Abeyance

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These are all about that little loop. Because once you notice it, the little loop you so often see on the back of shoes or slippers becomes weirdly fascinating. And one day I noticed that loop on a pair of shoes, my brain made a gleeful little noise, and declared ‘ok so, that little loop, but in knitting, alrighty?’ And then I was more or less obsessed until I figured out how to make a knitted version.

Which may or may not have been a reasonable way to behave! I don’t seem to be a very good judge of what’s reasonable. I’m not even especially convinced that these happy little urges should feel reasonable to anyone other than the person indulging them. Though in this case, I do have quite a fair bit of evidence to suggest that I am not alone in wishing to give in to this particular one.

The good news is it’s an easy urge to indulge! All you have to do is knit an unexpectedly long strip of fabric, fold it in half, and start your slipper from there. And just in case the loop itself is not enough to tempt you, I feel compelled to mention there’s absolutely nothing stopping you from making the loop a totally different color from the rest of the slipper.

You know, just in case the thought of a contrast color back there makes your brain make a gleeful little noise of its own...

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General information

This delightfully thorough pattern is tremendously detailed and holds your hand every step of the way. There are pages and pages of step-by-step photos to show you exactly what to expect as you work. It walks you through everything from casting on to forming that perfect little loop to working the tidiest little set of decreases you ever did see!

The pattern is almost absurdly detailed, but it really does mean you can totally make these, even if they look a bit like magic!

Skills & scope

These are surprisingly quick, especially if you use a thick, cozy yarn. You’ll start out working flat, then transition to working in the round. And much of the process will feel familiar if you’ve ever worked top down socks.

The pattern uses charts, so you will need to know how to follow a knitting chart.

Yarn, gauge & sizing

The slippers come in three sizes (40 to 48 stitches around the ball of your foot) and is written for four gauges (from 4.5 to 6 stitches per inch in half stitch increments).

That means you can use any weight of yarn from dk up through bulky, and there will be a size to fit pretty much anyone’s foot. The thicker the yarn, the sturdier and more slipper-like they’ll feel, the thinner the yarn, the more sock-like they’ll feel.

The slippers in the picture used about 200 yards of a dk-weight yarn. I recommend having about 250 yards of yarn on hand, just to be safe. You can absolutely work the heel band with a contrasting yarn if you want!

Tools & supplies

You’ll need needles that let you work in the round (circulars or DPNs) in whatever size lets you get a fabric you like with your chosen yarn plus the general knitting tools you need for most projects (scissors to cut your yarn, a darning needle to weave in ends, the occasional stitch marker or bit of scrap yarn to hold stitches). You’ll work part of your fabric flat, and part in the round. Some people get a different gauge working flat versus in the round, so if that’s you, be sure you change needles as needed to keep the same gauge throughout.

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