Ruby Slipper Crochet Socks
These socks were inspired by the Wizard of Oz, you know, the socks and ruby slippers the Wicked Witch of the East wore when the house fell on her. I hope you like these Ruby Slipper Crochet Socks!
So we all know how much I struggled with the September socks, right? These socks...let's just say I'm beyond surprised and amazed I finished them not only on time, but a week early!
The pattern was actually easy, in theory. In practice it required so much more patience than I anticipated. Who knew that having to switch colours and not being able to carry the yarn was going to be so challenging? I knew when I made the first colour change from red to white that I wouldn't be able to carry the yarn, it just looked so unsightly with the red showing through the white. The only other solution would be to have two strands of red going at the same time, which led to lots of twisting and tangling until I remembered I had yarn bobbins (I found mine at Dressew when I lived in Vancouver but anything will work in a pinch: cardboard, clothespins, Ikea pencils if you're the kind who has amassed a collection...). This was the first time using a bobbin and I couldn't stop thinking, "Why have I never done this before?!" If you plan on making socks like these I strongly suggest yarn bobbins. The other colour challenge was in the gusset and heel flap but with a bit of fiddling I made it work.
Ruby Slipper Crochet Socks
The pattern I used is an adaptation of the one found on Simple Sock Making (pattern can be found here). I used double crochet stitches for the top of the foot and linked double crochet for the sole. Moogly has a great tutorial here on how to do a linked double crochet. Because I used double crochet I did not work even between the decrease rounds. For the cuff I did one round of double crochet and the final round alternated front post and back post double crochet.
After weaving all ends and taking the time to admire my creation I came to the conclusion that challenging projects like this one are worth the grumbles, curses, and sighs. So worth it.
