Pattern: Linen-stitch Kimono Booties

These booties are modelled on Chaussons mignons by Pruline (Ravelry link).  They should fit an 11cm foot, which is 9-months-old for my small baby.
You may make the sole as long as needed for your baby and, at the sides, cast on about 3 stitches for every cm of sole.

Linen stitch kimono booties

A tunnel shank button

Linen stitch is a woven stockingette stitch. The weaving is formed by slipping every other stitch with the yarn in front of the work. It is usually done with a two-row phrase of slipping every second stitch in one row and every first stitch in the other.

Needs

• Two small buttons, preferably tunnel shank
• About 80cm of matching thin elastic. 
• 3.75mm needles
• 50g Aran yarn (10ply). The example uses Debbie Bliss Aran Cashmerino in grey (colour way 28).

Tension

12st x 43rows = 4cm

Abbreviations 

CO = cast on

K = knit

P = purl

sl1p = slip 1 purlwise

st = stitches

yb = take yarn to the back of the work (away from you)

yf = bring yarn to the front of the work, between you and the work.

Bootie body 

Sole

CO 15 st (leave a long tail for construction)

Row 1: *P1, yb, sl1p, yf* - repeat ** to last stitch, P1

Row 2: K2, *yf, sl1p, yb, k1* - repeat ** to last stitch, K1

Repeat these rows (linen-stitch) till work measures 10cm (4" - approx 42 rows), finish with a knit row.

Sides

Next row: turn, extend work by CO 30 st purl wise. Do not turn - work these stitches as normal as follows: P1, * yb, sl1p, yf, P1* - repeat ** to end.(45 sts)

Next row: turn, CO 30 st knit wise, then, without turning, work these stitches as normal as follows: K1, *K1, yf, sl1p, yb,*, repeat ** to last two stitches, K2 (75 sts)

Continue in linen stitch until new section measures 5cm (2" - approx. 25 rows) (or as long as your original cast on is wide). 

Finish with a knit row and cast off as follows:
P1, *yb, sl1p, pass first stitch over slipped stitch to cast-off 1, yf, P1, cast off 1* - repeat ** to end.
Bind off with a long tail for construction. 

To make up:

Hold your work so it looks like a T, purl stitches facing up (linen pattern down). The up-down part is the sole, with a bar across the top being the back and sides. The instructions describe making up each bootie as though it's facing you, with the toe pointing towards you and the heel away.

Baby's Left bootie

Take the left arm of the bar and fold it so that its short edge matches the end edge of the stem (the toe). Fold the right arm over to sit on top of them. Match the length of the toe edge and the corners. Whip stitch from left to right (big toe to little toe) through the three layers, continuing down the right side. Whip stitch down the left side (from big toe to heel). 

Baby's Right bootie

Arrange as for the left bootie but overlap the bar arms left-over-right, stitching from right to left and down the left side, and then stitching the right side. 

Both booties

Count 18 stitches from the toe on the upper layer of the bootie and flag this stitch with a safety pin. Count 40 more stitches, along the back if the bootie, and flag this stitch too.

Take one end of your elastic and tie it to your button.  Use a yarn needle to thread the other end through the hem, beginning at the one marker and finishing at the other. The elastic in these booties is threaded through the edge for the first and last 8 stitches, but through the purl stitches below the edge around the heel, to pull the bootie up the back of the foot. 

Tie a knot where the elastic exits the hem. Make a loop, using about 1cm of elastic, by tying the end in a grannie knot behind this first knot. 

Thread the ends of the elastic into the inner sides using the purl loops inside the bootie.

D176: Neat feet

One of the great things, if not the great thing, about these booties is their simplicity.  It's a big T shape crossed over and sewn.  Badabing, that's it.  And as sweet as the symmetry is, feet just ain't symmetrical in the same way.  I mean they are symmetrical, just to each other and not in themselves.

Consequently, I've pitched these just a bit too small for Bub, and I think they'd work best on a foot about a centimeter shorter.  Which is no biggie, but there you go.  

Some excellent friends of ours had the good foresight to have their first girl about 364 days after ours, so all our handmedowns will be seasonally appropriate!  It may seem silly, but knowing their little girl may get some wear out of these come next June is enough to make it worthwhile for me! 

Here I am trying to get the placement of the elastic and button right.  I thought I'd centre it, initially, but the foot shape doesn't suit it so I'm trying to figure out which way and how much to adjust and create some balance.

I decided to thread elastic all the way around, rather than just on either side, or even using a yarn or elastic loop (too fiddly).  Green is not my first choice for button colour, but the set-in shank is.  I thought a regular eye-hole button would be awkward and bulky with the elastic and a regular long-shank button would be uncomfortable when crawling.

I'm currently trialling the elastic being threaded below the cuff at the back, to counterbalance the roominess in the corners.  Anyway, still a bit of remaining trial & error that bub hopefully has the patience for!

Pattern to come, hopefully soon!

D159-161: Slow goings

I know linen stitch is slow to work because of the weaving between rows, but for some reason I'm extra slow these days.  Maybe it's that Bub has been coming down with a cold, so by the time she's settled and things are done there's not much time left for knitting.  Anyway...

Here's how my experiment looks now:

Now, fingers crossed while I weigh this and hope what remains on the ball is at least as heavy, so that I can make two booties...

Nnnnope. What I've knitted is 18g, and what remains is 9g.  Booo!  

So, do I go buy more wool? (I was trying to use up these left-overs!) Or do I run with just doing a single bootie as a prototype? Ugh.