Chez Aristote

I am pleased with these slippers. The cold floors of Connecticut almost brought several pairs into being, not to mention the desire to steal these particular ones and wear them around: both hb and I forgot our slippers this Christmas. But they are not for me, they are for my mother, whose feet are only a very little bit larger than mine: I have the third smallest feet in my  family, my mother, the fourth; yet we are both size 9.

She is hard to please, so I hope the packaging will sway her. Our floors in Louisiana are fairly cold too.

I was initially attracted to this particular pattern for slippers because of the shape: they seemed remarkably well thought out, much more elegant than your typical knitted slipper, which seem bulky, baggy, fine for comfort but hardly good looking. Indeed, I had not considered knitting slippers to be a useful thing to do, but the pictures of this pattern, at any rate, convinced me to give it a go.

The pattern is the Pleated Ballet Flats of cocoknits, the yarn only one ball of Karabella Aurora 8. The knitting of these went extraordinarily quickly, perhaps an hour and a half per shoe, despite knitting the soles as a strip of garter stitch, and despite the crazy process of pleating, which involves two extra dpns in addition to the main two needles. (I am proud to say that being on a bus to New York did not impede my nascent pleating ability. Knitted pleats are in fact easier than sewn ones.) Now A. and L., my compatriots at the yarn store, were concerned about the pattern’s worth, efficacy, etc., and rightly so. It costs six dollars to download, which is on the high side for a pdf, not to mention for a pattern, not to mention for a slipper pattern. But I was willing to believe that it could be worth paying for the very involved shaping, not to mention the pleats.

(Balletomanes will no doubt note the failure of my toe to really point.)

Thus these were an experiment in pattern trusting. Starting to knit them, I wanted to make sure that the whole thing stayed on, and that the heel in particular stayed on, and was prepared to modify, perhaps even sew in elastic if worst came to worst. I love how the side of the shoe curves lower at the arch, just like actual pretty shoes, but it did seem possible this was hardly a practical shape for a slipper. So I made one large decision to knit them not in aran but in worsted, a very slightly smaller yarn, but keep the needle size the same. I think this succeeded–the brief wearing I allowed myself proved them determined to stay on, but not constrictively tight or anything. A spur of the moment modification, which was actually pretty important for the final shape of these, was two extra decreases at the top of the sole to make the toe more pointy–I like this a lot. One thing I look for in a shoe is its ability to make my feet feel dainty, or to walk daintily at any rate, and this I think I want to hold on to even in a slipper. The pointed toe–not the dreaded-by-J. extra long toe of office fame, but a decently pointed one–helps.

So, I’m pleased with these slippers. I want some for my own. Black, perhaps?

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