Lion Slippers

For a bit of fun, I put these lion faces on the top of some slippers I bought as a birthday gift for a four year old! I should have had a go of making my own slippers, but I ran out of time as that would have taken me many hours to get right.

lion slippers for a 4 year old boy

I hope he likes them! ROARRR!!!

these happy lions have found a new home

Draft Winter Moccasins

I worked on these winter moccasins for quite a bit last week, but they've been proven to be more difficult than I expected, so these are not looking so great at the moment! These are a draft while I learn more about how to make them better.

draft winter moccasins

Obviously the boots don't match because there is not the exact same number of blanket stitches in the sole. I should have realised that from the start, of course! In the end I went with the 2nd and 6th attempts.

boot sole in progress

2nd & 3rd attempt

I hope to one day work out an easy way of making these boots. For now my son can wear these draft ones so I can learn how well they will wear.

Green and Orange Baby Beanie and Booties

We're still 4 weeks away from finding out the gender of our baby, so I'm really leaning towards baby things in neutral colours.  I just received a lovely random package from my sister-in-law which had some very, very cute baby jumpsuits, all in neutral colours like lemon and green, or silver stars, which is just gorgeous. I'm rather leaning towards these coloured clothes for baby anyway. I really don't agree that the very young should be shoved in a labelled box so early in their lives. Too many baby clothes are overly pink and flowery or blue and macho in my opinion, there is no way I will be wanting to dress a baby boy in army greens, or black with a skull and cross bones print! I'm almost tempted to dress a boy in pink flowers just to get a reaction out of my father, it could be very funny to watch him freak out!

I still have some baby wool left in this nice variated orange and green, so decided to do another pair of booties. I then made a beanie to match using the same pattern as my purple and white baby beanie.

The booties are very similar to my purple and white baby booties, which are based on a pattern you can watch on youtube by Theshyrainbow. I added my own cuffs which are not in the video.

When I am using just one colour, I don't like to cut the wool, fasten off, and start somewhere else, so I have altered the pattern slightly so I can keep it all in one piece. By changing rounds 6, 7, 8 and 9  so that the start of every round is at the toe instead of the heel, there is no need to fasten off in the middle of the bootie.

One colour, One piece variation
1-5. as per youtube video by Theshyrainbow.
6. ch 3, tr 1 in same, (tr decrease every 2) 3x, tr 32, (tr decrease every 2) 3x, tr 2, sl st
7. sl st 8, ch 1, turn, htr 16, turn
8. ch 2, sk 1, treble don’t pull through leave loop on hook * , sk 1, trebel *, sk 1, treble *, etc to end, you should have 9 loops on hook, pull through
9. dc in space just left of centre, dc 2 in next sp, decrease dc over 3 in corner, dc 22, decrease dc over 3 in corner, dc 2 in next sp, dc in space just right of centre
My cuff variation
10. ch 3, tr in dc left of centre, this will create a little gap at the front, cont. with the rest of the cuff, which basically 6 rounds of trebles, and a 7th row of htr or dc.
11. ch 3, 1st treble in next space, then trebles around ...

Two Pairs of Purple Baby Booties

I've been having real trouble finding a bootie pattern that is quick and easy, I even tried to make up my own pattern! The difference with making slippers for dolls and teddy bears is that I have them to model and make sure they fit. But for the baby booties, my intented recipient is ... currently busy growing inside my tummy! We did get to see the baby's feet, complete with tiny toes, on our ultrasound at 13 weeks though. Isn't it amazing how formed the baby is after only 3 months?

After trying several different types of bootie patterns, I found this one which looked simple enough. I hope I don't get to actually use these premmie booties, that my baby arrives strong and healthy. But these premmie booties were really fun to do and look cute hanging on my pc. This pattern for premature baby booties is by Beverly @ http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/thumb-booties.html

When I was trying to make my own pattern for booties I referred to the sizes chart, also @ Beverly's cottage ( http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/size-chart.html). I didn't think making baby booties would be so troublesome, considering I've made up shoes and slippers for dolls and teddy bears without patterns! I tried several patterns, one I didn't like because it wanted me to keep fastening off and starting over in a different spot, which I believe was unnecessary, a bootie pattern should be simple and in one piece. Another pattern totally miscounted the stitches I'm sure, when I counted and recounted over it just didn't add up so I gave up on that one, too!

Eventually I watched some videos on how to make baby booties on youtube and found one I liked by Theshyrainbow. I couldn't find a website where the pattern was written down, so I've written it down for my own reference so I can make them again without having to watch the video. My pattern is not very clear, it's just for my own notes, so I recommend watching the video. Although it has some little spelling errors, it's quite straight forward and useful.

A baby bootie pattern based on Shyrainbow's youtube vid - be sure to watch her youtube video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7TCpHbNPCs
1. ch 15, 2 tr (US dc) in 4th ch from hook, tr in next 10, 6 tr in last ch, tr in bottom of next 10 st, 3 tr in last ch, sl st (32 tr counting 1st 4 ch)
2. ch 3, tr in same, 2 tr in next, tr 13, 4 tr in next, 3 tr in next, 14 tr, 2 tr in last, sl st (40 tr counting 1st ch 3)
3. ch 2, htr (US hdc) in same, 2 htr in next, htr 16, 2 htr in next 4 st, htr 16, 2 htr in last 2 st, sl st (48 tr counting 1st ch 2)
4. ch 3, tr in same, tr 46, sl st (48 tr counting 1st ch 3)
5. repeat row 4
6. ch 3, tr in same, tr 14, (tr decrease every 2) 3x, tr 4, (tr decrease every 2) 3x, tr 16, sl st
7. for top of toe I use a contrast colour, join in 12 st from main colour (9th st from centre of toe), ch 1, htr 16, turn
8. ch 2, sk 1, treble don't pull through leave loop on hook * , sk 1, trebel *, sk 1, treble *, etc to end, you should have 9 loops on hook, pull through and fasten off
9. back to main colour which is still at the heel, ch 1, dc (US sc) in same, dc 9, decrease dc over 3 in the corner, 2 dc in next sp, 1 dc in sp just right of centre, 1 dc in sp just left of centre, 2 dc in next sp, decrease dc over 3 in corner, dc 12, sl st

I added my own ankle cuffs (not in the video) ...
10. for ankle cuffs, ch 3, tr in same, tr in ea st around, sl st
11. and 12. repeat row 10.
13, 14 and 15. in contrast colour, repeat rows 10-12,
16. I added a hook at the end in case they ever get hung up somewhere because they look so cute, ch 10, sl st in 1st ch, fasten off.