Balls of Joy Slippers
by Megan Olaveson
baconneedsapal.blogspot.com
I'm not a professional pattern writer and sometimes throw caution to the wind when doing things. There was a lot of trial and error and a few times of frogging, but here is what I made.
Base of the slipper- Crochet 2 bases per slipper. You will then single crochet these together. it makes the slipper stronger and less likely to tear. If you want, you can sew some form of non slip grip to the bottom.
Use a 3.5-3.75 hook for base and body
Use 6.0 for bobbles
Yarn Needle to weave ends in - where possible I try to crochet over the ends so the amount of weaving at the end is limited.
Pattern is intermediate level
Worsted weight yarn
Yarn needed
Colour A for outer base, Colour B for inner base, Colour C for body of slipper, Colour A, B, D, E for bobbles. I'm not sure how much is needed, but none of it took tons as I used left over balls I had laying around.
I used red for the outer base ( I believe RHSS) and Bernat Super Value in gold for the outer base with Bernat green, blue, and beige for the other colours.
This is written to make a size 9 ( Candian ) pair of slippers. Adjust according to the size of your foot. This will be worked in a round ( you never turn your work). Any of the doubling stitches should be done at the ends so it is centred. I crochet tightly so adjust so that your doubling is done at the ends and nicely curves around. I highly suggest crocheting both your slippers at the same time so that they both end up the same size at the end ( ie, do the base, then do the stripes of colour, etc). If you need to make any adjustments, write them down as you do your slippers so you can do the same on the second one. See how in my picture all the end stitches are centered in the middle.
Once you have your bases sewn together, you will now begin to sc around your slipper with the colours you are going to do the bobbles in. I did three rows of colours. Join with a slip stitch. I did a few gathering stitches ( sctog) around the toe. Evenly place these. ( ie 1 on either end of the toe). Make note of where you put them. I did the rows of colour at the same time so that any gathering would be the same on each slipper.
You will then switch to the colour that will be the body of your slipper. I choose a neutral colour so that the bobbles would stick out.
Body of slipper ( with 3.5 hook)
Row 1: HDC around
Row 2: HDC till you reach where your toes should be. I didn't know how to HDCtog so I dctog here. So 11 DCTOG in a row so that they are centred in the toe area. Then HDC the rest of the way, SL in the back.
Row 3: HDC around till you reach where you DCTOG before. 2 DCTOG in a row then gather 4 DC together and gather, then 2 more DCTOG. HDC back around.
Row 4: HDC till you reach nearish the middle DCTOG 4 times, Gather 4 DC together, then DCTOG 4 times, HDC all around
Row 5: HDC around to the centre, DCTOG 3 times, gather 6 in DC in the middle, DCTOG 3 times, HDC around to the back.
Row 6: HDC to the middleish , DC TOG 1, gather 6, DCTOG 1, HDC to the back
Row 7: Single crochet around, with a sctog of the stitches that are left so that it is a round surface
Switch to 6.0 hook
Row 8: Start the bobble stitches. You will make roughly 9 stitches around each opening depending on the size of your slipper. Join your new colour. Ch1, SC, Sc in next stitch, in next stitch do a bobble ( wrap yarn around your hook 3 times, yo pull through 2, yo pull through 2, yo pull through 2 and leave 1 on the hook. Repeat this 4 times do a total of 5). At the end pull through. Single crochet in next 3 stitches. Repeat 8 times.
I did not single crochet between bobble stitches as I wanted them to be very close together.
Row 9: Join new colour. Make your bobble stitches in the 3 chain space. Repeat as above
Row 10: Join New colour, repeat as above
Row 11: join New colour, repeat as above. ( feel free to add more rows of bobbles if you want. I stuck with 4 rows)
Row 12,13,14: Using your base colour of the slipper, single crochet around three times.
