If you’re a regular here, you might remember my post about my ill-fated watersock mary jane slippers…
After the first slipper disaster, I took a break from slippers altogether, made some baby booties and hats to get my confidence back up, and then I attacked the Twinkle Toe pattern Kristine recommended from Ravelry. The photos on Ravelry are so cute, and I’m using Comfy which is so soft and lovely, what could go wrong?

Kelley (and Xena) helped me cast on at craft night last week (I’d never done a provisional cast on before, in fact, until just now I thought it was called a provincial cast on and therefore must be some fancy French way of doing things!), and she showed me how to wrap and turn. She was slightly suspicious of the pattern’s recommendation for size 6 needles, but I printed it out and showed it to her as proof, and we forged on.

Once again, I should have listened to Kelley. I’ve completed the toe and started the body of my slipper, and it is very evident that these are going to be WAY too big for me. Or any other woman I know. In a desperate attempt to avoid frogging them, I asked Brett if he might be interested in a pair of soft, lilac, lace up slippers, but he politely declined.

As I was obliviously knitting along, I thought I was doing okay, possibly even erring on the small side because the gauge for the pattern is 22 sts/28 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch, and my slipper is knitting up at 20sts/26 rows. However, the width for the finished slipper on Ravelry is 4 inches, and mine is 5… How did I manage that? I suspect I may be a very loose knitter. Could that be the problem?

Yesterday I was determined to knit on, finish the slipper, and then make the second one smaller. But having slept on it, I’ve accepted the fact that I need to start over. It’ll give me another opportunity to practice that sneaky wrap and turn business again. But how do I make my slipper smaller? Smaller needles? Follow the toddlers version of the pattern and hope I make the same mistakes and those end up fitting me? At it’s very widest point, my foot is only 2 1/2 inches, maybe 2 3/4, so these are currently roughly two times too wide for me but my foot is 8 inches long, so the toddler pattern is probably not actually a viable option. I just measured my foot at work with a ruler. I clearly need guidance. Help! <