So Attempt #2 at making some baby booties that will actually fit a baby and I discovered the coolest knitting technique yet! It's called double-knitting. (I think. That's what I call it anyway!). And it's easy! And it works! It's like magic ....
For the booties you cast on 24 stitches onto one needle*. Then using another needle you simply K1, S1** for the entire length of the row. When finished with the row, turn and repeat. Only this time because of how the row is set up, you'll be knitting the slipped stitches and slipping the knitted stitches. And you continue on like this and it creates an inside-out pouch in which for one row you're knitting one side of the pouch and for the next row you're knitting the other side of the pouch ...when in fact, you're simply knitting on the same needle! Hello?!! ... BRILLIANT!! Who comes up with this stuff???
Check it out:
Here's a photo showing all the stitches on one needle. It's just two needle knitting (K1, S1) til you reach the desired length (for this pattern ... 2 inches)
Once you've created the length you want, you transfer all the current "knit" stitches onto one needle and all the current "slipped" stitches onto another. With the stitches separated onto two needles you can open your pouch like this:
Then you do the heel which ends with a 3-needle bindoff (that was a new technique for me too) and it looks like this. Which to me ... looked WIDE! And I was thinking .... what kinda screwed-up pattern is THIS? That looks ridiculous! That won't fit a baby's foot!
But THEN .. as per the pattern, you turn it rightside out at this point and voila ... the extra width goes away and creates the foot height. Again ... magic I tell ya......
The directions for the cuff made absolutely no sense to me so I fudged it (shhhh!) and just did K1, P1*** ribbing for 5 rows. And here ya go.....
With a little ribbon to hide the flaws .... errr, I mean ... to fancy it up .... and LOOK! .... my first ever knitted baby booties!!!!!
* pattern taken from the book Last-Minute Knitted Gifts.
** K1= knit one. S1= slip one.
*** K1= knit one. P1= purl one.
5 comments:
Does this mean I will get baby booties? Real, honest, will-fit-a-baby, baby booties???
Or...erm...are they for some other pregnant chick I don't know about??
Can't wait until this nausea thing goes away and I can knit again. Sigh.
Wow, how cute!!
Almost makes me want to have another one (NOT).
Great job, and I love the little ribbons.
correct me if i'm wrong but it seems to me that you like the pattern because YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO PURL! (except for where you ribbed the cuff) of course, i may had read this whole thing wrong because i seem to have developed pattern-impairement (like a whole lot of other knitters out there).
the booties are adorable (and you're doing a bang-up job with the instructional photos).
Dude, are those the booties from Last Minute Knitted Gifts? I tried knitting those, and I ended up with the cuffs coming out the side of the foot. I'm talented like that. :(
Anyway - those are super cute, and not at all mutant like mine...
Libby- I hear ya. I don't think it was you. I could make NO sense outta the cuff part via their pattern. So I just made up my own. Seems to work just fine.
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