Baby Moccasins - the purl bee

Friday

Nov142008

Whit's Knits: Baby Mocs

These super easy baby booties are such a breeze to knit that a set of three would be a perfect gift. I would love if people used this pattern as a starting point to make booties unique to their own inspirations. Change the colors and duplicate stitch designs to make a set of Christmas booties, Jungle booties, Flower Garden booties, Art Deco booties, Pirate booties - the list is endless! Whether you stick with our Native American inspired moccasins or come up with your own theme, it would be really fun to see the fruits of your labors - please share your links!

Materials

Blue Sky Alpaca's 100% Sportweight Alpaca. (One skein would be enough for at least two pairs of solid color booties, but if you want to encorporate contrast colors, you can use scrap yarn or buy several skeins and have enough yarn for a lot of booties!)

These colors (from the top) are:

Natural White 500
Natural Light Tan 504
Natural Copper 502
Scarlet 518 and
Capri 539

Tools:

The Pattern

Gauge

6 stitches = 1 inch in stockinette stitch with larger needle

Finished Size

3 1/2 inches from heel to toe (to fit infant)

Cuff

With US #2 double pointed needles and the Contrast Color (CC), loosely cast on 30 stitches.

Join for working in the round, being careful to not twist the stitches.

Round 1: *K1, p1, repeat from * to end of round.

Repeat Round 1 four more times.

Changing to US #4 double pointed needles and the Main Color (MC), knit 7 rounds.

Instep

Round 1: K20, bind off 9. (21 stitches)

Round 2: Bind off 1 and place a removable marker (or scrap of yarn) on that stitch, bind off 8 more, k11. (12 stitches)

Put the remaining 12 stitches onto one needle and working just those stitches back and forth...

Work 9 rows in stockinette stitch (ie purl 1 row, knit 1 row), starting and ending with a purl row.

Row 10: K1, ssk, knit to the last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1. (10 stitches)

Row 11: Purl

Rows 12 and 13: Repeat Rows 10 and 11. (8 stitches)

Row 14: Repeat Row 10. (6 stitches)

Bind off (in purl) the remaining 6 stitches.

Sole

With the US #4 needles and the CC and starting with the marked stitch at center of the heel, pick up the 9 bound off stitches of the side of the heel...

...pick up 9 stitches along the instep...

...pick up 5 of the bound off stitches across the end of the toe, 9 stitches along the other side of the instep, and the 9 bound off stitches of the other side of the heel. (41 stitches)

If you haven't already, distribute the stitches evenly on three needles. You can also remove the marker or scrap yarn and just allow the tail to remind you of where the end of the round is.

Purl 1 round.

Knit 1 round.

Purl 1 round.

Next Round: K3, place a marker, k2tog, k11, ssk, place a marker, k5, place a marker, k2tog, k11, ssk, place a marker, k3. (37 stitches)

Purl 1 round.

Next Round: K3, slip marker, k2tog, knit to 2 stitches before next marker, ssk, slip marker, k5, slip marker, k2tog, knit to 2 stitches before next marker, ssk, slip marker, k3. (4 stitches decreased)

Repeat the last two rounds 2 more times. (25 stitches)

Purl 1 round, removing the markers.

Next Round: K3, k2tog, k3, ssk, k1, slip 1, k2tog, pass the slipped stitch over, k1, k2tog, k3, ssk, k3. (19 stitches)

Next Round: Purl to the last stitch, purl the last stitch together with the first stitch of the round. (18 stitches)

Slip the next 9 stitches onto one needle and the last 9 stitches onto another needle.

Use the Kitchener Stitch to graft the bottom of the sole together. (Or if you're more comfortable with a three needle bind off [the end of the 70's Ski Hat pattern shows the steps for a three needle bind off], you can turn the booties inside out and use that.) I used the Kitchener Stitch...