Baby Slipper Booties
I like to have booties on hand for when colleagues at work are going on maternity leave
or tell me that their partner is about to have a baby – or that they’ve just brought one
home, sometimes! If you are like me and often have a bit of DK yarn left from other
projects, they are pretty much free to make, too. Anyway, I got fed up with knitting
them so I worked up this simple slipper-style crochet bootie for new babies. I like to
give them clipped together with a pretty paper-type clip, I like to collect simple - but
interesting ones from stationery shops.
Pattern Overview:
This is written in UK style – US, see the abbreviations to translate. The sole is worked
around the starter chain, and can easily be a different colour to the top section.
It is worked in the round, but rows are joined with a slip-stitch – pull a loop through
the first stitch of the row you are finishing, through the loop on your hook and then
make the chain to start the next row. The first stitch of the next row goes in the SAME
PLACE. So, this is NOT amigurumi spiral style.
When you read these instructions, it looks more complicated than it is. Try one, you’ll
find it’s so easy you’ll soon be making them without needing the instructions at all.
Materials:
Really any DK yarn you have to hand. You need under 10g, probably a third of an ounce if anyone is
still selling yarn that way – I don’t think I’ve seen an ounce ball of yarn since my childhood, but it is
how I used to buy it. Some DK does seem to be thicker than others, but it doesn’t matter all that
much.
Of course, if you are doing soles and tops different colours you need even less, but do try to have
yarns from the same manufacturers so the thicknesses really do match.
I do recommend NOT using yarn that changes colour at random, as it is impossible to make a proper
matching pair – see picture!
4mm hook.
Large-eye needle (or smaller hook) to finish the ends (pull through work).
Size: These are for a new baby, probably for the first few months unless the child was
born with particularly big feet. If you want to, you can add a ch or two to the starting
chain, and one or two dc each side on the straight parts, to make them for a bigger
baby, as their feet don’t get
much wider in the first year or
so and the slippers are soft.
The brown and red ones have
one more ch and one more
stitch in each side, so are a
little bigger.
Tension: Not crucial. My
soles come out at 7.5cm x 3 cm
(3”x1.2”) and are quite quick to
try, so if yours are a lot smaller,
use a bigger hook – if they are
bigger, I think the will just do
when the baby grows a bit!
Abbreviations:
ch – chain.
dc – double crochet, (what the US calls sc)
dec – decrease, dc two together (what the US calls sc two together) – pull up a loop
through each of the next two stitches, pull a loop through all three stitches on the hook.
Do not do an invisible decrease.
htr – half treble crochet, (what the US calls hdc)
tr – treble crochet, (what the US calls dc)
trdec – treble decrease, tr two together (what the US calls dc two together) – yarn over,
pull a loop through next stitch, yarn over and pull through two loops on hook, yarn
over, pull a loop through the next stitch, yarn over and pull through two loops on hook,
yarn over and pull through all the rest of the loops on the hook. If you haven’t done this
before, you might like to look on-line for a better description than that!
st – stitch
Method:
Ch 10.
Row 1: 2dc in second ch from hook, dc in next 7 ch, 5dc in last ch (you will find this goes
all around the ch to the other side). Work in the back loops of the chain now, dc in the
next 7 back loops, 3dc in the last one, join with a slip stitch (see overview). (24 st)
Now you have an oval you are working around. Note the chs at the start do not count as
stitches, and the first stitch of the row is always in the same place as the join stitch.
Row 2: ch2, 2tr in each of the first two stitches, tr in the next 7 stitches, 2tr in each of
the next 5 stitches, tr in the next 7 stitches, 2tr in each of the last 3 stitches, join. (34
st)
Row 3: ch1, (1dc in next st, 2dc in next st) twice, dc in the next 7 st, (1dc in next st, 2dc
in next st) x 5, dc in the next 7 st, 1dc in next st, 2dc in next st) x 3, join. (44st)
That’s all there is to the sole. If you like, change colour here for the tops.
Row 4: ch1, into the BACK LOOPS ONLY, dc into each stitch, join. (44st)
Row 5: ch1, dc into each stitch, join (44st) – this row is as normal, both loops.
Row 6: ch1, 11 dc, 2 htr, (tr, trdec) x 6, 2 htr, 11 dc, join. (38st)
Note: (tr, trdec) means tr in the next st, then tr decrease over the next two stitches –
and you do that six times in the middle of Row 6.
Row 7: ch1, 13 dc, dec x 6, 13 dc, join. (32st)
Row 8: ch1, 11 dc, trdec x 5, 11 dc, join. (27st)
Row9: ch1, 11dc, dec, dc, dec, 11dc, join. (25st) Finish off the yarn end into the work.
If that was the first one, make another to match!
That’s it. Enjoy.
