November 15, 2012

Machine Knit Amazing Siberian Slippers

So I was reading Carla’s blog the other day and saw the cutest pair of slippers she was knitting. Check it out here: http://knittingisaromanticdrama.blogspot.com/2012/11/amazing-siberian-slippers-for-eden.html

Anyway, the pattern intrigued me, especially the increases in the center. I knew I just had to have the pattern. However, after I purchased the pattern, I couldn’t just knit it as written. Firstly, I hate garter stitch on slippers: it feels terrible on bare feet. Secondly, I knew I wanted to be able to knit them on my knitting machine. So I sat down with yarn and needles and made A slipper (yes, I actually only knit one) in a newborn size just to see if I would still like the pattern in stockinet. Loved it! (sorry no picture of that slipper, prototypes don’t photograph well) Next, I doodled and made modifications until I was satisfied that it could be knit on my machine. The final step was to duplicate the slip stitch pattern for DAK and figure out how to trick the machine into thinking my knitting was wider than it is. (BTW, no big trick there, you just tell the computer the final number of stitches, and set the point cams for the final number of stitches. It doesn’t actually matter how many needles are in work in between.)

So, without further ado, here are the pictures of the final (maybe?) slipper:

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First modification I made to this slipper was to knit the sole and back in the contrast color. This wasn’t necessarily a style preference. The pink yarn is thicker than the grey yarn and therefore more suitable for the sole.

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If you compare the front of my slipper to the original pattern, you can see that I had to modify the increases quite a bit to get it to work on the machine. (The machine just will not allow you to make 7 stitches out of 1.)

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Once I am satisfied that I have all the bugs worked out of my pattern I plan to write the owner of the original pattern and ask for permission to publish my pattern. I don’t want break any copywrite laws by publishing it without consulting them first.

Oh, and if you want the original pattern, checkout Chicken Stitches website here:

http://www.chickenstitches.com/amazing-siberian-slipper-knitting-pdf-pattern

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