Tuesday, March 11, 2014

crochet love {crochet mary jane baby booties}

I really love crocheting for tiny little newborns! When I finish an item, I just stare at it and try to remember my boys when they were brand new. Were they ever that small!? There has been something wonderful about every stage of their lives so far, but I really cherish their first moments of life.

My sister-in-law just had her fifth baby (yep...super mom), and she wanted some cute shoes for her. She wanted something that would actually stay on the baby's feet, so we decided to make some strapy mary janes.

crochet-mary-jane-baby-bootie


For some reason, I am not very good at judging size when it comes to baby feet, so I adapted an existing pattern into the shoes I wanted!

I used a pattern that I bought a long time ago to make the base and toe of the shoes. I love this pattern and have used it several times, often creating different variations from the basic pattern. It is the Milky Baby Booties pattern by Mon Petit Violon.

crochet-mary-jane-button-baby-bootie


Once I finished working the sole and toe portion of the shoe with her pattern, I started working my own idea to create the ankle and strap section.

So after finishing the toe, I did the following:

*Note: the numbers I'm using were specific to the newborn size and pattern that I used. You may need to improvise and guesstimate depending on the size/pattern that you are working with.*

1. Fasten on to the middle st at the heel. Ch 1. Sc in each st around (decrease by 2 sc evenly in this row). Sl st in ch 1.
2. Ch 1. sc in each st around (decrease by 2 sc evenly in this row). Sl st in ch 1.
3. Repeat round 2 two more times. Fasten off.
4. Fasten on 5 sts to the right of where you just fastened off. Ch 1. Work 10 more sc. Then ch 14. Turn.
5. Sc in 2nd st from hook and in each st across. Turn.
6. Ch 1. Sc in each st until 4 sts remain. Ch 2. Sc in last 2 sts. Turn.
7. Ch 1. Sc in each st (work only 1 sc in ch 2 space). Fasten off.
8. Attach button to side of heel piece you just created.

That's it! Remember, you may need to figure out your own number of stitches needed to create the back of the ankle and the strap length. Just focus on centering on the heel and making the strap long enough to wrap around the ankle and button to close.

Have you ever made any baby shoes? What patterns have you used and loved?

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