Family set of slippers

Father’s Day saw the completion of my “family set of slippers for winter” knitting project. Okay, winter is technically over, but it seemed fitting anyway that the fourth and final pair turned into a Father’s Day gift. So last night, we had a Slipper Family Photo (see above) where we all sat together cosily on the couch and our slippers got to know each other. If you like the look of any of these slippers, and would like to make them yourself, here are some pointers.

Possum’s slippers (sunny tweed) – Pattern is taken from “The Children’s Year” and I added some little felt leaves around the heel in autumn colours to turn them into pixie slippers. (This was in honour of his 2nd birthday which was a pixie party.) The wool is very sweet – it’s called ‘magic garden buttons yarn’ and it was one of the first balls of yarn I bought from Clegs in Melbourne, when I started to knit 5 years ago just because I loved the look of it.

Blossum’s slippers (candy pink) – Pattern is adapted from the book “Big book of kids’ knits”. I used thicker yarn (Cleckheaton country 8 ply 2267) and bigger needles to make them larger because the pattern was for baby slippers. I added the heart – just embroidered it on afterwards using chain stitch and matching heart buttons for the strap. Also, because they seemed to fall off at the back, I threaded some of the contrasting yarn around the top edge to gather it in and tied it in a little bow.

My slippers (latte and plum) – Pattern is from needle arts. I used Patons Inca (7024) because it was the nicest beige colour I could find in Spotlight and for the trim, Cleckheaton’s country wide (07). However, Inca’s fairly stretchy wool and the slippers ended up being huge! So I felted them in the washing machine and now they’re really snug! I added the blanket stitch around the top of the slipper because I wanted to add in more of that gorgeous plummy colour.

Father JdV’s slippers (sand and soil) – Another internet pattern: Aunt Maggie’s slippers. I used 2 balls of wool from the local supermarket that cost $1 each on sale! It just said ‘wool acrylic’, but if felt really soft and I thought it was knit up into very manly, earthy looking slippers.

The soles: I’ve left the best bit ‘til last! In “The Children’s Year” book, it suggests sewing leather soles onto the bottom of the slippers. I found some leather scraps in Spotlight, traced around Possum’s foot on some butcher’s paper and cut out the shapes for each foot. Sewing the leather on however, proved to be extremely difficult, even with a leather needle. Then, I had the idea of buying a leather hole-punch. Mitre 10 (Australian hardware store) have them for about $15.
So you go around the edge of the leather punching in the holes, and then you use contrasting or matching yarn, doubled, to sew the sole onto the slipper. So far, the yarn hasn’t worn though and the munchkins have been wearing theirs all winter. Another good idea is to attach the leather sole onto the slipper with safety pins to check that you’ve got the sole in the right place.

Putting a sole onto all of the slippers has transformed them! The kids can run outside onto the dewy grass in the morning, and they don’t get wet. They don’t get holes in. They’re easier to keep clean. Plus, they’re non-slip! Highly recommend it.