This is a knitting project I learned as a child. Growing up, my mum taught me and all four of my siblings how to knit our own slippers, and each winter we would make ourselves a new pair. The pattern is easy to adjust for foot size, and requires basic knitting skills. (Marlow has been making baby booties, and she’s able to make a pair of booties in one day.)

Depending on the type of yarn you have, you may want to double up your yarn so you are knitting with two strands of yarn instead of one. This ensures your slipper is thick and comfortable to walk in. (We’ve been using a thicker wool, so one strand of wool is sufficient. In the photos below, you’ll see just the one strand.) We use size 5mm (US 8) circular needles, but you can use regular needles too.

Here are the instructions:

  1. For a child-size slipper cast on 23 stitches, leaving a longer tail — around 10 inches/25 cm. (For an adult women’s slipper, you’ll cast on 29 stitches. For baby booties, you’ll cast on 17.) You’ll use the tail to stitch up the back of your slipper once you’re finished knitting.
  2. Then, you’ll knit 7/purl 1/knit 7/purl 1/knit 7 to complete the row. (For an adult slipper, you’ll knit 9/purl 1/knit 9/purl 1/knit 9/purl 1, and for baby booties, you’ll knit 5/purl 1/knit 5/purl 1/knit 5.) 
  3. On the next row, you will knit all 23 stitches. Then on the next row, you’ll do the knit 7/purl 1/knit 7/purl 1/knit 7 again. On the next row you’ll knit all 23 stitches. Repeat this pattern until you have about 5 inches/13 cm from the cast-on row. (You can adjust this for size of foot. For example, for baby booties, you might just have 3-5cm.)
  4. Make sure you can see the purl side facing, and then knit/purl/knit/purl for the entire row, ensuring the purl stitch matches the purl strip from the first section of knitting.
  5. On the next row, you’ll purl/knit/purl/knit for the entire row. So you’re creating a striped feature which will become the toe of your slipper (see image 2 above).
  6. After about 2-3 inches/5-8cm (again, adjusting this measurement for different sizes of slippers), you will cut your yarn, leaving about 18 inches/45 cm of yarn. 
  7. Cinch or draw up the toe, then turn your slipper inside out, and stitch up the outer edges to create the toe section of your slipper. Knot at the end of the toe section, weave your thread back up and cut the yarn.
  8. With your slipper still inside out, stitch up the back of your slipper with the tail of yarn. Tie the knot and again weave in the tail of yarn. Turn right side out and voila, that’s one slipper done! Now just make your second slipper to complete your set.

 

Hopefully this makes sense. I’ll admit I have never actually written up a knitting pattern before, so I may not be using the technical terms. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out and I’ll try to help!

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