Crochet and Felted Slippers

Over the Easter break I decided to go through my yarn stash to see what I had and to neaten up tangled balls. We drove to Kiama on Friday and I kept myself busy untangling a ball of cotton thread, didn't fall asleep once nor did I feel carsick. I untangled the last knot just as we drove into town an hour and a half later.

The weather was lovely, a little too cool for swimming, we watched the Blowhole for a while, it wasn't blowing very high and then with ice cream in hand walked along looking at boats. As we walked a lady pulled me up, telling me that the dress I was wearing was amazing. It made me feel great, but then my husband and son kept teasing me about my amazing dress. We took a short drive around town and followed a sign to the Little Blowhole. We found it better than the big one, it came out of 30cm (approx) hole and shot up high. Could get as close as you wanted to it, I got a little too close standing just on the outside of the veiwing platform when it sent the biggest plume up, I got soaked, my husband and son teasing me for getting my amazing dress wet. I didn't mind especially as they both had their cameras pointing away from me at the time.


As I was sorting through my yarn stash I decided I wanted to knit socks using some of my homespun wool but didn't have the right sized needles for it. Instead I crocheted slippers using Lincraft Surprise Yarn.


Basic Slippers.

1 ball Lincraft Surprise Yarn.
Using 5.5 mm hook

Pattern below fits size 7 -8 foot.

TR (Treble) is the Australian version, this stitch is known as DC (Double Crochet) in USA patterns.

Row 1: Magic adjustable ring, 3 ch, 5 tr into ring. Pull ring tight, join to 3ch with slip stitch. (6 stitches

Row 2: 3ch 1 tr into same stitch, 2 tr into each stitch , join with sl st (12 stitches)

Row 3: 3ch 1 tr into same stitch, 2 tr into each stitch, join with sl st (24 stitches)

Rows 5 -11: 3ch, 1 tr into each stitch. Try on slipper to see if you are happy with fit, add or decrease rows if needed.

Row 12: 3ch, turn work, 1tr into second stitch from hook, 1 tr into next 18 stitches (20 stitches)

Continue on for 9 more rows - again check for sizing, adding or decreasin rows for fit.

Finish off with slip stitch, cut thread leaving about enough to sew and to crochet around opening, I left about a metre of thread.

With slipper inside out, lay flat and stitch back opening closed. Stitch back up seam so the thread is at the heel opening, make loop with the thread and DC (SC in USA) into end of each row and stitch around foot. Sl ST closed, 10 ch, sl st into last edging stitch. This makes a loop that could be used with a ribbon to tie around ankle if wished.

With Surprise yarn it's always a surprise how the colours come out , I got three Slippers from one ball, the top is the first and the bottom is the last. The first 2 looked similar in colours because I purposely cut and joined the yarn. The third will be used as a display piece at work.



With the success of these Slipper/socks I was inspired to try a felted version using Lincraft Cosy Wool.

Using the basic pattern and working in DC , not TR - (half dc USA), I guesstimated the sizing, using size 5.5 hook and starting the first round with 8 stitches, second round at 16 stitches and third at 32 stitches. The toe section was 15 rows. With the foot/heel sections at 24 stitches and 11 rows long. Needs another row or two for proper fitting.

Before felting

After felting. After 5o minutes in the washing machine with a towel at 60 celicus, the width shrunk over an inch while the length shrunk about 1 inch.

The final product ended up being pretty much exact size as the basic slippper but because there is no stretch with the felting it's a little too small lengthwise for my foot. Will be adding a seperate heel piece later.