Rabid rabbit slipper tutorial

[Annchen]

My boyfriend have wanted a pair of pink bunny slippers since... well... since before I knew him. Since he's a grown man with huge feet, and not a 7 year old girl, he has had problem finding proper footwear. Soo... I decided to make a pair.

2 years and a lot of blood, sweat and tears later he got these rabid darlings:



It's adapted from a simple slipper pattern my grandmother likes to make. I used bigger needles and three strands of yarn to make it nice, hairy and thick. I used 2 strands of a thicker pink yarn and 1 strand of thin hairy yarn in another shade of pink to give some colour variation and to fluff it up. The slippers are made from 8 squares (6 knitted in a row and then 2 picked up and knitted jutting out from that row)... The trickiest part is folding and sewing it together properly.

The basic slipper got a pair of ears, button eyes (big red button + smaller black button), a yarn nose, white pompom tail and felt fangs.

I guess I could write a tutorial if there's interest. The easiest way is probably to just knit up any yarn slipper in a nice fluffy yarn and then pimp it up.

Here's the pattern

You’ll need:
Desired yarn and needles to make a nice fluffy bunny texture.
Tapestry needle.
Sewing needle.
Thread.
4 red flat buttons
4 black flat buttons, smaller than the red ones
A piece of white felt
Black scrap yarn for nose
White yarn for the tail
Lots of safety pins to pin the slippers together before starting to sew. You don’t want to skip this step…

My yarn and needles
Needles: 9 mm (U.S. 13, Imperial 00) Yarn: 2 threads Alaska (100% wool), 1 thread Vienna (90% mohair, 10% polyester). The wool yarn is light pink and I've used both dark and light Vienna. It gives a nice furry effect and since it's not the same pink as the wool yarn it looks more interesting.

The slipper consists of 8 squares and I’m sure the pattern can be found somewhere on the internet. I’ve also seen a pattern using 7 squares. The original pattern used garter stitch but in order to get a nice texture for the rabbit fur on my huge needles I decided to knit the whole thing in stockinette with the purled side out. Another benefit of knitting the whole thing in stockinette is that I can use reversed rows to mark the border between one square and the next. It can also be done by knitting one row with another colour, but I didn’t want that look. You can make 8 squares and just assemble them, but I don’t recommend it if you’re using chunky yarn. The seams will be unpleasant to walk on.

A thinner slipper made using squares that are about 3-3,5 inches (according to my measuring tape) fits my feet and I’m a US size 8 I believe. The slippers are very flexible and as long as they’re knit close enough they’ll fit a wide range of feet.

The pattern I used
Modify CO stitches and rows knitted as needed to get the square size you want.
CO 13 stitches
Knit stockinette for 13 rows
If the next row is supposed to be knit, purl it instead. If the next row is supposed to be purled, knit it. You want a row of purled stitches jutting out from the stockinette.
Knit another 13 rows of stockinette
1 reversed row.
Rinse and repeat until you’ve got 6 squares knit together and then BO.

Pick up 13 stitches along the edge of the second square from the top and knit a square.
Pick up 13 stitches along the edge of the second square from the bottom, but make sure this square is jutting out in the other direction than the first.

Pin the slipper together.
Curse when you realise you’ve done it wrong.
Pin it together again.
Sew all seams and start on the next slipper.

Ears
CO 5 stitches (since my cast on is weird I had to purl the first row to make it look ok)
1. purl all
2. knit all
3. purl
4. knit
5. purl
6. knit one stitch, slip the next one, knit the third and slip the slipped stitch over it, knit the other two (4 stitches left)
7. purl
8. knit
9. purl one, purl the middle ones together, purl one (3 stitches left)
10. knit
11. purl 2 tog, purl one ( 2 left)
Pull the yarn through the remaining ones and cut the yarn. Use a darning needle to fasten the end and shape the ear. Sew the base of the ear together.

The positioning of the decreases decide if the ear will tilt to the left or to the right. Change row 6 and 11 to make the other ear tilt the other way.

Make 2 pompoms from the white yarn and fasten them on the heels. Cut two sets of fangs (or friendly herbivore teeth) from the fleece. Decide where ears, nose, fangs and eyes should go and fasten them.

All done!

I'll try to add a better picture of a slipper to help with the folding process later.

[maryparadox]

Those are really awesome. I don't think I could have come up with something like that, so you should post your pattern! I like how the it's a little angular from the squares being knit together, it gives the rabbit more shape around his head.

[Just_A_Girl]

Hahahaa! Those are so awesome! I think any loving boyfriend would proudly wear fuzzy pink bunny slippers, if his g/f made them, but what guy wouldnt prefer rabid evil bunny looking slippers?  Too cool. Forget my b/f, I want a pair 

[Annchen]

I'll see if I can find any of my grandmothers slippers and take a photo of those. It's a bit tricky to explain the folding process but I'll try to get a tutorial up. It might take a few days, but I'd like it to be understandable.

[knitin.chick]

Those rock!  I'm not a huge slipper fan but I would definitely wear those. 

[prettyfloralbonnet]

hehe!  that is so great, reminds me of the christmas story movie!

[littlepunkkitty]

these are great, if you make a tute i will for sure make these!  yay!

[Annchen]

There, I added the pattern I used. I'll try to edit the post to add a better picture of a folded slipper. It's kind of hard to fold it without knowing what the finished product should look like.

[Shortstuff411]

I love it! 

Bunny slippers, hmm, reminds me of Kevin from 'Blues Clues!! (uk version) 

[Annchen]

Guess who whipped her camera into shape?

I found my first try at the rabbit slipper and snapped a picture to show the construction.



This is a slipper lying on it's side with the seams marked. Or rather the boundaries between squares. If you knit according to my pattern the two side flaps will be square 1 and one of the side squares. The heel square is square two. That should help you fold.

You could also knit individual squares and just sew them together, but you can't use thick yarn unless you want bulky uncomfortable seams to walk on. The above slipper was knitted as individual squares and that's why I abandoned it. (it was also too small ) This also means that you can't trust that slipper to show you how to fold and how the fabric should look after folding...

I hope this was enough clues to get you back on track. Let me know if you want a more basic tutorial and I'll try to take some photos next time I feel like making and folding a slipper.