Prairie Boots and toasty toes

These spunky pair of Prairie Boots come from a pattern designed by Coco Knits, here, and were a must have when I saw them being made by my friend, Mary, in December as a Christmas gift. We both ended up making a pair for our sisters, who, coincidentally, were born on the same day and prone to having specific demands where their slippers were concerned. Needless to say, the Prairie Boots were a huge success.

But I found myself envying their toasty toes, and decided to make a pair for myself. I used Lion Brand Yarn's Thick and Quick. I also improvised a suede leather sole, which I made from a thrift store skirt purchase, which I then cut to the size of my feet. With a little stretching and pinning, I then used a sharp darning needle and sock yarn to hand stitch the sole into place. A little work, but much cheaper than purchasing a pair online for twenty odd bucks - and I have made two pairs of slipper soles and have suede left for next snow season.

The only improvisation I did make on the pattern was that when it came time to decrease the stitches prior to working in garter stitch for the cuff of the slipper, I kept in the rib stitch for those additional 4 rows. I liked the feel and fit better.

I love the fact that the entire slipper was crafted by myself - so don't be put off by the additional effort. Scavenge some suede - repurposing has such an invigorating charm to it - and definitely leads to other ideas (wink!).

More "Princesses" need footwear...

Ahh, the Princess Slipper - I found yet another pair that needed to be finished and shipped out to an as yet, unsuspecting "Princess" who is in need of cozy foot coverage. As I said in my previous post, I have this pattern from an old school knitting pamphlet. Double strands of worsted weight yarn and a pretty straight forward design.

I have sorted through my button collection - which took me ages to organize, I might add- and now I am all about accessorizing with buttons. This is a pair of semi-vintage buttons that are finally making their way out into the world. Pom poms are always a good call on these silly,oh so retro slippers to die for...

Princess Slippers for a Birthday Girl

Who doesn't love a pair of handknit slippers for their birthday - especially when heating bills are still ludicrously high and paychecks painfully small. These pink beauties were made from an old school pattern I had from my days of managing a yarn store in SF. The pattern called them "Princess Slippers" (or maybe that was the Canadian yarn they called for?) and I like the name, so it's staying.

I did try to look online to find a similar pattern so that I could post a link with this, but I could not find one. Okay, not exactly true, but there was one with Swedish music playing in the background and fake snowfall obscuring my thoughts, let alone the reading of the pattern, and well, I just couldn't do that to you. So, look for a pattern that calls for 2 strands of worsted weight yarn, and this is very important, K2tog toe decreases. Some patterns have you just string up a lot of remaining stitches at the end of the slipper, leading to the Big Toe poking out and getting severe cold damage, or at best just stuck outside the slipper, alone.

I put to contrasting buttons on the top as decoration and to help distinguish the right slipper from the left, which is ridiculous, as you well know, as they are knit exactly the same. My friend liked them and everyone who saw them thought that to be a very clever design addition, but they are all just sweet like that. They oohh and aahh every time I make something for someone and I am spoilt to have such a great receiving crowd to play too.

The "Princess" who will sport these babies loves pink and black - both in the boudoir and out - so these should be a cozy and cute addition to her nighttime wear. And a special Happy Birthday to all of you Aquarians - so many have made it into my inner circle in the last couple of years - I never knew!

PS - WOW ! new followers - I am honored