Little Brothers Slippers

My little bro got jealous of my super awesome thick slipper socks so I made him some. They match his pjs and sort of look like smurf shoes. Thus, they are awesome. They also make his feet look a whole lot bigger then they actually are but I think its the camera angle. The only problem is, is they are sort of slippery on our hardwood floor. Well its only a problem for my mother and I, as George thinks this is great. He actually managed to get enough speed to slide across our living room, crash into a chair and break off one of its legs. Since he was unhurt he thought this was super cool. My mother did not. So maybe I'll find something at the craft store later this week to attach to the bottoms of the slippers to stop him from sliding so much.




Currently I am crocheting him a dragon. So I can't wait till thats done to post it up. Other then that I've been having a pretty mellow vacation. I've gotten into sewing though I'm not that great at it yet. I made and apron and a tea bag holder, which you can check out on my craft page. Also I have devoured all the Harry Potters, and a ton of other books from the library which I think are now all overdo and for which I believe my mother is going to kill me for when she finds out (I used her card).


I hope everyone has been having as nice of a vacation as I have (or just a nice January). I am going to Mexico on a family vacation on the 20th, but I'll try to post as many things as I can up. I apologize for the blurriness of the photos, I didn't realize they all came out like that. Damn my camera for being bought about 8 years ago.

Ned the Naughty Narwhal

When I first started crocheting my guy friend D asked me to crochet him a bag for his bong. Since that was not what I wanted to be crocheting, I wanted to be crocheting beautiful wraps and scarves and blankets, not a bag that would probably take a while to make and then get lost in someones house. That also couldn't be whipped out to show off, like a scarf could be. "Here mom, look at this great bag Masha made for my bong!" was not a cry I think I would hear. Ever. So basically I never did it, but this vacation I hung out with him again and was telling him about all my crafty activities when he brought up that bag. Oh the guilt. I had been telling him about how I made a hat for my boyfriends sister, and meanwhile I had neglected to make anything for D, and I had known him for about 5 years! That was basically the guilt trip he used on me. Or something like that.


Instead of asking for a bag for his bong, instead he requested one for a newly acquired bowl of his. He even sent me the measurements and everything, and asked to make it super padded because his stuff goes through a lot. I had been surfing Craftster and was specifically looking at a shirt embroidered with Narwhals when his data came through. It was like a light bulb went off in my head. AHA! I would crochet him a hollow Narwhal I could put a bag in. Discreet, fun AND handy! Thus Ned the Naughty Narwhal was born. He only took about a day to whip up, and actually making the bag to put inside him was much harder. I sewed two tubes with an open and closed end on each, and basically put one inside the other. Then I stuffed scraps of fleece in between them to make the bag super padded. After that I sewed an elastic onto the open end.


Let me tell you about sewing the elastic. First of all, it didn't really work out since I totally didn't think about how the fleece would be way too thick to fold too much, so as of now the elastic is stuck in this half way expanded position. Second of all, to sew the elastic in, I fitted the fleece tube over a water bottle, then fitted the elastic over the open end, then folded the fleece over on top of it and sewed it shut. Let me tell you, hand sewing through four layers of fleece is very very hard. Especially on your hands. I have actual calluses! I look like a lady pirate. Well my hands look like the hands of a lady pirate. Especially since I painted those dragons wings and the red watercolor paint is still sort of all over my hands. Red like blood! Arrghhh Matey! Ok back to the point. It took an ass long time to sew the elastic band in, to no real satisfaction since it didn't end up working really at all. Then I sewed on the eyes and mouth, and it was done! I also made the bag removable so that he could just through it in the washing machine when it gets too smelly. Genius huh.


Except for the super rad photo session with my little brother. Like my waves? He did the sun. I'm very sorry if I offended anyone with all my references to drug paraphernalia. I hope you like Ned though, no matter what your stance on certain issues is. I also hope you will all agree that my little brother is perhaps the most adorable kid in the whole wide world.

Crochet Hook Case

I made one. It is far from perfect. I wrote more about it on my craft blog since technically it isn't crochet. :) Be nice. Sewing Machines are scary.

Pattern for my Slipper Socks

I have just taken off my Slipper Socks for the first time to examine/count the stitches to give you the pattern. I HIGHLY recommend using Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick yarn as it is the perfect thickness for warm slippers, comes in great colors and since it is so bulky it takes only a few hours to whip these up. I used a K hook and basically only sc stitches.

(This pattern is worked in continuous rounds)

The Pattern:

Chain 3 and join together to form a ring by working a slip stitch into the first chain made

1. Chain 1, work 6 sc into ring [6 sc]


2. Work 2 sc in each of the next 6 sc [12 sc]


(An example of continuous rounds. Instead of slip stitching into the first sc, and then chaining one, I just sc'd into the first sc and continued single crocheting around and around. Does that make sense?)


3. Work 1 sc into next sc and then 2 sc into the sc after that and repeat into next 12 sc [16]

4. Work 1 sc into next two sc, and then 2 sc into the sc after those and repeat

5. Continue to increase stitches until you can put your toes into the circle and fold it and everything fits comfortably.

(Ahhh roomy but not too wide... a perfect fit)

6. Once you reach that point sc in each sc around and around till your sock reaches where the gray is on my sock (where your ankle starts).

( Check out where I am pointing! Thats where you should stop crocheting around. At the end of the gray yarn and coincidentally where my finger is pointing!)


7. Then sc in half of the next sc's. So lets say you have a tube of 20 sc's (the size of my slippers), sc in next 10 - 12 sc's. Then STOP. Do not continue stitching around and around, you are now making the bottom of the slipper and are working back and forth in rows.

8. Turn, Ch 1 skip first sc and sc in every sc

9. Turn, Ch1 skip first sc and sc in every sc

( Rows 7 through 9 are demonstrated by the dark orange yarn. The light orange is a good demonstration of Row 10. Especially at the end)


10. As you get closer to the end of the heel. Ch 1, 1 sc in first sc, 1 sc in each of remaining sc, 2 sc in the Ch-1 at edge

11. Repeat row 10.

12. When your bottom goes past your heel, fold the heel end of the slipper in half, with the wrong sides together and join the back heel seam. I just sc'd through the two sides and fastened off.

13. You should have something that resembles a Turkish slipper.

14. Join the yarn to the top of slipper and continue to sc in every sc round and round till you reach the desired height of the slipper.

I hope this pattern was everything you hoped for and more. Comment if you don't understand anything, or if you need more directions, I know I'm not the best at writing out patterns.

I hope your feet will be as toasty and happy as mine are! :)

Happy New Years! AND Slipper Socks!

Woohoo! Happy New Years everyone! I hope everyone had a great New Years and spent it exactly how they wanted to. I spent mine with good people AND I got some crocheting done earlier in the evening. So basically it was pretty perfect. Also my New Years dress was pretty and comfy and that was pretty perfect too.


As for the crocheting... WELL. Basically my mom keeps bugging me to wear slippers around the house, which is hard because I'm not used to that and I keep losing them. Also they are annoying. Unfortunately my feet tend to get absolutely freezing ALL the time. No no, its not because I walk around bare foot, I deny this. It must be some weird unexplained medical phenomenon that causes the temperature of my feet to fall below freezing. That must be it. Maybe I'll be in the New England Medical Journal soon and will get all famous and then you can brag to your friends about how you actually KNOW me. Or read my blog. Same diff.


So I crocheted myself up some slipper socks. They were amazingly easy to make once I stopped looking at "How to crochet a sock" websites and decided to wing it. Amazingly easy. Like no counting stitches, no memorizing what to do next kind of easy. They came out big and bulky and silly and warm -> which was exactly what I wanted. I also sort of mucked up the heels a bit and made them a tiny bit bigger then they should be, but its ok, they don't look too weird and I'm thinking about lining them with my leftover black fleece so they will be even MORE warm. Amazing. I know.


Best part is, I used mainly the leftover yarn from all my hat projects. I had several little balls of Wool-Ease Thick and Quick yarn left over, and they weren't long enough to make any hats, or be the trimming for any hats... yet they were too long and pretty to throw away so I decided to use them. Well I guess I could have made a funky scarf but my feet were cold and thats often when inspiration strikes.

If you want the tutorial it can be very simply added, its just late so I am not going to do it right now. :)