These booties were designed to match the mock cable baby hat by Bonny Brann, found here: http://www.knittingonthenet.com/patterns/babymockcablehat...

OK! So, I’ve had a “these are huge” comment. They’re about 4” long, which is about 6 month size. This is the size of my own babies at birth, which, admittedly, might be a bit on the big size for normal size people (I’m 6’. My babies barely fit into 6 month clothes at birth.) Sorry ‘bout that ;)

So, here’s the deal. 2 repeats of the pattern rows is roughly one inch. If you expect the child to have smaller feet, reduce the pattern repeats by ONE pattern repeat before the decrease (row 12), and by ONE pattern repeat on the toe (start toe at row 22). This will shorten it up to newborn-ish size.

If you want to shoot for the middle, decrease 2 rows early (row 14), and start the toe 4 rows early (row 26).

These decreases will not mess up the mock cable pattern, as it isn’t affected at all until the last 2 rows anyway. There will just be fewer crossovers.

Tip for finishing: To keep the bottom of the back of the bootie from being “pointy” when you finish it off, I usually sew down from the top (with it inside-out). Then when I get near where I want the sole to be, I squish the bottom up into a little T shape perpendicular to the seam going down the back of the foot, and stitch it together that way. The upside down “T” folds into the back of the bootie when you right-side-out it a little more cleanly than just doing the seam straight and having that point at the back of the heel.