Itty Bitty Baby Booties

While I've been mostly off line for the past month or so, I have been playing around with the sock knitting recipe (scroll down). These booties, which I knit for Jobie's baby shower present, were based on the sock recipe I used to make Vigo's socks.

I knit them on 000 size double-pointed needles, with mandarin Petit brand 100% cotton yarn color 4300, which I got in the sale basket at Mind's Eye. (They're having a sale next week.)

I ribbed the foot, thinking that might help the booties stay on better. I also closed the toe by making three decrease points rather than two. I found that for the gusset of a child's sock it is best to decrease on every round rather than to knit around every other time.

To see the pattern, read more.

Itty bitty baby booty
needle size 000
manderin petit brand cotton yarn, fingering weight
gauge 3.5st per cm.
Cast on 36 onto dpns
knit 8 rows
knit 10 rows of double ribbing
seperate half of the sts onto needle for the heel
and the other half onto needle for instep
knit a square for the back of the heel.
turn the heel
Purl to the middle of the row. (If you have an odd number of stitches, purl the middle stitch, too.)
Then, p1, p2tog, p1, and turn.
Slip 1, k back to the middle, k1, SSK, K1, and turn.
Slip 1, P back to the middle, p2, p2tog, p1, turn.
(You should be doing the p2tog across the gap created by the slipped stitch.)
Slip 1, k back to the middle, k2, SSK, k1, turn. (SSK across the gap.)
Slip 1, p back to the middle, p3, p2tog, p1, turn.
Slip 1, k back to the middle, k3, SSK, k1, turn.
And so on, until you reach the edge of the heel. If you haven't finished with a purl row, then turn your work and knit across
Pick up stitches on the side of the heel -- 1 stitch for every 2 rows.
Knit across the instep stitches that you set aside earlier.
Pick up more stitches on the other side of the heel (the same as on the first side of the heel).
Knit one row around in order to get things moving again.
Re-arrange stitches on your dpns
The round now begins in the middle of the heel, and instep stitches should be kept on their own needle(s): 1 needle if using 4 dpns, 2 needles if using 5 dpns.
Knit the Gusset and Foot
Now, decrease away the extra stitches.
Starting from the middle of the heel, k all the way up the side of the heel and K2tog the last two stitches at the side of the heel.
Knit across the instep needle(s).
SSK the first two stitches on the other heel needle and finish
knitting the round.
Continue until you have 36 stitches again.
Knit 10 rows of double ribbing
knit ten rows
Toe decrease
Rearrange the sts on four needles so that you have nine stitches on each needle, as if making a square with one side being the instep, another the bottom of the foot, and the other two the sides.
round one
on the first needle:
knit two together, knit until the last two stitches, ssk
on the second needle:
knit two together, knit until the last two stitches, ssk
on the third needle:
knit two together, knit until the last two stitches, ssk
on the fourth needle:
knit two together, knit until the last two stitches, ssk
round two:
knit around
repeat the two rounds until you have only three stitches on each needle. Close the toe by cutting the yarn about 20 cm from the bootie, then with a yarn needle, slipping it through all the stitches and pulling it all together from the inside like a drawstring. (the same way you close a simple hat).