No more cold feet!

You know what is really sad? Cold baby feet. They can't tell you they need a pair of socks, pronto! Or that the blanket doesn't quite cover their toes. Which is why crochet baby footwear is one of my favorite gifts to give to new babies. Also because they take a lot less time than blankets to make.

There's a story behind these baby shoes--they were both made for the same baby. The dad, a friend of mine, told me they were having a boy! They already have a daughter, so he was excited to have a son to do manly things and share his masculine wisdom with. (Which I responded he could do with his daughter too, but was assured it's not the same.) His wife asked the doctor not to tell them the gender, as they wanted it to be a surprise. He went back to the doctor and asked because he couldn't bear the suspense. Thus, he started secretly telling friends that they are having a boy. Hence the blue, simple booties.

My favorite part of this whole story is that his wife kept telling him she KNEW it was a girl, and he kept smugly patting her on the back telling her she has fantastic intuition

Of course, delivery day comes and it's indeed a girl! He apparently couldn't stop asking the doctor if he was sure it was a girl. Haha, that's what happens when you go behind your wife's back! (In the mildest form possible.)

So he brought the blue booties back to me and I switched them with these cute ruffle boots. They unbutton and everything! I'm usually hesitant about putting buttons on things for babies, so I stitched those suckers on and added a dab of hot glue and they should NEVER fall off. The pattern uses half double crochets, which had made the left and right bootie's cuff not match. Usually not noticeable, or a big deal, but I was going crazy about it, so I found that if you just end and start the crocheting up on the opposite side you could fix this. Granted, I had to weave in more spare ends, but it works.

Finally, some slippers for us big kids. You know by now we are huge nerd people in our house. I wanted some slippers to wear on our tile floor as it cooled off. Something more huggy like socks than slippers, so I whipped up these guys! No, they are not garden gnome themed (though they could be), but Pikmin themed! Pikmin is a cute strategy game where you have these little plant creatures help you fight bad guys and fix your spaceship so you can go home. They make cute squeaky noises and of course I'm obsessed with them. 

Yay for cozy and nerdy feet! Here's the patterns for all the projects in this blog post.

Ruffled Baby Booties by Ashlee Marie

Blue Sweet Shoes (Roll Tops) by Hayley Missingham

Five petal flower on Pikmin slippers by New Stitch a Day

Pikmin Slippers (Modified Slippers) by The Little House by the Sea