While I was making a pair of Christine's Baby Booties (the bootie above was made by one of the students) for a class at Westport Yarns, my husband remarked that he'd like a pair of booties. I'm sure he thought he was just making conversation. In my mind though, booties would be a much simpler thing to accomplish than the sweater he wanted me to knit him.
I super sized Christine's Baby Booties pattern. Below are the rough details of what I did. No one test knit them, so keep that in mind if you decide to make them.
I started with what the length of a sock would be for him and knit the sole about 1" shy of what the total length would be because the purl rounds add to the foot length and width. The height of the foot is up to you. These were a surprise, otherwise I would've kept trying it on him. It's better that it comes out slightly smaller and stretches to fit then starting out to big. Right now they look a little like what Herman Munster's slippers might have looked like.When in doubt, I figured I could lightly felt it if it came out too big. This would've been risky though.
Super sized Baby Booties
Size: Approximately fit men's shoe size 10.5 - with some stretch.
Yarn/Notions: 2 skeins of Tahki Montana: 100% pure wool, 130 yards, Super Bulky 2.5 sts/1", US #11 needles (I knit loosely): 5 dpns and/or 40" circular for magic loop, stitch markers, yarn sewing needle, large crochet hook, non-slip fabric paint for bottom of booties or suede slipper bottoms.
Gauge: Shockingly I did not gauge, measured after the fact: 11 sts/4" in garter.
The Pattern:
Sole:
Cast on 8 sts and knit 54 rows of garter (27 ridges). Pick up 27 sts along length of booties, 8 sts from cast on, 27 sts along length of booties, knit across 8 live sts. Place a marker for beginning of round. 70 sts.
Foot:
Work 3 rounds of purl.
Next work knit 1 purl 1 ribbing for 10 rounds. In hindsight this could have been 1-2 rows less.
Toe/Instep:
Work short rows as follows: Turn work and knit across 7 sts just knit, ssk (1 stitch from 8 at top of foot, 1 stitch from length of foot). Turn, slip 1, knit 6, k2tog (1 stitch from 8 at top of foot, 1 stitch from length of foot). Turn.
Row 1: Slip 1, k6, ssk. Turn.
Row 2: Slip 1, k5, k2tog. Turn.
Repeat Rows 1 & 2 until there are 16 garter ridges for top of foot. 38 sts . Adjust for desired length of instep/width of ankle by knitting more or less short rows.
Ankle:
Place new marker for beginning of round and resume knit 1, purl 1 ribbing so that the ribbing lines up with the ribbing pattern on the foot. You may need to pick up 1 stitch at the gap where the ribbing meets the instep in your first round. In second round, k2tog at same place to keep ribbing pattern.
Work 6 rounds of ribbing.
Next round: *k2tog, yo*; rep from * to * around ankle to create eyelets for ties.
Work 5-6 rounds of ribbing.
Bind off loosely.
Ties:
Chain 60 sts. Fasten off. Weave through eyelets.
Weave in ends.
Add non-slip sole treatment of your choice or the wearer of the booties will be doing their own rendition of "I love Rock n Roll" from Risky Business.
Feel free to totally personalize the booties to fit the wearer. I'd love to see what you come up with.
2 comments:
Oh! Very cool.
I might have to queue these. But downsized for myself.
I love that you supersized these baby booties. I have seen so many great bootie patterns I thought I would love for myself. *G* I made these following your pattern, except I used worsted weight yarn and size 10 needles. They turned out a great fit for me, with plenty of room, without stretching! I would guess my materials change resulted in a women's size 7 - 8.
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