Pattern: Old World Jester Booties by Gryphon Perkins from Interweave Knits, Winter 2006 (available only through Interweave’s website), smallest size.
Yarn: Nashua Creative Focus Worsted in Brilliant Blue and Harvest
Yardage: Not very much
Yarn Source: Iris Fine Yarns in Appleton, Wisc.
Needles: Knit Picks Classic Circular in size 2 (3.00 mm.), Addi Turbo in size 3.00 mm., and bamboo dpns in size 3.00 mm.
Gauge: Didn’t bother to check
Modifications/Comments: Now that these are finished, I’m quite fond of them. All the little jingle bells that I painstakingly sewed on with invisible thread make quiet tinkling sounds when you move the booties around, and they’re just so darn cute I can hardly stand it. I can imagine a tiny baby in these booties, just old enough to be kicking, finding the colors and noises that result to be highly entertaining.
I wish that I had enjoyed making these booties as much as I enjoy having them finished, but unfortunately they were kind of a death march. This was not at all the designer’s fault — the pattern is easy and quite clever, and it should be a breeze for any intermediate knitter. The problem was the combination of yarn and needles that I employed. The bootie pattern calls for a 2.75 mm. straight needle, with 2.75 mm. double-pointed needles to be used for the I-cord dangly bits. I don’t have any straight needles smaller than a size 4, but I do have metal circular needles from Knit Picks in 3.00 mm., so I used those for the first bootie. I also substituted for the yarn, since I thought my blue and orange Nashua leftovers from the Buster sweater would be just the thing color-wise. The problem is that when you combine single-ply, lightly spun worsted with sharp, tiny metal needles, the result is splitty, fiddly knitting hell. And it makes your wrists hurt. I actually enjoyed the I-cord part of the pattern best because I could use my bamboo dpns, which worked like a charm. For the second bootie, I remembered that I had a set of Addis in a 3.00 mm., so I used them instead. They worked out better, but they still made my wrists hurt, and they were pretty much worthless for the p2togtbl maneuver.
If I were to make these again, I’d find a way to do it on bamboo needles. But in any case they only took a few hours to make, and all is forgiven when I gaze upon the cuteness of the booties.
i printed that pattern last night! they are super cute- thanks for the pic of the front of the booties (the pattern pic only showed the back)
Thank you so much for showing me your bootie photos! Mind if I post them in a gallery on my blog (or rather, start a reader gallery with them, since no one else has sent photos)? It will be here: http://sanguinegryphon.blogspot.com/2006/11/booties.html
And thank you also just for the link to your blog, which I really enjoyed reading. Your patterns are beautiful and you write very well.
Oh my gosh, those are too cute! I can just imagine a little baby sitting and shaking their feet back and forth like bells…
These booties turned out so cute! I’m a little concerned about the safety of the bells – in case baby can pull them off – so it’s really important to secure them well! But they are cute, cute, cute and easy to make and felt.
I’m knitting these for my little one, due next month but, I don’t think I’m reading it correctly though. When doing the Sole, it states to start with 38 stitches (19 of each color) and basically add 4 sts every other row (RS) until you have 62 stitches total. If I do that, it only takes 13 rows to get to 62. Then I am to start working the upper. This doesn’t seem like it will make the sole of the shoe large enough. Am I looking at it the wrong way, or not adding enough rows??
thanks so much! And congratulations on your new little one!!