Knitting Baby Booties

Although baby booties tend to have gone out of fashion with young mothers in favour of mass produced socks, knitting baby booties is still a very rewarding pastime.

Baby booties are small (naturally) and even though there is some shaping involved they are still relatively easy to knit and it does not take very long to make a pair.

If you use a basic baby bootie knitting pattern, modifying the pattern to incorporate your own designs is a fun and practical way to exercise your creativity.

Of course, if you are making a matinee jacket or a pram set for that special baby in your life, baby booties are a must to complete the ensemble!

Baby booties tend to be knitted using a fine yarn, either 2, 3, or 4 ply on small needles.

Sizing Baby Booties

With some patterns you vary the size of the bootees by changing the size of the needles you use for your knitting.

For example, you might knit with 2.75mm needles for a newborn size, 3.00mm or 3.25mm for a three month old and 3.50mm or 3.75mm for a six month old using the same pattern.

The amount of knitting in each size is exactly the same, but the change in tension resulting from the different needle sizes means that the booties are smaller or larger depending on which set of needles you have used.

Other patterns vary the size of the booties by varying the ply that is used. For example, newborn booties may be knitted with 2 ply, booties for 3 month olds might be knitted in 3 ply and the larger booties suitable for a six month old would be knitted with 4 ply yarn.

Types of Baby Bootie Knitting Patterns

Basically there are two different types of patterns for baby booties.

With one type, the bootie is knitted from the top to the bottom, and the other starts at the bottom and knits up. With the first type you will need to shape the heel of the bootee much like you would with a sock. With the second you shape the instep instead.

If you are a beginner, I strongly recommend that you find one of the second types of patterns, shaping the instep is much easier than shaping a heel!

My Favorite Baby Bootie Knitting Patterns

I tend to use the same basic pattern for any booties I make, varying the knitting stitch patterns that I use for the base, top or instep of the bootees. No two pairs are ever the same, as I am not a big fan of doing the same pattern twice!

If you would like a copy of the pattern and to see some examples of what you can do to change or modify it to create unique booties for the baby in your life, it might be worth stopping by this page.

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