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:

• A set of US #2 double pointed needles
• A set of US #4 double pointed needles
• 4 stitch markers
• A tapestry needle

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...

Weave in the ends and you're finished with the basic bootie!

Embellishing

Use the Duplicate Stitch or basic embroidery to decorate the booties.

I used the Duplicate Stitch on the toes...

...and sometimes on the cuff too.

Here's what this bootie ended up looking like:

Make the other bootie to match.

They're so fun and fast to make, that I made a couple of other pairs. Copy these, be inspired by them, or totally make up your own patterns!

Make a whole set!

Comments

[robin]

These are adorable! My daughter was just asking me about socks for her daughter... but she is 9mo old and her feet measure 4.5 inches. I've no idea about changing knitted projects to make them larger - how would I go about doing this? I'd love to make these for her w/ little flowers on the toes.
Thanks for the project!

[Romy]

I love these. I've been looking for booties for a baby boy and these will be great! Thanks for sharing your lovely work.

[Amy]

So awesome! Can't wait to try to make them. Thank you so much for your generous tutorial. They will be going to a premie who is 3 weeks old today! (hopefully they will be done by the time he is ten!)
Amy in Sebastopol

[Abril]

How adorable!! I was just looking for some easy-but-cute booties for my unborn niece. Thanks for the tutorial.

[Joan]

I really like these...I was looking for a gift for my nephew who is about 4 months old. These would work and look like they work up pretty quickly. Thanks!

[ginger]

Thank you so much for your generous tutorial. They will make wonderful gifts.

[Shelly]

These are some of the cutest booties I've ever seen!

[Kathy Schleicher (aka lakotakat)]

I LOVE 'EM!! Absolutely have to make some for my new niece (now at 9 months, but tiny). We are Native American descendants, and these are just perfect for Christmas! Thank you so much for sharing them and your tutorial (I'm just learning to knit)!!

[karmamama]

I LOVE these - any chance you'll post it with larger sizes? My 19 month old daughter would look so cute in these...

[Lauren]

I made my first bootie today! It looks so cute and really didn't take too much time....considering that I just taught myself how to use DPN last weekend! Can't wait to make a ton! Thanks for the fantastic tut!

[Lue - knitrlue]

Your tutorial is wonderful. It has inspired me to knit some booties and I do not even know of a baby to receive them yet. Maybe they will go into my granny hope chest. Thank you for sharing your talents with your friends!

[LizzieK8]

Is there any reason that the instep sts couldn't just be put on waste yarn instead of binding off and picking up?

The booties are very cute and look to be easy to do. Thanks for sharing!

[purlbee]

Hi Lizzie,

Yes! You can definitely put the heel stitches on scrap yarn or holders instead of binding off. (I didn't do it that way because I thought picking up the stitches would give the bootie more of a moccasin feeling by creating a structured seam where the bottom meets the top.)

I think you should try your idea, which has the beautiful advantage of being easier, and see if you like it. I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks for sharing your ideas and good luck!

Whitney

[sofia]

Thank you so much for the pattern and the instructions. Two friends of mine are going to have a baby in a few weeks, so I will make booties for them. Almost everyday I look your page. Always I find something wonderfull!!!

[scrapy-p]

What lovely socks and brilliant instructions. My niece has just had a very prem baby (ten weeks early) and this pattern is great for keeping tiny feet warm. (will just use finer yarn). Thanks
Scrapy-p

[Adrian Hidalgo]

Thanks for the instructions! I just made my first pair. The first one took me a little while, but the second was a breeze to make. I love them. My friends will be very happy with the booties.. :-)

[Diane O']

I love this pattern and appreciate the detailed instructions and pictures but I really stuck! I can't figure out which 9 stiches to pick up along the insteps since I have 14, from the 14 rows(not counting the last heel round). Did you pickup the last 9 all the way to the toe, leaving the ones for the arch not picked up. Thanks for any help-I 'm not experienced enough to see/understand in advance how the sole construction works..

[purlbee]

Hi Diane O' -

To pick up 9 stitches along the 14 rows of the instep you have to skip a row every now and then. Just try to keep the skipped rows as evenly spaced as you can (pick up 2, skip a row, pick up 2, skip a row, etc).

Picking up stitches is often an imprecise science, causing lots of knitting woes. Luckily, it's a pretty forgiving process and usually turns out great in the end!

Good luck and please let us know if you have any other questions!

Whitney

[Diane O']

I can't thank you enough for the quick response...I will continue on. We have a new grandson arriving any day now!

[Retro Elephant]

I love them!

[Diane O']

I finished them and my daughter in law was thrilled. They are so cute. My older grandson (the big brother) now wants some moccasins too. He is almost 5. Any suggestions for sizing this pattern or is there another one out there for young children?
Thanks again for such a great pattern. I'll be making another pair for my niece, due in September!

[Diana Stafford]

question for anyone who tried these; do they really stay on the baby? my GF is knitting booties for soldiers who just had babies, and she tried multiple patterns on a nephew that simply kicked them off with natural baby kicking motions. If these stay on, I would be thrilled to give her the pattern.

[Jess]

I just made these and they were really super easy to make! it was my first DPN project and I felt like the pattern held my hand the whole way. The hard part for me was doing the embroidery! Now my husband wants a pair but I don't know how to scale up a pattern!

[Miss Muffin]

Oh, these are so cute! I wanted to make them for my baby boy (not born yet) but unfortunately did not have the right yarn at hand ... so I had to make some regular socks from another pattern. But still love the shoes! I put a link to your pattern iinto my blog
http://muffinsnmore.blogspot.com/2009/09/babysocks-done.html

Thanks for sharing such a cute pattern!

[Aairyn]

I made a pair of these and love them! i have been trying to experiment with felting these, but they just get a little too tiny, and my efforts in altering the pattern aren't quite working out. Could you by any chance give some alternate sizing options? the felted version looks so sweet! Albeit tiny and sweet.

[robin]

I would also love to know how to size these up!

[emma]

Help! what does 'ssk' mean. i love the booties and am only having troubles with pattern lingo...
thankyou!

[Abby]

Hi Emma, I noticed your question hadn't been answered - "SSK" means slip, slip, knit and it's a method of decreasing. Purl Bee has a great tutorial here: http://www.purlbee.com/decrease-tutorial/ with lots of helpful photos as always :)

[purl bee]

Thanks Abby! --The Purl Bee

[Miriam]

I have made several sets of these and everyone loves them. However, the babies grow out of them so soon and people are requesting larger ones :) I noticed several people have asked how to size them up and no one has responded to these requests.
Is it too complicated to go into on this post or have you emailed the answers to those that ask? I would love to make some larger ones! Thanks

Miriam

[Yvonne]

These are the sweetest. I will try and make them right away for a friend!
Thank you so much!

[erin]

These are sweet and SUCH a good beginner pattern. this with the ssk tutorial helped me through it all and now I'm the favorite uncle's gf of a new baby boy! here is my take on them (plain and in cotton).
http://latertulia.tumblr.com/post/5413737715/this-is-a-finished-project-for-a-liiittttle-baby
thank you!

[Anita]

People say they WANT to try this pattern. Did you? To the people who have, how did you figure this out?
I'm stuck at the stitches to pick up after making the toe.
9+5+9+9= 32, not 41. Now I have to figure out what stitches to pick up and make it equal to 41 to finish the pattern.

[purlbee]

Hi Anita,

If you read over the pattern again you'll see that you pick up 9 + 9 + 5 + 9 + 9 which does equal 41.

Good luck and thanks for your question!

Whitney

[Elaine]

I wish you would answer the most frequently asked question in this thread: how to size up. If you don't have an answer to it or don't want to share, then say so instead of blowing us off. Thanks!

[purl bee]

To everyone asking about other sizes of this pattern,

We're so happy that so many people are excited about this pattern and want to make it in different sizes! While we'd love to accommodate everyone it does take time for us to write and test a pattern like this so we don't have an ETA on releasing larger sizes. We will try to make them available in the future though.

Thanks everyone for all the nice comments!

- The Purl Bee

[keen]

Hello.
I am new to knitting and have never worked with double pointed needles in the round before. I may sound way dumb but is a pair of dpn's a set of 5? can you maybe give me a little direction on how to start this????

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.
( Do i have to distribute these between the other 3 needles?)

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. ( What does the changing mean? do i start a whole new cast on with the main color and needles?)

I am so sorry if this is way to much to answer. I love these and want to make them as a baby shower gift but have never worked with dpn's.

Thanks,
Keen.

[purl bee]

Hi Keen,

To answer your questions: You will need a set of four double pointed needles for this pattern. Yes, you do distribute the 30 stitches evenly on three needles before you join into the round. And to change to the bigger size needles you just knit that round with the new set of needles.

If you haven't already, you might want to take a look at our Double Pointed Needles Tutorial: http://www.purlbee.com/double-pointed-needles-tutoria/ It might help you visualize the answer to some of your questions!

Thank you so much for taking on this challenge. Please let us know if you have any more questions and good luck!

Whitney

[Shalee]

Your pattern is so darling. I have a friend that delivers 2 laundry baskets full of baby things to her area birthing center, each month. One for a boy and one for a girl. They are given out to new needy mothers, free of charge. These will be something I can whip up for her baskets, using up some of my left over sport weight yarn! I'm sure the new mothers will love them. Thank you so much for your time, the effort and detail you have put into this pattern.

[Lisa Peake]

These booties are amazing! I really want to make some for my moccasin-mad friend, I thought her baby should have a pair too! But I have never used double pointed needles before or done 'knitting in the round' and I am stuck on the first step! After I have casted on 30 stitches, how many needles should I be distributing them across? Hope you can help!

Many Thanks,
Lisa

[purl bee]

Lisa-

Distribute the stitches onto 3 needles (10 on each needle) and then use a 4th needle to start your knitting. You might want to practice knitting in the round a bit on some scrap yarn before you dive in.

Let us know if you have any more questions.

Thanks!

Molly

[Lisa Peake]

Thank you for your response Molly, I found the knitting in the round tutorial very usefull and started the booties after I posted the above post (I figued from the tutorial I should be using 3 needles and the 4th to knit) however I have casted on 10 stitches onto each needle, 30 in total as advised in the moccasins tutorial, is this correct? I have finished the cuff so far so fingers crossed! I may need some help later on!

[purl bee]

Hi Lisa-

Yes, you are totally correct! I read 60 instead of 30 for some reason! (I've corrected my original response.) Thanks for writing in again and don't hesitate to contact us if you need more help.

Best- Molly

[Lisa Peake]

Hi again Molly,

I have just finished picking up all the bound off stitches and have got to the part where you have to purl one round, knit one, purl one. I have done one round purl then one round knit but now when I go to purl the next round it reverses the pattern, Is this what should happen? Many Thanks,
Lisa

[Lisa Peake]

Also, in the next step it says to knit 3 and then place a marker, which stitch would the marker need to go around. Thanks again, sorry for all the questions!

[purl bee]

Hi Lisa-

Question 1- Yes, it should reverse the pattern, you are now at the bottom of the foot which, as you can see in the pictures, is in a different stitch as the rest of the bootie.

Question 2- Place the marker in between the 3rd and 4th stitches.

I hope this helps! Please let us know how it goes. Thanks!

Molly

[Lisa Peake]

Many thanks! I'm back on track.

[Sharon]

I would absolutely LOVE to have this pattern in larger sizes.. I would like to make some for my grand daughters. However, they are not infants one is 4 years old and the other is 6... Would you be posting a variation of sizes on this particular moccasin. I would so love to make some for them and I am wondering if you would even make them for women. I have a size 5 foot. Just hoping you might consider reposting this pattern for larger sizes. Thank you so mcuh!!!.. Love the pattern thank you for posting it.... Waiting anxiously for your reply!!..
Sharon Munday

[pam G]

Can these be made for adult feet?

[Ginger]

Can you use the magic loop to knit these moccasins ?