I have a special affection for ladybugs. Started back when Volker wrote me letters decorated with the little critters.
My granddaughter knows that I like them. She informed soon after arriving at my house before Christmas that her ladybug slippers don’t fit anymore. Naturally I promised to make her new ones. (The previous ones had been store bought.)
I looked for patterns online, but didn’t find anything that quite fit. So I decided to wing it. I am not good at writing down the patterns I make up. I like to custom fit things like sweaters, hats or slippers. Mina was at Nana & Poppa’s house when I started the slippers so I guessed (pretty accurately) at the size of her foot. I didn’t buy anything, just used balls of yarn from my stash.
For the sole I wanted a very heavy yarn — the only one I had was navy blue — with dense crocheting, so I used a 3mm hook. I started with a chain 15 stitches long and using a single crochet worked both sides of the chain, putting 3 sc in each end ch to turn. On the second row I put 2 sc in the first 2 stitches (turning stitches), then sc in the next seven, switched to dc, putting 2 dc in each of the turning stitches below; continue in a similar manner down the other of the sole. The third row was essentially a repeat of the second, using dc at the toe end of the sole, and sc for the rest.
I didn’t have heavy yarn in black or red — and the slippers had to be black & red! So I used double strands of both colours. Because I wanted red with black spots I carried one colour along all the time. To learn how to do this visit http://www.crochettoday.com/how-to/how-work-tapestry-crochet. The upper is made of 6 rows. The first two rows are a sc in each stitch around, changing colours as appropriate (my ladybugs are not identical twins). On row three, four and five I used a decrease dc for the head to create the toe shape. The sixth row is a single crochet all around.
For the eyes I just used off-white yarn with a black centre. The antennae are made with a chain 4, dc, sc on side of dc and slip stitches down the chain.
Tomorrow I must go to the post office to send some “Mina Mail”!
Mina has also requested a Ladybug toy, so that will likely be my next project.
P.S. Before mailing the slippers I used some (very old) fabric paint to put dots on the bottom of the sole; when Mina was here and wearing only one slipper she was able to “skate” on my hardwood floor. I hope this will prevent the slippers from sliding quite so nicely.
