Knit Baby Boots

For the past few months I’ve been picking away at a knit boot project. Perhaps you read my post about the Uggs I really want to knit- well, I started out small with a pair for the baby. I had a skein of Rowan Tweed that needed to get used up and this was the perfect project for that “linty looking” ball of yarn. I totally reminds me of dryer lint after drying a load of blue jeans! Anyway, I think they turned out really well and I learned quite a bit for when I make a pair for myself. Check out the photos and steps below:

Choose your yarn and take a few measurements of the person’s foot and leg. I really didn’t get too technical and frogged things a few times until I felt everything would fit the baby’s foot and leg.

Here is a photo of the 3 knitted components of the boot:

This is the cuff. It is knit one, purl one. Super simple.

This is the “body” of the boot. It will go around the calf part of the leg. I just chose a simple cable pattern separated by a seed stitch pattern.

This piece is the toe of the boot. The thin strips will go around the back of the ankle.

Now that you are done knitting you get to take apart a pair of shoes. I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect pair and settled on a pair of aqua socks on super clearance.

As you can see, I used my super sharp, new knitting scissors (I warned the boys that NOBODY was to use my new scissors to cut PAPER-EVER)!! Carefully cut off the top and throw it away. You’ll be saving the rubber sole and the insert.

Take your knitted toe part and iron it nice and flat. I glued a liner onto the knit part to give it a little structure. Don’t’ cut the liner flush with the knit. Leave a little extra in case you want to glue that under the insert.  I used PVA glue, I love PVA glue. It’s my fav for all crafting projects.

This step requires quite a bit of patience and about 30-40 minutes. Be prepared to ignore your children because you will NOT have the patience to deal with them while messing with this step. Glue and/or hand sew the edge of the knitted piece and/or lining to the bottom side of the insert. When you have that done, glue the insert to the rubber sole. I found that sewing and gluing worked well for me. Here’s another look at it:

Now that you have that done, let it dry. You’ll now need to focus on the cable/seed stitch part.

Sew the cuff onto the the main cabled section. Next time I would knit those two pieces as one piece. Not sure what I was thinking- but it works out in the end.

Get your zipper ready and pin it in place on the wrong side. I used a 19 inch zipper. The size will totally depend on how tall you are. Maybe an adult wouldn’t even need to use a zipper, but with toddlers, I thought it would be a good idea. This was easier than I would have guessed. Good thing too, after that last glue step.

Here it is on the “right” side. Try it out and see how it works. Your next step involves sewing (with yarn) the cabled part to the foot part. This takes a little patience, but it’s not too bad. Just make sure right sides are together.

And that is it! Try it on and hope the glue holds! Actually, it is remarkably sturdy. I would probably stay out of mud puddles though : )