Easy Knit Gift Idea: Felted Sailor Slippers!

It feels like it’s about that time of year as I write this, where you’ve either abandoned all hope of knitting all the holiday gifts you had planned to knit, or you just decided, like, yesterday that you wanted to knit some gifts.

If you’re in the second group, or you just want to make something quick and easy to gift that person you don’t know what to give to (or even to have a gift you can pull out if some random person comes to your house with a gift unexpectedly) here’s an idea for you: felted slippers.

The felted Sailor Slippers by Annie Germain are quick and easy to knit in super bulky yarn on size 11 US/8 mm knitting needles.

You start at the heel and work flat throughout, with a few episodes of picking up stitches, casting on and working mattress stitch to sew parts together. The opening is finished with applied I-cord and then the slippers are felted.

The pattern includes a variety of sizes ranging from UK 3 to 12 or EU 36 to 47 (that’s about a women’s 5.5 to men’s 16.5 in American sizing, or women’s 5.5. to men’s 13 in Australia). So how do you pick if you’re knitting a gift? I’d hit somewhere in the middle if you don’t know the person’s shoe size or if you’re not knitting for a particular person.

Hopefully you know them well enough if you’re knitting for them to know if their feet are exceptionally large or small and you can adjust accordingly. Of course if you’re making them for yourself or a family member you can knit to their actual shoe size.

These slippers are meant to be striped, and the designer has a coloring page on her website so you can plan out your colors if you like.

The pattern is rated for advanced beginners because of a few techniques, but there’s nothing too difficult here.

[Photo: Annie Germain]

I rarely understand why something becomes a trend in crafting. Gnomes and geese are both cute I guess, but I never thought we’d be making them for all seasons. (See, for example, this collection of gnome knitting patterns, or these knit geese.)

Another one I don’t totally understand is sardines or little fish more generally. Sure, they’re cute, and the shape is fun, but I had no idea when I was sharing this pattern for a fish-shaped pouch last year that it would become a hugely popular pattern that people are still searching for on the site. It is pretty cute, though, so if you weren’t around then or don’t remember you should got check it out.

Recently another fishy knitting pattern crossed my monitor: the little knit fish from Classical Songbird Designs.

Just as the name suggests, these fish are little, about 4.5 inches or 11 cm from end to end. They look like little sardines and take about 12 yards of sock yarn to make.

You can even make a two-tone fish and use just 6 yards of each color.

This sounds to me like just about the perfect use for the yarn that’s left over after knitting a pair of socks, or a mini skein or several that have been sitting around unused in your stash.

The fish are knit flat in one piece, which makes it easy to stitch on the eyes with more yarn or embroidery floss before stuffing, and you can stitch up the sides while you stuff (though it’s not a very big piece so you could probably stitch and then stuff, finishing with the end of the tail).

Because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one wondering, I measured an Altoids box and as the pattern is written the fish are a little too big to fit in it (the box is about 4 inches/10 cm long). But you could make the fish a little smaller if you want to make a box of them. Or just make a fishy bag to put them in!

You can grab the free pattern for the little knit fish at Classical Songbird Designs.

[Photo: Classical Songbird Designs.]

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