Friday, November 27, 2015

Pod Kamiko Eco Trail

A bunch of photos from our recent hike in the Balkan mountains, near the village of Bov, in the Iskar gorge. Pod Kamiko eco-trail has it all - water cascades with numerous smaller waterfalls and two high ones, interesting rock formations, beautiful forests, pastoral village scenery, fresh air. Husband and I enjoyed it immensely. Next time the children will have to join us, the trail is too beautiful to be missed.






























Thursday, November 26, 2015

Celtic Dancer Slippers


Another pair of slippers by DROPS design I made these days. I like the original construction of DROP's slippers, although I have a few remarks to make to this design. The obvious - the pattern requires sewing at the heel. This I avoided by casting on with provisional cast on and then grafting. At the toes the pattern envisages cutting the yarn, pulling it through the remaining stitches and tightening - like at the top of a hat. I replaced this with the usual and much neater Kitchener stitch.


However, although I had some doubts about the angular heel, I did not modify that. If I was to knit these slippers again, I would cast on 23 sts - only 3 seed stitch for the under foot and gradually increase the seed stitch section to 11 sts. This would give a more round form of the heel section, which is a bit angular now and make it symmetric to the toes.


My other modifications - I knitted the slippers with 4 mm circular needles and the ribbed edge - with 3.5 mm circular needles and I cast on 31 sts - only 11 sts for the under foot. Because of my thinner yarn and smaller needles I was able to work the diamond section two full repeats.


Pattern: Celtic Dancer by DROPS Design
Yarn: Alize Lanagold Solids, color 645 (mustard), 70 g (the remainder from my Monte Rosa cardigan, I worked the rib of both slippers to the last cm of yarn).
Needle: 4 mm, 3.5 mm
Time to knit: 4 days


Kitchener stitch instead of sewing

Autumn scenery from our recent hike in the Balkan Mountains (reportage coming soon:)



Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Little Red Riding Slippers


When I went out this morning I noticed that the cherry tree in front of our building had lost almost half of its leaves overnight and had covered beautifully the steps on the side of the building. I quickly grabbed my camera and took a few photos and then asked my daughter to pose just for a couple of minutes with her new slippers before going to school (well, obviously, not in her slippers :))) The things we do (and our closest are made to do) in the name of knitting ...


This is quite a popular pattern, which makes for comfortable and cozy slippers. There are so many pages written and even youtube videos on the making of these slippers that I will not dwell much on mine. I used one skein of red Alize Lanagold Solids, and as I ran out of yarn for the final rows, I finished the slippers with the burgundy red Lanagold for my cardigan. In stead of casting off the stitches and sewing the slippers I made them seamless, folding the last row and grafting it.


Pattern: Little Red Riding Slippers by DROPS Design
Yarn: Alize Lanagold Solids 56, 100 g, 240 m + a few grams of Lanagold 358
Needle: US 6 / 4 mm
Time to knit: 4-5 days