Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday. He is the most incredible man. He LOVES my slippers and I have made several pair. I created a knitted slipper pattern out of super bulky yarn that he just loves. Unfortunately using dpns and super bulky yarn KILLS my hands so I have had to search for a crochet pattern that he likes as well. Hopefully, as part of this year's quest to find the best slipper patterns, I will find one for him.
One thing I have noticed about dad's slippers is how quickly the bottoms wear out. He wears them everyone, inside and out, and it wreaks havoc on the bottoms. For his next pair I am going to try this technique:

I have seen a few posts about this, but like "Tails to Tell" points out many look sloppy in the end. I LOVE how she made a template. I think I would make mine larger to cover most of the bottom.

Watch this video BEFORE trying the plasti dip. I learned a lot about what precautions I need to take. It is also why I like the stencil idea. 

Here are other ways to add gripper soles (without painting weird puff paint blobs on the bottom...ew):
Fancy Felt Soles Tutorial

Sew on kinds (for those whose sewing machine doesn't hate them):
Slipper Grippers

Add on soles:
I have glued on flip flop bottoms (minus the toe thingy). Here are soles to buy.

Check out patterns which include ideas for soles (I have NOT tried these...if you do, please let me know what you think!):

Tailored Crochet Soles and This listing (the same person?)
Old crocs into crochet boots (interesting idea...looks kinda funky, but with some tweaking might be fun)
Flip Flop Base (I have seen these glued onto slippers, but never worked as part of the slipper like this)