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The Baby Booties of DOOM

This weekend, the Blanket Thief and I were invited to a baby shower (well, technically, we were invited several weeks ago, but the actual event happened this weekend).  And last week, I saw some Magic Slippers that my friend Hot Pink Mama had created, and…well…I have plenty of leftover sock yarn by this point.  Most of it I’m keeping to eventually make a Blankie, but there’s a few skeins that are wool or bamboo or corn based which wouldn’t fit in well with the other wool-based yarns, so Magic Slippers seemed like a great idea.

I pulled out a leftover skein of something – I think it might be Maizy, if my memory isn’t failing me, but I have no idea whether that’s a company or a particular line of yarn or what.  The ball band is long gone, so the color is also past knowing.  Really, the only thing I really remember about this one is that it’s got corn in it.  And it makes really thick, squishy socks.

Given that we didn’t know what gender the baby-to-be will be, mottled purple seemed like a nice, neutral choice.  I read the instructions for the slippers at SockPixie’s blog, turned on some TV, and went to work.

The sole took about an hour – SockPixie says that she can normally whip up a pair in that time, but I think I lost time between using a smaller needle size, slightly sticky yarn, and reverse engineering the pattern (because, er, I didn’t want to go back and look at the actual instructions…).  I bet if I were using larger needles and/or wool-based yarn, I’d come much closer to the pair per hour rate that she’s churning them out…although even then, I doubt I’d really match her speed.  (Reminds self that it’s not a race, really.)

For a bit of perspective, here’s the sole against my fingers.  Keep in mind that I actually have really small hands and the needles are size 0 (2.0mm).

Again, at this point, I didn’t want to check the directions, so while I knew I had to pick up stitches I didn’t remember how many.  I’d slipped the first stitch of every row, giving it a neat selvage edge, so I figured I’d just pick up a stitch per every slipped stitch.  Ultimately, I think I ended up with about 65 or so stitches – and since I was supposed to end up with 62, that sounds pretty good to me.

I loved the way the circular needle wrapped around the sole after the stitches were picked up – it reminded me of a trilobite.

This is where my booties stop looking like the original, however.  SockPixie’s version is knit in garter stitch, I decided to go with stockinette so the cuff would roll over a bit at the top.  I also did different sets of decreases (although that might not actually be noticeable, now that I think about it).

At this point in writing the post, Monkey Kitty walked over the keyboard and managed to make my cursor completely disappear.  Oh, the joys of having cats…although, as you’ll see later, there’s an argument that I deserved it…

Anyway, the top of the booty was much quicker than the sole, and before I knew it, I had a booty!  (Does anyone else think the singular of “booties” is weird looking?  Or, at least, odd in the context of babies?  Although, I suppose, it’s all a cycle – booty calls lead to babies lead to booties…er…anyway…) Here, look at the booty!

Almost instantaneously, the second booty also appeared – it really was like magic!  There was a pair!  And they were sooo cute!  Looking at them, I thought that maybe, just maybe, it would be a good idea to start making babies of my own – you know, so I could have my own sets of adorable little baby booties like this:

At that point, the Blanket Thief declared that we would have to get those booties out of my sight now, and that I wasn’t allowed to make any more of them.  He considers them the Baby Booties of Doom™, and worries about the effects of me knitting more.

I might still make a few sets in secret, though.  They’re just too cute.  Seriously.

As to why Monkey Kitty might be mad enough to make my cursor disappear…well…right now, he’s my substitute baby, so I forced him to try them on.

Turns out, kitties don’t like wearing booties.  They also don’t fit very well.  Who knew?

(Don’t worry, the booties were thoroughly washed before being given to the mommy-to-be.  And, although annoyed and embarrassed, no cats were harmed in the making and photographing of the booties.)

Comments

Comment from Shruti
Time January 14, 2010 at 2:33 pm

OMG YOURS ARE SO CUTE!

Comment from Lookout
Time January 17, 2010 at 6:25 am

MadameDefarge3 and I giggled our way through our 6AM knitting reading this post!

Comment from Baby Walker
Time March 26, 2010 at 8:05 am

Ive only got 8 weeks left to go, until our third baby girl is born. Im starting to get nesting instincts kick in.