Eyelet Slippers

Pattern: Not-So-Tiny Slippers by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Wool of the Andes by Knit Picks in Beach Glass
Needles: US 10 dpns and then 16" US 10 addi click circular

I had the hardest time with these slippers. But it has been one of the most rewarding knitting projects I've taken on since I started knitting. Yes, they are slippers, but with all the mistakes I made while knitting these, I've learned so much. 

I wanted a nice pair of slippers. I searched high and low on Ravelry for a nice pattern and first settled on a quite old fashion style of slippers that reminded me of my grandmother, Evelyn. They were quite similar to the ones she had lying around her house, but they were not very pleasant on the eyes. They kept my feet warm, but I couldn't get the sizing right. I kept looking and found this pattern and fell in love with the design. These were slippers I knew I would be proud to wear and knit for others, so it was a no-brainer to buy it. 

Pulling out my bulky weight yarn and dpns, I set to work. The first slipper flew off my needles. It fit very well but there was something not right about the right side of the slipper. There were small holes along the right side right before I started the purled edge for the sole. I was quite perplexed. I followed the pattern and knit the wraps as indicated, but I still had holes. Seeing I was making these for myself, I decided to live with it. But when I went to make the second slipper, I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted to iron out the kinks and find out what went wrong.

See the two pesky holes there? They are quite noticeable, eh?

On the second slipper, it took quite a long time to get to the hole issue because I had to frog back to the i-cord edging TWICE. The first time I misread the initial set up row and came out with a lopsided slipper. The second time, I miscounted on the eyelet row and they ended up closer to the left side than the pattern called for. I learned these lesson and started again. 

On my third try, everything went much better. No lopsidedness and my eyelets were centered. But I still faced my trouble with wraps and turns. I knew that the method I learned wasn't doing the job for this project, so before I started the wraps and turns for this slipper I did some research. I read almost every project note on Ravelry and no one seemed to be having this problem. I knew I was wrapping properly, so it had to be an issue with how I was knitting the wraps after the fact. And then I came across Cat Bordhi's youtube video on concealing wraps. This video completely saved my project. While my new knitted wraps aren't entirely 'concealed', they certainly don't leave gaps anymore. SUCCESS!

No more holes! Thanks, Cat Bordhi.

And when I finished the project, I ended up with these beauties. They are super comfortable and great to take with me on trips to my Nan's house. I'll definitely end up wearing these out.