Materials:
Materials will depend on your choice of yarn thickness and the size of your finished slipper. It's fun to gather up oddments of your favourite yarn and make these slippers in all kinds of different stitches and colour patterns, just don't forget to swatch first!

Method:
First you will need to measure the length of your (or the recipient's) foot.
We will call this measurement L.

NOTE: If you have thick ankles (like me) measure the circumference of your ankle and the length of your foot. Use the larger measurement as L.

LINING: Make 2 the same
Now we will make the lining because if you make a mistake it won't show!

Knit a tension swatch in your chosen yarn and stitch and write down your tension for sts and rows over 10cm.

Now for some mathematics...
We will begin by knitting the base and sides of the slipper which are simply one big square. The diagonal measurement of this square will be L plus 2cm (4/5 inch).

Using this measurement, work out the length of the sides of the square.

Either draw it or use Pythagoras' theory to work it out, as shown in the diagram.

Work out the number of sts and rows you need to knit this square. If your number of sts or rows is odd, add one st or row to make it an even number. This will become important later on.

Using your chosen technique (hand, frame or machine knit), knit this square but do not cast off.

Cast off half the sts.

Change colour if desired and finish knitting the row.

Continue knitting for half the total number of rows worked for the big square, counting the row where you cast-off half the sts as the first row.

Cast off.

You should now have a strange looking L-shaped piece of knitting.

Hand-Knit Version

Using your chosen colour pick up and knit half the sts on the right hand side of the cast on row and the same number of sts up the right hand side of the square, as shown in the diagram.  Work half the number of rows as you did for the base. *  Cast off.

Frame and Machine Knit Version
Pick up half the number of sts along the right hand side of the cast on row, as shown in the diagram for the hand-knit version above, and knit half as many rows as you did for the base.

Pick up the same number of sts along the right hand edge of the square and knit the same number of rows.

Cast off. *

You should now have a piece of knitting that looks like this:
 

Join the seam indicated with a neat mattress st and continue with the general directions.

All Versions
Outer Slipper: make the same.
Work as for the lining up to * using a measurement of L+4cm (1 1/2 inches) for the diagonal of your base square. If you are using a very chunky yarn you may want to make this measurement slightly larger.

Hand Knit Version
Do not cast off.

Change to smaller needles and work 10cm (4 inches) of ribbing for a child's slipper, or 15cm (6 inches) for an adult's slipper.

Cast off using larger needles.

Frame and Machine Knit
Rehang the cast of edge of both small squares just worked on the outer slipper and work 10cm (4 inches) of ribbing for a child's slipper, or 15cm (6 inches) for an adult's slipper.

Cast off loosely.
 
MAKING UP:

You should now have two pieces of knitting that look roughly like this, and two pieces without ribbing.  Sew all seams using a neat mattress st, matching the letters, ie: Sew the side marked A to the other side marked A, B to B, and so on.  Slip the lining of each slipper inside the pieces with ribbing, making sure that you have the wrong sides facing each other.  Sew a st through both layers at the toe to secure. You might also like to sew around the edges of the soles to avoid movement in the lining when the slippers are being worn.

Finally, fold over the ribbed cuff and sew neatly to the lining, making sure not to pull the sts too tight.

Decorate the front of the slipper with a pompom if desired.

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