16 squares

ETA: Thanks so much for your lovely comments! I've added some more information about the sizing of the slippers to the end of this post.



We are home again. But what a wonderful week we had at the cottage – this time the weather was perfect, so warm and lovely that most of our time there was spent in the lake. Onni practiced his swimming skills and did really well.



While my boy was resting from all the swimming and jumping*, I was busy knitting my holiday project. My mom has a pair of slippers like these (her sister has knit them for her), and after some unsuccessfull attempts to figure out the construction on my own, I went a-googling and found the pattern here.



8-square socks
Pattern source: Käspaikka
Size: 8,5 x 8,5 cm squares
Yarn: Sock yarn leftovers, held doubled
Needles: 3,5 mm

These were done in no time. The only downside is that 16 different coloured squares mean 32 yarn ends… But, if you're like me and don't mind a little seaming and end-weaving, this is a great little project. Interesting too, it was fun to see how the strip of squares started to look like a slipper when I began to sew it together.

The size of the finished slippers depends on how big you make your squares (the pattern gives you four sizes: from baby (vauvan) to mens (miesten)), and I chose to make my squares slightly bigger than in the womens' size. They fit pretty well, although the slippers are really stretchy and would probably fit smaller feet nicely too.



* This photo is staged. 6 year old boys, it seems, do not need any rest.

Ok, here's some more information about the sizing:

Sizes: Baby / Child / Woman / Man
Square sizes: 4 x 4 / 6 x 6 / 8 x 8 / 10 x 10 cm
The diagonal of the square: ~ 5,7 / 8,6 / 11,4 / 14,3 cm

The widht of the slipper: 1 x the diagonal of the square
The lenght of the slipper: 2 x the diagonal of the square

The slippers are really stretchy. If you decide calculate the needed size according to the actual length of your feet, you can subtract 15 - 20 % of your measurement.

I hope this makes sense!

posted by Terhi @ 7:58 ip.

My precious

Welsh Country Stockings
by Nancy Bush
Pattern source: Folk Socks / Nancy Bush
Yarn: Patons Patonyle 4ply, 75 grams of brown (1006), 35 grams of white (1003)
Needles: 2,25 mm

During the last few weeks, my knitting self esteem has sunk to an all-time low. All my bigger projects seem to hate me, even sweet Liesl was too small. Oh you should've seen me ripping it – knitting is clearly the new kick-boxing. All the other Liesl knitters were able to knit this little sweater in one afternoon with charming results, but not me. Maybe they swatched? (Crazy, I know.)

But when sweater knitting kicks you in the head, it's time to knit a pair of socks.



Can you feel the love? I adore these socks – they are perfect in every way. I made a few modifications to the pattern: I left out the contrasting heel, and added the fair isle motif to the toe too. There's an old photo in the book on page 25 with socks like this, and I liked them better. I really like that tiny bit of colourwork – enough to make the socks pretty, but not enough to make you go crazy knitting it.



The yarn, Patons Patonyle 4ply, was sent to me for my opinion by Patons. Luckily this was an easy job – I loved this yarn! It's incredibly soft, it's easy on the hands and knits up just beautifully. With 20 % nylon content it should wear well too. I even found a group in Ravelry dedicated to this yarn, so clearly I'm not the only one who likes it. It doesn't show on the Patons website just yet, but it should be available sometime next winter.

We'll be heading out to the summer cottage next week, so I'll leave you with a sneak peek at my next sock project. For the sake of peace and happiness of all beings, there won't be any sweater projects in my bag.

posted by Terhi @ 4:46 ip.

On the needles and off the hook

Here's the first Welsh Country Stocking. I love it dearly. And look how nice it looks with my freshly painted toenails! A sign of a true lady: her nail polish matches her sock in progress.



I was so fed up with the Blanket Cardi that I decided to cast on for another sweater. And cast on I did, 7 times! I'm knitting Liesl, a design by Ysolda Teague, and although I had some trouble in the beginning (it proved to be extremely hard for me to cast on loosely enough), it's been smooth sailing ever since. I'm knitting this as quickly as I can so it will be finished before I can figure out a way to mess it up too.



G9 Stripes
a small pouch for my small camera
Yarn: Rowan Handknit Cotton
Hook: 4 mm

I finished my crocheted camera pouch. It's a silly little thing, and I'm not totally happy with it, (there's something unsatisfactory about the combination of colours and texture, I can't quite say what) but it's just for protecting my camera when I toss it in my bag, so it'll do for now. The ribbon is sewn into the bottom of the pouch with just a few stitches, so it will be easy to take it off when I don't feel this girly.

posted by Terhi @ 9:06 ip.