Wee winter booties (with pattern!)

 Wee winter booties knit for little boy Gus who turns 3 months old this weekend. I knit these using my favorite baby bootie pattern ---with some scraps of washable sock wool and pure angora. Angora washes ok in a washer on cold--angora doesn't shrink much at all I have discovered.

I love this pattern because these booties stay on very well--and all the Mom's whose babies I make these for tell me they just love them! This is a very old pattern...and is attributed to several sources. One version I have calls them  "Stay-On Booties" but I like the title "Wee Booties."

Of course if you knit this same pattern with worsted weight yarn and larger needles you get a bootie  to fit about a 1 year old. I used sock yarn or fingering weight for this pair...to fit a newborn to 6 months size little one. I have knit these also for summer babies using fingering weight cotton yarn.

In case you want to try to knit these, here is the pattern. Sorry I'm not sure how to make it into a pdf file...but you can copy and paste this into Word with no problem.

WEE BABY BOOTIES

 Size #2 double pointed needles---I use 5 needles for this pattern--you will see why.
Sock or fingering weight yarn

Cast on 10 sts. Knit 32 rows, always slip the first st with yarn in front.
Count 16 ridges, then pick up and knit 16 sts on each side of the rectangle you just knitted and 10 sts on the other end of the rectangle.

1) Join and knit 1 round
2) Purl 3 rounds
3) Knit 4 rounds
4) Change color (if desired) and repeat row #1
5) Purl 3 rounds
6) Knit 4 rounds
7) Change color (if desired) and repeat row #1
8) Purl 3 rounds
9) knit 4 rounds
10) *knit 9 sts, then knit last st together with 1 st on the edge (edge st is on the long needle that has 16 sts on it). Turn.
11) Slip first st, purl 8 sts, p 2 tog (the 10th st and the edge st). Turn.*
12) Repeat * to * until you have 10 sts on each needle = 40 total sts.
13) Knit 4 rounds
Make holes for ties:
14) Knit 2 sts, yarn over, k2tog for entire row
15) Knit 2 rounds--40 sts total.
16) K2, P2 about 15 rounds (or until you think the top of the booties is high enough)
17) Cast off loosely.

I-cord Knit ties (or shoe lace)
1) cast on 3 sts
2) Put all sts back onto left needle (or if using double pointed needles slide to opposite end)
3) Knit 3 sts
4) repeat row 2
5) Knit 3 sts
repeat these 2 rows until tie measure 18" long, then make another tie
(Note: you do not turn your work. Your working yarn comes from the furthest left and it feels very wrong and weird. Just do it!;-)

I can knit a pair of these in about two evenings now...so go ahead and try some! If you have an trouble shoot me an e-mail and I will help you, but these are pretty simple. And then give them to the favorite baby in your life---the Mom will love you!

"Never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about."-- Author Unknown