Following an easy to moderately difficult crochet pattern is a calming activity to me. So this week, with exam studying in full swing for my hubby (currently in law school), I needed a fun activity to balance out my mostly single-parenting phase of the college year.
I’ve always wanted to make/own a pair of crocheted slippers for myself. About a year and a half ago I crocheted and felted a pair for my Mom (purple ones below) which I wrote about here. I thought that style was fantastic as well as the pattern, but while I personally can crochet with wool I am too allergic and sensory sensitive to wool to be able to wear it against my skin. So I decided to go with a pattern by Etsy designer Mamachee. I purchased her viking hat pattern a few years ago and loved the finished product as well as her creative ideas for construction.
After a few nights of work…ta da (see above)! And, while I’d really like to use some cute buttons from one of my favorite Etsy button makers, the budget is tight right now, so I pulled out a matching pair of mother of pearl buttons saved from some outgrown skirt years ago.
So you might ask…”Maria, what is unfinished about these slippers? They look pretty finished to me!” But then you wouldn’t be thinking about how sensory sensitive I am. Because, while the pattern worked great, and the slippers fit perfectly, my feet hurt stepping on the crochet. Yep, that’s right, my feet which danced thousands of miles during my 26 years as a dancer are so sensitive on the bottoms that it actually is painful to feel the crochet stitches. So here’s the work in progress…I need to come up with a padded insole (so I don’t feel the stitches) as well as a pattern to sew on some soles since I don’t think they’ll last long on our wooden floors without a sole. Thankfully I have some leftover soling from my last adventure in slipper making. So…stay tuned! I’m hoping I can have them done to share by Friday.
Photo Credit: Bellair Farm Facebook Page 2012 Bellair Greenhouse
On a slightly tangential note (to this blog) I’ve been working with a local farm to help set up a blog framework for recipe swapping and online posting of fresh produce recipes by our local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) community. We were part of the Bellair Farm CSA in Albemarle County, Virginia last year and loved it. If your not familiar with this model of farming but are interested in healther produce and supporting local farmers then I highly recommend it! Local families pay a set $ amount to a farmer and then through the growing season you pick up a weekly “share”of their harvested produce for that week. I’ve gotten the basic blog template worked out and published and am meeting this week with farmer Jaime to talk about tweeks and additions he’d like to see. So far we’re both really pleased.
Sharing my progress with the crafty link parties over at Tami’s Ami’s and Frontier Dreams. Love the inspiration of other crafty folks!
I’d LOVE you to hop over and check out the new Bellair Farm Recipe Blog and let me know if you have any ideas for adding value to the blog! And if you have any recipes you’d like to share, please do post them!
Notes for the future…I used a worsted weight yarn (which I had in my stash). I think I’d prefer a slightly lighter weight yarn next time. I think it turned out lovely, but I think the mesh and the flowers would look lovely in a sock weight yarn…maybe next time?
