Knitting Things For Feet [or, the horrible no good start, with a good ending]

I've a lovely story to tell you today, about terrible distress and despair, followed by a ridiculous amount of confusion, and eventually finding success. No actual heartbreaks, but darned near close to. And, goodness, it was rough and just...burdensome.

Oh, wait. 
This is about knitting. 
And granted, it was rather dramatic, not nearly as bad as I can write it out to seem.

If you watched my video of Christmas knits, you may have caught at the end that I was going to be making the Simple House Slippers for the Mister.
Oh man.

First, the Mister has large feet. He has a specific brand of shoes that he likes, yet they never have the style he likes when we go to the store, so he has had to branch out. But only out of necessity. Because, apparently, his size is on the edge of being not popular enough to keep them stocked in the colors he wants. I can commiserate in his misery, as I have larger feet as well, and there is never as nice of a selection for my size as there is for smaller sizes. It's rough.
Second, I've not yet actually knit anything that was really size specific. You could say that hats are meant to be for an actual size, but head size is, well, not as scientific as feet. If a hat is too large, you can just call it slouchy, or if it's too long, you can fold up the cuff. And, luckily, the hats I had made for Christmas were darn near close enough to size, with a flip of the brim if necessary, and there has been no issue (at least not as far as I'm aware).

But something for feet? That needed to fit. 

And the Simple House Slippers?
Would not fit.

You see, the first try was my own fault for it not working. I thought I could size down the needles for a tighter fabric and just make a larger garter section - the pattern is worked from the heel forward, and the heel section is, basically, a rectangle in garter stitch.
When I got to the correct number of rows (as per the pattern), I was far, far off of what I would need. I added another ten rows or so. Still far off.
I frogged it.
Granted, the pattern calls for a US 6 or 7, and I was using a 5, but that shouldn't be that different, right?

I couldn't look at it any more, and left the yarn hidden away by my desk.

Then, I remembered about the Mukluks pattern (which was a part of Tin Can Knits' free pattern 12 Days of Christmas free pattern thing, which I took full advantage of).
But for adults, it called for super bulky yarn, and I was working with worsted. I thought I was smart enough to do alright, though, just changing needle size and hoping for the best.
Again, I was wrong. I don't even remember how I ended up trying it out, but it was horrendous. Far too small, not at all foot sized, and another disappointment.
Again, frogged.

And the yarn sat again.
Under my desk, this time though, for quite a while. The plastic bag it was in was always in my way, and I would kick it and muck it about (a few times forgetting it was there and having to peek at what I was kicking!).

At this point, the knitting guilt was getting to me.
You see, he was supposed to have slippers for his birthday at the beginning of January. Originally, it was supposed to be worsted weight socks, but we negotiated and agreed slippers would be alright.
It was well past his birthday. He needed these slippers. I was obligated to do it. And I did feel bad for not having done so already (even though he never mentioned it, and only kept prodding me to make a sweater for Little Dog).

So, I took to Ravelry again, in the hopes that there would be some other slipper pattern, some other thing to try (and hopefully not fail at, because I couldn't take another failure).
Lucky enough, I found a pattern! It's the Men's Slipper Sock pattern, and it was written by a dude! For his own feet! Surely, this was exactly what I needed!

And by golly it was. 
Also, why do we not, as a people, say "by golly"? Because it's quite fun.

Anyway, the pattern was a breeze, and I am happy to say I finished them in just over a week. The first one took about a week. I worked on them a bit at a time, and wasn't really sure about it. Plus, I worked them on DPNs, and I've never done much with them (besides the decreases on all those hats I made!) so it was slow going.
But the first slipper was done, and I was chuffed.

The kicker?
It fit! Not perfectly, but it fit all the same. No fault of the pattern, only in our feet. But considering all of the turmoil I'd went through up until this point, I was not going to try again to fix them, only to make the second slipper to match.

So I did.
In about a day. Well, a little over a day. I started it early Saturday night and finished it about dinner time on Sunday.

Granted, the sole bits could be a bit smaller, so there's not extra fabric, and the opening could be a little wider, and not so tall, but that's what you have to deal with, I suppose. Or, rather, that's what the Mister has to deal with. I don't, I'm not wearing them, and they're off the needles. My obligation has been completed.

I'm not done with slippers, though, oh no. That'd be taking the easy way out.
You see, when I originally started all this fluff, I mentioned it to my mom, and she said she would like some as well. And it went without mention for a while, as moms do (and I wasn't going to bring it up because of my bad experience). Well, I mentioned it when I had finished the first of the real pair (because I was so happy) and she mentioned again how she would like some. So, another pair will be made (I'm thinking for Mother's Day, though, so I can have a bit of a break!). Luckily, me and my mom have the same size feet, so I can work them without issue in regards to getting the right size!

And now I'm working on socks.
But that's a story for another day. Soon, I promise, but another day either way.

Do you have any crafting fails (that you would like to share, of course - I won't judge!)? And speaking of socks, do you have any recommendations for patterns to try?

~Havok