Wrap Over Baby Shoe

I think I mentioned that I was going a bit baby shoe crazy. Here is a second shoe design. I have been dithering about a name, as it would be nice to come up with something northern like my Tundra Shoe pattern. Everything I think of seems to have been already used. For now it is the Wrap Over Baby Shoe, but if I would welcome any better suggestions. 

This time my pattern comes with two sizes (newborn-3 months and 3-6 months). Once again I have tried to keep the knitting simple. The shoes are made with doubleknit wool, and I think the simple shape just emphasises the loveliness of the wool.
 

There are only two pieces to knit, and once again the shaping of the top piece uses short rows. You can see my tutorial for this technique here.

I have tried to find fluffy doubleknit wools for my samples. I think this gives them such a cosy look, as if they are felted. The brown shoes below have alpaca in the wool, so are lovely and soft. 

Some of these shoes are going to be gifts, though I have now put a few for sale in my Etsy Shop.

If you do make some of these I think that it is really important to find some lovely buttons. The button flap is functional, so you can really easily put the babies feet in. I wanted my buttons to look natural, so opted for wood or mother of pearl. What I really wanted to find was a tiny wooden toggle, but as yet could only find really enormous ones which just looked ridiculous.

So baby shoes are done for now, and I may finally have reached that time when I face a baby garment! 

Tundra Baby Shoe

Baby shoes are my favourite knit. So relatively quick to make, and the end result is so pleasing. 

I had an idea for a new design, as two of my work colleagues are expecting. (In fact one of the babies has already arrived.) Although I love knitting my Baby Daisy Shoes and Baby Bee Shoes I thought it was about time for a change. I am sort of trying to work up the courage to design a baby garment, so these have been a welcome delaying tactic.

Those of you who know me are probably looking at this new design and thinking "why no embroidery?". Well I may add some later (I just can't resist) but for the pattern photos I wanted to show the simple shape of the shoes, and I thought that embroidery might be a distraction. 

I have put a lot of thought into the shape of these shoes. I had in my mind that they would be very simple. 

Just for once I can say that this is not a difficult knit. You do not even have to know how to purl. (I am usually so worried about people buying my patterns and finding them hard, that I think I exaggerate the difficulty.) But this pattern is all knit, and has only one technique that new knitters may not have come across. 

These were made with my last scraps of this wool. Unfortunately I don't know what it is as I would love to get some more. Any clues?

This is the wrap method to prevent holes in your knitting when you change direction mid-row. I explain this at the start of the pattern, and have put a photo tutorial on my blog to help more visual learners. (There is also a link to this in knitting tips in the right sidebar.) Once you have done this a few times you will see it is not hard. This gives the front upper of the shoe its very distinctive curves.

Knitted with James C. Brett Marble DK

The pattern just comes in one size, and the finished shoes are 8-9 cm long, so about the size for a newborn to 4 months. You need no more than 22g of wool. I am thinking of getting some chunky wool and trying to size it up to adult size, as I would quite like to pad about the house in a pair of these. 

Knitted from Jaeger Luxury Tweed (unfortunately this wool has been discontinued)

The shoe is made up of three pieces, and I have used doubleknit slightly fluffy wool to give them the look of a felted shoe, and to make them really cosy. So like my other shoe patterns you will find this a tight knit, but that is what helps give the shoes their structure. The pattern is available on ravelry and Etsy.

While knitting these I have had the idea for another baby shoe, which I am already working on. So expect even more baby shoes. 

P.S. I had lots of visitors here this week, mostly from South Africa. I can't quite work out if I have been featured somewhere, so I would be very grateful if anyone could let me know. 

Snowdrop Shoes

I usually say that the items in my shop are unique, but just for once I thought I would make some of my Baby Bee Shoes that are exactly the same (except for the size). 

I thought it would make a good extra photo for the pattern, and emphasise that it contains instructions for two sizes: 0-3 months and 3-6 months. I love this wool, which is Jaeger Luxury Tweed, and was left over from a pullover. I clearly misjudged how much to buy, as I have also used this to knit a dog coat, and still have more left. It is so fluffy that the shoes almost look as if they are felted.

The other reason I embroidered snowdrops was that the snowdrop season will be with us soon. I have seen a few garden snowdrops online, but has anyone seen any wild ones yet?
 

Cow Parsley and Strawberry Shoes

No words today. Just a few more baby shoes.

Poppy Shoes

Here is one of my holiday knits. When I am on holiday I usually like to knit a from my own patterns. I am away from my computer, so it is difficult to write anything new, and it gives me a good opportunity to see if I can make any improvements. 

Did I mention that my children said that I was not allowed to knit on the beach? I rather reluctantly agreed to this as part of the deal that on their part no electronic gadgets were allowed on the beach. Rather annoying as there is nothing nicer than sitting knitting on the beach, but I still had plenty of time to knit, especially on the car journey.

So here are some new baby shoes, from my Baby Bee Pattern, which is for sale on Craftsy and ravelry. There will be some more baby shoes with other flowers on the way. I try really hard to embroider them in a way that I have not done before, so anyone buying them has a truly unique gift. I thought a bold poppy would look great on this soft grey chenille wool (I know they look blue, but they really are grey) that I used for this pair, which will be heading off to my Etsy Shop as soon as I have made a little shoe bag to put them in.

Baby Bug Shoes and Snowdrops

Some more baby shoes. These ones I have called Bug Shoes. I have knitted with this wool before, and just love all the different shades in it. I have no idea where it came from, and am a bit sad I only have the tiniest bit left. The bugs were my daughter's idea, at least the ladybird on the leaf. Then I thought it would be rather cool to have a different bug on the other shoe. I'm not sure that caterpillars are considered quite as cute, but I really like them, and it had to be something really small to fit on the shoe.

I then thought for these little pink shoes I would go back to my little bumble bee, and a sprig of white blossom. For these I used a wool that is 100% cotton. The pink in the photo is really accurate, and I love the gentle shade.

My neighbour told me this morning he has a few snowdrops in his garden. So for the last pair I have made a new pair of Snowdrop Shoes. Previously I have made these in yellow and green, but I thought a light blue would look good and wintery.

These shoes are all knitted from my Baby Bee Shoe pattern, and are off to my Etsy shop. Although the embroidery may look tricky, there are tutorials for all the stitches you need in embroidery corner in my right sidebar.

Summer Meadow and Cornfield Shoes

I've realised that my knitting has a bit of a pattern. I like to alternate working on a new pattern, and then for a bit of a relax I return to one of my own old patterns. So I've been chilling for a bit and knitting from my baby shoe pattern.

I've also been having a lot of fun with the embroidery. I've called these ones Summer Meadow Shoes. Can you see the cow parsley, cornflowers, buttercups and daisies? Although very fiddly to stitch I hope I have given the impression of a summer field.

The second pair of shoes are decorated with a cornfield. This time there are scarlet poppies, deep blue cornflowers, cow parsley and daisies amongst stems of yellow corn.

Both pairs are in the smallest size, so would be for a newborn. The pattern comes with details for a larger size too. They come in a little dupion silk drawstring shoe bag.

Snowdrop Shoes

Sorry guys, but I told you there were some more baby shoes in the pipeline. Once again knitted from my own pattern, these snowdrops are not very seasonal for England, but I am sure there are snowdrops blooming somewhere in the world. 

These were knitted in a lovely skein of Rowan wool, given to me by my sister in her pre-moving destash. She gave me some other skeins, in some lovely gentle colours which I am also going to knit up into little shoes.