Grandpa 60’s Slippers

Grandpa 60s Slippers 3

Originally uploaded by YarnDork
Years ago when I was very little, my mom’s dad, we called him Grandpa 60, made us all slippers. He had also knit us dozens of hats, but these slippers were special because he had asked each of us for our favorite color. These were custom made. At the time, I was torn between 2 favorites, green and red, and that’s what I told him. My slippers turned out to be one of my favorite things he ever made for me. I had one red slipper with a green pompom on it, and one green slipper with a red pompom on it. When I taught myself how to knit, after I figured out his hat recipe, I told myself I had to figure out how he made those slippers, so I could make some for my boys. Here’s the recipe.

Pick out yarn and needles to match, maybe a size smaller to be warmer. Cast on enough to measure about an inch or so longer that the foot for little ones, up to 2 inches longer for bigger kids. So, if your kid has a 6 in long foot, cast on 7 inches. Or 8 if you want. They’re slippers. Now, knit in garter stitch until you have a square, then bind off. You could use any stitch, I guess, but I’d avoid lacey ones. Here’s the tricky part. You have to do a little but of origami folding to make this square into a slipper. I’ll do my best to explain it clearly. Fold the square diagonally so you have a triangle. Start at one point of the triangle (not the right angle point), and seam it up to the corner. Continue seaming about 1/3 of the way towards the other point. You’ll sort of have to eye-ball it. I’ve sometimes gone up 1/2 way. DO NOT seam all the way to the other point, as the part you’re leaving unseamed will be how the person gets their foot in. Now for the wonky part. Take the other point, the one you didn’t seam, and fold it down towards the toe, using a similar motion to folding down the cuffs of socks. If you want to be extra cute, tie up the toe point to that cuff point. If you want to be even more extra cure, put a pompom or a jingle bell or something else adorable on there. Presto! Elf Slippers!

These take just a few hours, depending on weight of yarn used and your personal knitting speed. For tiny ones, you can even add some of that squeezable fabric paint to the bottom to make non-slip soles.