Jacob Haller |
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I got this pattern from my mother. She used to make them when I was a kid, because they are quick to make and very nice to wear, but she eventually stopped as they were so popular that she was spending all her free time making them! After a certain amount of nagging on my part, she gave me the pattern, so here it is.
They don't take much yarn, so this could be a good way to get rid of some of your yarn stash, especially if you have a bunch of cheap acrylic somewhere that you want to get rid of.
This pattern is really simple but the slippers it makes are very comfortable. They'll handle a few months of use before wearing out. They're pretty slippery, so a little care is required when walking around with them on hardwood floors.
My mother's theory on these was that you make them in a few different sizes and then find people who will fit them, but, for those of you who don't want to take that approach, I'll include some guidelines on how to make them to fit a specific person. The slippers are generally quite stretchy, and one of the nice things about them is that they really hug your feet (similar to socks), so in general I would try to err on the side of making them smaller rather than larger if you have to pick.
The slippers are reversible.
Use doubled worsted yarn (in other words you will be knitting with two strands of yarn at the same time). Cheap acrylic (or acrylic/wool blend) yarn works fine for these -- definitely you will want something durable, and that you won't mind throwing out when they wear out. It's fun to experiment with using two different colors of yarn at the same time.
Use Size 7 needles.
Leaving a tail of a little more than a foot of the yarn, cast on 31 stitches.
Knit 40 rows in garter stitch (in other words, knit on all rows).
On the next row, switch to a k1p1 rib. Continue the rib until the large rectangle you're knitting is as long as the foot it is supposed to fit, probably 20-30 rows.
Once it's the right length, on the next row knit two stitches together and repeat to the end. Do this again on the next row and the next until you are down to one or two stitches.
Secure final stitch or stitches. Leave a tail of about a foot of the yarn.
Sew up the cast-on end using the tail you left when you cast on (or, if you forgot to leave enough yarn, using a new piece of yarn.) This is the heel end of the slipper.
Sew up the toe of the slipper using the other yarn tail, leaving an opening from the heel to the point at which you switched from garter stitch to the rib.
Make another slipper to match the first.
The 31 stitch cast-on should work for most feet; if your feet are particularly wide or narrow you might want to increase or decrease it. The length of the row should be a little less than double the width of your foot at its widest.
The length of the garter stitch portion corresponds to the length of the slipper opening. 40 stitches is a pretty generous opening, but I don't see any big downside to having slippers whose opening is larger than is strictly necessary, so you may wish to stick with it. Alternatively, you could make this section be half of the length of your foot.
The rest of the pattern shouldn't require any adjusting.
For the ribbed portion, you could do (k1p1)x4, k to 8 stitches before end, (k1p1)x4 [assuming that the rows are 31 stitches].
This would have the effect of giving that portion of the slipper a ribbed top while the bottom would be garter stitch for the entire length of the slipper.
My mother hypothesizes that this might make the slippers last a little longer, and it might reduce the slipperiness of the slippers a bit too (although I have a pair done in this pattern and they are still pretty slippery). On the downside they won't hug the foot quite as much.