No sooner do I say it ...

Well, apparently I wasn't done with the bamboo booties quite yet! Must have something to do with the yarn - the color is just gorgeous, the yarn seems to glow and glimmer and it is so soft. The bootie I finished looked so great that I just had to make the second one. I also did some poking around the intarwebs about baby feet - the apparently come in a dizzying array of shapes and sizes - if they don't fit today, they will fit one day, and since they are stretchy, they will fit for many days after that.

I got this one out just in time - Bailey Desrosiers was born today at 6:06am! I am not sure if I will get up to see the happy family tomorrow or if my best bet is to mail the knit goodies to the house.

ZOMG!!!1!!1!!ONE!! I love these!

I knit these booties in the Ranco I bought at Nonna’s – I can’t believe how awesome they are! The colors just knock me out. These little things are so funky and cool! I made them in the smaller of the 2 sizes in the pattern – when Rose gets them (and Bailey decides to make her entrance – YOU ARE LATE, little girl!!! LOL) I will ask for some notes on sizing. It has taken everything in me not to run right back to Nonna’s, buy every color scheme of the Ranco that they have in the shop, and then go twitch-nutty knitting more of these. I am thinking that I can do sets of 3 – one set that is 100% Ranco, one set with a Ranco bottom and plain black (or white? Gray?) straps and upper, and one set with plain black (?) bottom and Ranco upper and straps. Ranco is hand-wash so it is not the most practical yarn to knit baby stuff in, but since infants don’t walk a bootie is the least obnoxious thing in this yarn. It is so beautiful; I don’t think people will mind the handwash!

Sleeping Booties

I have been in a bootie frenzy recently (but it may finally be dying off.) There are 2 casualties of the bootie frenzy that will be hibernating on my ravelry.com projects page for the foreseeable future. Not because they are hideous mistakes (they are lovely!!!), but because they each have issues that must be dealt with before they are ready for gifting.

Sleeping Bootie #1 – This was the first one (beside the test bootie) that I cast on to make. This is the set of booties that inspired all that follow – gazing upon their insane cuteness I dreamed of the thousands I know I will be making in the future. I was about 90% done when I made my fatal flaw – I goofed on making one of the straps(you are supposed to cast on AND knit in the same row, someone I know cast on, lost their mind and then jumped to the next row and knit across.) The final nail in the coffin was that I sewed the seams before I noticed. All this one needs is a new strap, a button loop and a bobble button (and then the seam sewn) and it will be ready to stick on baby toes. But, not today. My vision for these is that as soon as I find out someone is pregnant I will finish these off and present them – I will use this as a “test balloon” to see if the new mom is “knitworthy” and then proceed as results dictate.

Sleeping Bootie #2 – This bootie came out GORGEOUS. The color is beautiful and the bamboo yarn is so amazingly soft – it was a true pleasure to knit! I thought the yarn gauge would be “close enough” ( I figured baby can grow into it) but these are a lot bigger than anticipated. I am thinking these will work for an older child … Hailey B. comes to mind! Hailey just had a little sister, Kara, and even though she is taking it all in stride, she needs something beautiful that is just for her! My only hesitation is her age – I would send this lone bootie up to Sandra to have Hailey try it on, but if it doesn’t fit, I am afraid it would be a total tease/let-down/cruel joke for my pal Hailey. I might ask Auntie Liz’s opinion, but until I make up my mind, it sits there is all of its blue bamboo glory, hibernating on my projects page.

1st Pair of Bootees Almost Done

I just have the buttonloops and bobbles to add and my first pair is complete! Rose is due *this* weekend so it is perfect timing. I have been really pokey about my knitting over the past few days - these knit up quickly and if I set my mind to it I am sure I could probably finish these and do 2 more pairs on my day off tomorrow! These things are adorable! I need to experiment with larger needles and other yarn to make these for larger feet.

Bootees!

"Saartje’s Bootees" was one of the first patterns that caught my eye when I joined ravelry.com. They are genius little things and it was love at first sight. Rose is due IMMINENTLY and I want to have a few cute knit items for her as soon as Bailey is born! On Sunday I cast on and got started! I grabbed some Caron Simply Soft and got to work – just wanted to test the pattern out and see how it came together – it is an easy pattern, but some things were a little confusing for me until I was actually doing it. Needless to say, since I didn’t bother selecting the right weight for the yarn they came out GINORMOUS, but it was a test run anyway! After I finished the test bootie, I cast on for the real thing – since Rose hates hates HATES the color pink, I used blue and cream to make the first one. I plan on making more (I have yarn in mint green, cream, white, blue, pink and purple!) and sending her a slew of them in the mail so she gets them right away (I would hate it if I couldn’t get up to see her before the baby gets too big for the booties!)

Another reason ravelry.com rocks – before I got started I pored over the shared projects page for Saartje’s Bootees – I paid attention to all of the different mods other folks made when they knit their Saartje’s Bootees and adopted some of them for myself! Buttons, for some dumb reason, are difficult to come by around here … Walmart is just about the only place that sells them. I have seen a few websites with really cute buttons, but haven’t gotten around to ordering them yet. Someone used bobbles for the buttons and it just knocked me out! Adorable and no need to buy buttons. I decided to try it for myself and I am in love with the result. As of Monday night 1 is done and the next is cast on – Rose is due this coming weekend so if I keep my head down and get some work done I can have a slew to send to her to welcome her and the baby home from the hospital.