After the Magic Slippers, some Magic Colors

This week I wanted magic. Magic was all I could think about. I knit the Magic Slippers. They made me so happy. They put me in the mood for more magic, and so I chose to have a week of Flower Fairy Colorways. All my colorways this week will be inspired by the vintage illustrations of Cecily Mary Barker, and will updated on the SockPixie site on Sunday at 6 p.m Eastern Time.
What could be more appropriate for me, the SockPixie!

The Solution to the Sock Knitter's Dilemma... Magic Slippers!

My biggest problem as a sock knitter, is what to do with my left over yarn, in particular with these no bigger than a walnut darling balls of yarn.
Yesterday, as I was packing all this week's colorways to be shipped from Hawaii to Brussels, and occasionally staring at the little yarn walnuts on the table, I found what I wanted to do.
For every pair of socks, I would knit a pair of baby slippers. So I took a little break from packing, grabbed my trusted Addis, and a little yarn walnut, and got to work. Here is the result. These slippers are magic to work. NO SEAMS at all, no origami construction, all garter stitch, mostly knit in the round, and about one pair per hour! My promise to myself is that I will knit a pair of slippers for every pair of socks I knit, and that I will donate the slippers to my local community health center.




Without further delay here is the pattern for the Magic Slippers.


Magic Slippers

These slippers are newborn size, but can easily be made bigger by knitting the even section of the sole longer, and picking up more stitches along the sides of the sole.

Materials:

Yarn: any walnut size left over ball of SW sock yarn. I used left over SockPixie SW Merino Sock yarn.
Gauge: 7 1/2 sts/inch in garter stitch
Needle: 2 16" US 1 circulars, or a set of DPTS in same size (Note that I wrote the pattern for 2 circulars, but it would be as easy t knit on dpts)


Sole:

Note that the sole is knit in garter stitch, knitting back and forth.
Cast on 7 stitches.
Knit 2 rows.
Repeat the following 2 rows until you have 15 stitches.
R1: K1, K1f&B, knit till 3 stitches are left, K1f&B, K2
R2: Knit

Knit even in garter stitch until the whole sole, from the cast on edge measures 2 1/2 inches.

Repeat the next 2 rows until you have 5 stitches left.
R1: K1, K2TOG, knit till 3 stitches are left, K2TOG, K1
R2: Knit

Do not BO. Keep these 5 stitches on your needle, and with that same needle pick up and knit 28 stitches to the center of the toe. Take you second needle, and with it pick up and knit 29 stitches from the center of the toe to right before the 5 original stitches, and knit 2 stitches from the first needle to the second. You will now have 31 stitches on each needle. The beginning of the round will be at the heel. Attach marker to show location of heel.

The rest of the slipper is knit in the round, in garter stitch (Purl one round, knit 1 round)

Round 1 and all odd rounds: Purl
Round 2: K25, K2TOG, K8, SSK, K25
Round 4: K24, K2TOG, K8, SSK, K24
Round 6: K23, K2TOG, K8, SSK, K23
Round 8: K22, K2TOG, K8, SSK, K22
Round 10: K21, [K2TOG] 3 times, [SSK] 3 times, K21
Round 12: K18, [K2TOG] 3 times, [SSK] 3 times, K18
Round 14: K15, [K2TOG] 3 times, [SSK] 3 times, K15

Purl Round 15.
BO loosely knitwise.
Weave in ends, make a second identical slipper, and find a lucky baby to give the slippers to!

This pattern is for personal use only. It may not be reproduced for commercial purposes.

Copyright 2007, caroline Dlugy-Hegwer.

Fragonard's Reverie...

Reverie... That is the perfect word for all the colorways for this week at SockPixie.
They are so different from the candy colors of last week, and yet equally mesmerizing. These new coloways are all inspired by the paintings of the famous French Painter Fragonard. He painted during the reign of Louis XV, and Louis XVI. His paintings are romantic, whimsical, and following the fashion of the day libertine! It is hard to say which colorway is my favorite but here is today's sneak peek. This colorway is Perrette and the Milk Pail. Poor Perette was dreaming of all the beautiful thing she would buy with her milk money, and was so engrossed in her dreams that she tripped, broke the pail, and lost the milk and all her dreams.

Looking ahead...

Thank you to all of you for visiting my "yarn candy shop"!

A lot of you have been asking me if I will bring certain colors back. This is what I have decided to do. I will put a poll on the blog, every couple of months so that you may tell me which colorways you would like to see coming back for a special encore.

Today, I will be packing all your orders, and walking ;) them to the post office! No snow, but definitely bitterly cold. Wrinkles get literally frozen! Who needs Botox!

Then, with a warm cup of coffee, I am going to start thinking about the new colorways for next Sunday. I have an idea... Valentine's Day is coming up, and I feel that a little romance with a French Twist, a la Fragonard, would be so much fun!Just think what a colorway with a name like Stolen Kiss would be like!

Just Like Candy!

I can hardly believe it, but I am done early this week: the new colors are all ready to go for this evening's SockPixie shop update.
The new colors are scrumptious!This one is Whirly Pop, and as Lucille Ball would say "Just like candy!"

This morning, my youngest son, who had not yet seen the new colors, and did not know I had decided to do a candy theme, said :" Mom, these yarns make me think of candy. Look a Hershey's Kiss!" I was so happy, I kissed him a million times, which he finds really gross (after all, he is almost a 10 year old young man!)

I have had practically no time to knit this week, so there will not be a new sock pattern today. I still owe you the Tiffany Socks. I am doing a final check before posting the pattern. Things should be better, my oldest has started her semester, and tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day, so we will not be homeschooling. I may even knit a pair of socks for me. You know that I have never knit a pair of socks for myself. I give them all away to family and friends.

I have my eyes on some of this week's colorways. I might go for a pair of gorgeous Whirly Pops, in plain stockinette. The yarn is so beautiful, I just want to let it do all the "talking"!

Am I Willy Wonka?!

Yarn is just like candy. Sweet, colorful, it makes you feel warm, fuzzy and happy... It is mesmerizing. This week, there will be swirling lollipops, everlasting gobstoppers, and other magical bonbon colorways!
I will be a little like Willy Wonka, working with mysterious Oompa Loompas in my fantastic and secret yarn studio! Will you come and join me for a ride on Sunday on the SockPixie Site?

Yeti Spotted in Boston

You guessed right! Here is the abominable snow man, or woman rather. It was fun! The packages made it safely to the post office.
I'll do it again...