Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Warm Paws

Here is a knitting pattern I kind of created. The back story is a gentleman here in town needed some slipper socks for his wife. Mr. P had purchased a pair of slippers off the internet but they were only available during the Christmas holidays and as it was July they were unavailable. Mrs. P has had several strokes and shuffles her feet when she walks. These slippers do not slide off her feet or twist around her foot. All I had to go from was a couple of color photographs of the slippers. This is what I came up with. They are very easy to knit. But, having made four pairs I am rather sick of doing ribbing. To anyone out there reading this, please feel free to post any questions you might have in the comments and I'll try to answer them in a later post. I used Red Heart yarn on these, both the worsted and sport weight, and it worked perfectly.

Shirley's Slipper Socks Knitting Pattern*












Worsted or Sport Weight yarn
Size 6 knitting needles
Yarn needle

Will fit a size 8-9 women’s foot.

Cast on 25 stitches
Work in Rib (k1, p) stitch until band is 26 inches long.
Bind Off

Fold strip as follows and clip edges together:

Top of foot from cuff to toe: 11 ½”
Toe to heel: 8 ½”
Match short edges (cuff) and fold for the heel accordingly.

Sew the long side seams together.
I start at the cuff and stitch down, then I draw the yarn across the toe 3 times to cinch it together (this keeps the slipper from twisting), then stitch back up the other side.

Sew the short heel seams together. I draw the yarn across the heel the same as the toe to keep it from spreading and it makes it fit better.

Fold down the cuff 1” and then loosely stitch around.

Repeat for the second slipper sock.


Please respect my pattern and don't use this to make a profit of any kind. You may however make a copy for personal use, or to hand out for free to a class.

*On November 18, 2007 Shirley passed away - I have renamed this pattern in honor of the woman they were knit for.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really like the way these socks look and wanted to make a pair for my mom for Christmas. Only I'm not certain I'm understanding some parts correctly.

You say when sewing the seam, you sew from the cuff to the toe, then after securing the toe, you seam up the other side. If it's a rectangle folded over, then I'm only seeing one seam where the two sides of the one rectangle meet?

Also, from cuff to toe is only about 16". Should the rectangle be 16" instead of 26"?

And finally, what are the short ends that are sewn together for the heel?
I'm just seeing two long sides the same length for the seam.

Thanks for any clarifications and help in seeing this better. Again, I really love the way your socks turned out.
FM
On one side of the rectangle, you take where the heel would be and fold

Alena said...

I’m glad you like the slipper sock pattern!

Here is what I do: fold the strip in half and pin the cuff edges together (I use those little butterfly clips the girls wear to clip everything together – they are easy to move around and can be bought at the dollar store!) Your strip is now 13” long. Fold and manipulate the fabric so one side becomes the heel. Make sure you know how long your mother’s foot is as this is what you want the length to be from toe to heel. You will end up with about a 1” peninsula sticking out from the length of the sock (this forms the heel). Clip the heel seems and the side seems together.

How I sew the seams: I start at the cuff and stitch down the side edge of the sock (skipping the heel), when I get to the toe I draw the yarn across the tip back and forth and pull it in a little (it makes it look more like a toe and improves the fit), then I sew back up the other side to the cuff. I then seam the heel stitches, starting at the seamed edge, I draw the yarn across the heel like I did the toe for fit and strength, and then sew across the other side of the heel.

Totally confused? It is so much easier to show someone in person how to do this than describe it. Umm, In the photo of the socks – if you look at the one that is standing up you can see the shaping of the sock and how the heel does look like a peninsula. It will take some fiddling with the fabric to get the shaping. Good luck!! Let me know if you have any more questions.

Alena

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for the extra help. I have it now. I now have almost 20 inches on the first sock and am so excited to get them both finished. I'm going to try to add fun fur around the top of the sock. Granted, at the rate I'm going, the gift will now have to be Mom's birthday one. (grin)

Thank you again for putting this pattern out there--it's great.
Flo