a Marguerite stitch anyway?".

I slavishly followed the pattern with the usual disregard for common sense (I never have any idea what these things are going to look like).  I had to return to the shop for wool (there is about £15 of wool in this hat!) since I had initially bought the wool for some slippers for Wife and not to make a giant hat.

All seemed to go swimmingly, although it did seem to be a little elongated.  I couldn't tell if this was by design or incompetence.  I had the usual issues with joining and counting.

The hat should have looked like this (note how flat it is at the top, I did not realise this until comparing the hats):

How it should be!

This view is the best :)

I produced this:

Hmmmm

For novelty value it scores highly, but I think when I can find the will I will be pulling it apart and trying again.  I think in the outdoor pictures Eldest is wearing it inside out, but there was certainly no sign of the beautiful triangles either way around, and it can make people look like a very silly bishop (see below).

Slightly self conscious

Not convinced this looks cool!

This look is not so bad

I guess I will just keep trying when the whim takes me, but I am not convinced I will crack this. Eldest much prefers the hair down look, though you see people with hair up in the hat a far bit.  Maybe they have dreadlocks?

I found some earlier photos where it looks better, but still can't for the life of me work out why it has the crazy point?

The mad bishop look

Squash nets

OR, Husband gets crafty:

Whilst wandering through the green houses on a recent trip to the National Trust property Attingham Park, Husband and I stumbled across these (blue melon nets):

What an interesting idea we both thought, and wandered off.

Back home, we discover that some of our squash plants are starting to bear fruit. We are growing our squash up some empty trellising this year. One fruit in particular was looking quite heavy, so was supported with an old bra(!) This was not aesthetically pleasing and our thoughts went back to the melon nets we had seen previously. Close inspection of our photograph suggested these had been crocheted. Husband made an idle comment one day, to be followed by a trip to the local craft shop in town (crochet hook) and the library (crochet book) by me.

Some wrestling with string ensued, the air was a pale shade of blue (due to presence of kids) and now we have this:

A second net has been made, ready for the next fruit to get big enough, but the crafty crocheting did not end there.....

The book I got from the library has all sorts of interesting things in it, amongst which are Turkish style slippers. Eldest is in serious need of slippers and was complaining of particularly cold feet, so Husband has tackled the instructions for these and pretty much finished them. I suspect that that will be the end of crochet career, but it was fun while it lasted!
Since starting this post, the slippers have been finished and worn upstairs to bed by Eldest. Latest comment from husband along the lines of 'maybe [he] should make them each a pair for Christmas'

Edited 2.9.11

The finished articles
I just wanted to say that Attingham Park has an amazing exhibition called House of Beasts, which is on until July 2012. Very interesting modern art along side traditional Regency furnishings - beautiful and well worth a visit if you happen to be in that neck of the woods.