Hi I need some help with my first slipper project. I have completed the sole and am completely stuck on how to do the sides. I divided my 10 stitches onto 3 DPNs and then on the next part am I supposed to knit half a row (5 stitches) and place the marker then knit the next five or am I supposed to knit 5 rows place the marker then knit 5 rows? After that how do I pick up the side stitches when I already have a round going? I found a video on how to pick up and knit but that did not cover how to do it in the round. Also would it be easier to do this on circular needles because 122 stitches seems an awful lot to have on 7" DPNs. Please help! (pattern attached)
Slipper pattern help
[I][B][FONT="]Rnd 1 (RS):[/FONT][/B][/I][FONT="][I] K4 (5, 5, 5), place marker for beg of rnd, k4 (5, 5, 5); pick up and k 23 (46, 50, 54) sts spaced evenly across side edge, 8 (12, 12, 12) sts across cast-on edge, and 23 (46, 50, 54) sts evenly across opposite side edge; k4 (5, 5, 5) – 62 (114, 122, 130) sts at end of rnd.
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YOu knit 5 stitches, and then place a marker. This will be the beginning of your rounds from now on. You pick up the stitches as you would when knitting flat. Put the needle through the edge from front to back, wrap as to knit, and pull it through. I suggest measuring where the center of the edge is and making sure that you work half before the center and half after the center for a more even pick-up. You could even divide it into fourths.
If you find that there are too many stitches for dpns, you could use a circular. They probably use the dpns for the childrens’ size and don’t bother to mention that a circ might work for adults.
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I still don’t understand how to do the pickup part. I know how to pick up the stitches but not how it is supposed to be shaped into the slipper. I started doing the round around the whole sole but that’s going to put the cuff in the middle of the sole which obviously isn’t right. Where in the pattern is the top of the slipper done? I think what I need is for someone to explain the actual shaping of the pattern to the finished slipper because right now I really have no idea what part of the slipper I’m doing or how to pick up a flat knitted piece into a small circle. I’m a very visual person so if anyone knows of any videos out there on this that would be awesome…thanks!
Unless… I’m doing decreases at the “front” (middle of the round) and not at the back which will pull the pattern around the top of the foot and leave the back straight up to go into the cuff… which would make sense except that what I’m doing now isn’t right according to the pattern. It said to join the round before going around the sole and I joined it after going around the sole because otherwise I had thread tied in too many places around the needles… anyway I’m still confused 
Yes, I think you now have the shape of the slipper. The decreases with the closely spaced markers are at the toe. As you keep knitting around and decreasing in the area of the toe you are knitting the sides up and at the same time shaping the toe (and top of the foot) and then later also doing a little shaping in the heel. Join the round as it says and pick up the sts down the long side, around the toe and back along the other long side as Ingrid recommends.
I’m not sure what you mean by “…thread tied in too many places…”? You should be doing this continuously with just the working yarn and the single tail from the beginning of the cast on.
I’m sorry my questions aren’t really clear but I just can’t visualize how this is supposed to work. If I join the round as the pattern specifies at the end of the sole then I have a 10-stitch circle already going when it says to pick up the edges of the sole. If I leave the circle open (don’t join it) I can take the circle all the way around the edges by starting with the first 5 stitches, picking up the edges, then ending with the last 5. If the circle is already joined then the 5 and 5 stitches are tied together and I can’t make a big circle because they’re already in their own circle. Are the sides supposed to be picked up between these 10 stitches? I’ve attached a picture of what my project looks like at this point if it’s easier to explain by using this. Thanks for the advice so far.
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BwcgjD_fuxdlYTUxMjk1YzctZmVhZi00YTBkLTg1YTgtOTg5YmY1Njc1MTFl&hl=en_US
When you do the decreases at the front and back, it’s going to round the slipper and shape it to your toe and heel. You’ll end up with a shape similar to the Mary Jane booties that Olha just finished. The slippers are going to look huge. Don’t panic! They will shrink and become felted after you wash these according to the pattern instructions.
Cindy
I had a difficult time conceiving this too and so I tried a small slipper on needlles. I joined the sts and I’ve picked up around but haven’t finished yet (won’t get to it till after work). I agree that conceptually it seems odd to join the round and then go out and expand the round by all the picked up sts.
I think it should be OK to do as you are thinking: don’t join, pick up around the sole, and then come back to the original 10sts (the ones left on the needle after completing the sole portion). Knit 5 of those sts and place a marker for the start of round (that marker should be at the back of the heel as I see it).
I’ll try the “joined round” slipper tonight.
Joined in the round slipper not a success. I think that, as you suspected, you need to pick up the sts around the sole [I]before[/I] joining in the round. Good luck with the slippers which look cozy.
Thanks I’ll see how that turns out. I feel better now
Here’s a similar pattern, Aunt Alma’s dorm boots. This one is knit in the round, but I found it easier to do this on straight needles. You would just have to sew a seam on the bottom sole and the back of the foot. You could use the stitch count from your pattern to do this if you want. That would accommodate the larger size for felting.