How to make felted slippers

Felted Slippers

use 100% wool not too fine nor too thick - I used Aran

Sizes (2-4 years) 6-8 years (10-12 years) Women's (Mens)

Cast on (48) 52 (56) 64 (68) stitches and knit using anything from 5.5 to 7mm needles (I used 6.5mm needles as I am a tight knitter)

When the work measures (12) 12 (13) 13 (14) cm's

cast off (8) 8 (8) 10 (10) stitches on each side.

Continue knitting until work measures (18) 21 (24) 28 (31) cm's from the very beginning.

To form the toe: Knit 2 stitches then knit 2 together, repeat until the end of the row.

Knit 2 rows.

Then knit 1 stitch, knit 2 together, repeat until the end of the row.

Knit 2 rows.

Then knit 2 stitches together until the end of the row.

I then knitted 2 more rows.

Cut the thread and pull it through the remaining stitches, leaving a long thread for sewing the top of the slipper together.

Sewing up the slippers: (Photograph via the website of Hilde - http://granheim2.blogspot.co.uk/)

 

Sew together the back of the slippers, from bottom to top, avoid creating any lumps or these will be hard in the felting. Sew together the top, from the drawn through thread of the toe area up to the bottom of the ankle.

Felting: These are now my instructions for how I did it.

You can felt the slippers along with one piece of washing such as jeans or a towel (which may end up with fluff on them). It has been suggested by other felter's that putting the slippers in a laundry bag or a pillowcase, will prevent a build up of fluff in the washing machine drain. Washing powder and condition can be used. Wash in the washing machine at 60C.

If you feel it hasn't felted properly i.e. it still looks too much like knitting, re do them.

Carefully stretch to the length you think you need before gently pulling onto your feet to shape whilst wet. I left mine on for about 5 minutes. Then carefully remove them and reshape if necessary. They were then left in a warm room for about 3 days. You can wear them now.

Hilde states - “The first pair of knitted+felted pair of slippers is always the difficult one, and it will be a kind of a experimental pair... You will learn from the first pair how much the yarn felts, and how your knitting felts.

The size of the finished slippers should not fit too tightly, but have a little bit of room around the foot. When stretching the felted slipper whilst still wet, make sure the opening is wide enough for the foot go easily into the slipper.

Once you have felted+dried the first pair and seen how they ended up, the next pair will be easier. The slippers may look really huge when finished knitting, but you will be surprised by how much they shrink during felting! If for some reason you are not happy with the finished felting, and the slippers still are too big and the felting is not tight enough, just felt them again and they will shrink and tighten more”.

If they get dirty, Hilde suggests washing them in the machine but only on a wool cycle.