Duffers

One of my local knitting stores had a "How to Fix Mistakes" class on an evening that I was available. It was excellent information and gave me some helpful tools for when I get stuck. After the class was over, I browsed a bit, since it was the first time I'd been in that store. I was drawn to a basket of several pairs of slippers and asked for the pattern. It is Duffers by Mindie Tallack, which you can buy on Ravelry, or here.

This project gave me many firsts:
A couple of new increases & decreases
Using a lifeline to assist in ripping out work (learned in the Mistakes class)
Felting

They turned out great!

Before felting on my size 10 foot

After felting on my daughter's size 6 foot

Special pose as requested by my model

I still have a few things to learn regarding gauge & felting--but with many sizes of growing feet in my home, I found some that will fit these Duffers. The next pair will be even quicker to make, and I would like a basket of them sitting by my front door to keep friends' feet warm all winter.

Details
Date Begun: Approximately Jan 20, 2014
Date Complete: Feb 25th, 2014
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Roving in Dark Grey, Pacific Teal (Michaels)
Size 11 needles
I knit a size 8, which is intended for a 10.5 inch foot, but the finished length is only 9.5 inches. Will have to play around with this a bit to understand it better. Was it the wrong size or did I felt it too long?

Felted on Heavy Duty wash in Front Loader, Hot cycle 50 minutes, air dry. I placed the slippers in a pillowcase tied shut with a rubber band & threw a towel into the load with them.

I used newstitchaday.com for videos on stitches I didn't know. (Although a more careful reading of the first pattern page included written descriptions of how to do them).

The only problem I had with the pattern is that I first chose the incorrect chart . . . based on a smaller size. I discovered it was wrong I was halfway through. It took 24 hours or so for me to think that perhaps I was using the wrong chart. This pattern is very adaptable both in length and width, but each variation has a different page. Because it was my first time through I didn't catch it until I did it wrong. It was easy to fix, I only had to pull out one row and proceed with the correct chart.

Love this pattern & will be using it again and again. I may or may not be halfway through the second pair.

Happy stitching!