Remember those grade-school aptitude tests where you had to
look at a flat diagram with a dot on it and then predict where the dot would be
when the diagram was folded into a cube? I
thought I was pretty good at that, but this pattern completely blows me
away. It’s called Midnattsol’s feltedslippers.
The pattern starts out as a
row of squares knitted in alternating colors with two other squares picked up
and knitted on the sides. When stitched together like one of those cube
diagrams, it makes a bootie shape.
Even
after sewing up four of these, I still can’t see how the shape goes together
until the last seam. I can’t imagine
being able to visualize and design this pattern, but I love the magic of seeing
it take shape.
The best thing about these slippers is that they are felted,
which makes them soft and dense. Felting
is also great because it disguises any minor mistakes and sloppy seaming. Also, the slippers are knit in garter stitch, so,
simple even for a beginner. You could make these for friends and let them felt
them to custom fit – you can control the shrinkage by monitoring the felting
process.
I love the harlequin
design and the way they end up look like jester booties. I used inexpensive but sturdy Paton’s classicwool. Two skeins will make a pair of
slippers with quite a bit of yarn left over.
Because this yarn felts easily, the leftovers can be used in a variety
of ways, which I’ll show you soon.
I’ve already worn out one pair of these slippers and made a
second pair. The simplicity and functionality of this design are genius.
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