Felted Slippers, Fairisle

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I’ve been busy the last few weeks, among other things that is, developing and doing trial runs on a felted fairisle slipper pattern.  I think I have size and proportions down pat now so I’m ready to share.  I’ve had this worsted yarn on hand for several years so I thought it was time to put it to good use.  It’s a bit thinner than most worsted yarns and I wanted a hefty slipper so I chose an alternating 1x1 fairisle pattern to double the fabric weight and it worked wonderfully.

These are probably one of the easiest slippers I’ve ever made.  They can be worn as is or attached to a sole of choice, embellished by adding a faux strap across the instep, some needle felting, bows, buttons, etc.   

My schematic is very easy to read and explains how to knit from the heel toward the toe.  Please ask if I can elaborate on the instructions. 

 

I made the pattern to fit my foot but would be very easy to alter any of the measurements to fit any sized foot, just increase or decrease stitches and rows as needed. Felting is not an exact science, too many variables, so I would suggest making a swatch and felting it first to determine gauge. 

I felted them in the dryer. They took a couple extra 5 minute cycles most likely because of the thickness. And I did find that felting went better with a couple old bath towels in the dryer with them. Love dryer felting!  See my previous post. 

After felting and drying, I inconspicuously weave a strand of woolly nylon thru the toe area, especially over the big toe, which keeps the toe from wearing out too quickly. 

The fairisle patterning left quite long loops of yarn on the edges which left a sloppy seam over the instep and it was quite noticeable after felting. So after I got done seaming and before felting, I used one strand of yarn and loosely went back over the seam and whipped through those long loops. The seam looks fine after I did that. 

Hope you like them as much as I do.