Welcome to the aughts!

Welcome to the 00's...

Hi, everyone! Today I'm running on few hours of sleep, and I'm pumped!

In less than 4 days my house will begin filling up with my daughter and granddaughter of 5 months. For the past 3 months I've been following developments via short movies. I wonder how entertaining they are to my friends, but I guarantee that you'll chuckle at this one!

This is where YARN comes into the picture. I'm surrounded by projects that are in various stages. To get an idea of what I'm up to I've been conscientious about updating my Ravelry page. Some would even say I have an unhealthy obsession about it, but it helps me stay on top of things!

I was up late last night because a "friend" (up for discussion later) showed me a pair of slippers that came from somewhere in Russia by way of her husband's trip. Now that's a good guy, right? Bringing home beautiful handmade slippers! The catch is: I can't resist a challenge. Now to be fair, I TRIED (a bit forcefully) to coerce two fellow knitters to help with the challenge, but they were just too smart, I guess... They turned me down flatly. What was it? To re-create these slippers; in other words write out a pattern so someone else could re-create them. I don't know about copyright laws but I looked at tons of patterns (on Ravelry) and I saw nothing like them. Please let me know if it truly is published, but in the meantime today, November 25th, 2009 was the day I wrote out a pattern. Will it work? Maybe... Anyone want to give it a try? Here it is:

Slipper Socks from Russia

Use Aran/Worsted weight yarn, and US #8 needles.

Cast on 26 st.

Knit 4 rows of garter stitch, and 12 rows of stockinette.

Knit 16, k2tog, turn. *Slip 1, p6, p2tog, turn, slip 1, k6, k2tog, turn* Repeat * to * until all stitches “live” (all stitches have been picked up and knitted).

At end of last knit row pick up 10 stitches along the side of piece. Turn and purl back. At end of purl row pick up 10 stitches along the side of piece. (27 stitches)

Continue stockinette until slipper is 3” less than the length of finished foot. Start toe.

Change to contrasting color and use short rows to taper toe.

Knit to last stitch. Wrap and turn (W&T) See below. Purl back to last stitch, W&T. Knit to one stitch before previously wrapped stitch, and next stitch W&T. Wrap stitches on each side until there are 8 “live/unwrapped” stitches in the center.

Next row (tip of toe) * knit 3, slip 1, k2tog, pass slipped stitch over [psso] (3 stitches=1 stitch, double decrease), knit 3, unwrap one stitch by knitting wrap and stitch together. Wrap next stitch (this will be the second wrap making it a “double wrap”) and turn. Purl 8, unwrap next (purl wrap and stitch together), wrap next stitch (dbl wrap) and turn. *

Repeat * to * until all stitches are unwrapped.

Continue in pattern (using double decrease in center: sl1, k2tog, psso) and pick up one stitch on each side in every other row on slipper side. At top of cuff, pick up last stitch and begin bind off row. At end of row pick up one more stitch from top of cuff and bind it off with last stitch of row.

Tuck in ends!

Good luck with it. I hope to hear from someone about their success or adaptations.

And Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm joining the blog world, and wonder if anyone really comments on things.