The slipper has been cast on and shaping up rather nicely.  I do find something about this way of building a slipper rather marvelous!

If you look very very very closely, you may notice a sneaky little trick.  That bottom needle?  The one holding the stitches that will go under my heel?  It’s different than the other two.

This yarn (chickadee by Quince) doesn’t have any nylon.  And while it does seem lovely and sturdy, I wanted to do just a tiny bit extra to make the bottom of the slipper (the part that will get the most wear) a bit tougher.  So I’m using one size smaller needles to work those stitches.  You totally don’t have to, but I find it helps.

If you do decide to try it, using two different sorts of needle (in this case a round silver one and a square bronze one) makes it much easier to keep track of which is which and grab the right one when you need it.  Worth a shot if you’ve got a yarn you’re dying to use that could benefit from a little extra protection in heavy wear spots!