6th February:

This is a stashbusting project, as well as being exactly what Gabriel needs to keep his little feet warm in the winter cold. I followed the basic pattern but have added some extra decreases in the last few rounds of the top part to improve the shaping:

Round 3: decrease one at the back of the heel (hdc 2 stitches together)

Round 4: decrease four times, evenly spaced around the sides and heel.

Round 5: decrease once on each side.

I’m also going to make an extra round with more decreases as at the moment it shows a lot of the top of his foot, and I want a tighter closure to keep his feet warm. Might thread some elastic through the last round.

The loopy yarn is horrible to work with as it’s nearly impossible to see the stitches of the previous round, and you keep getting the hook stuck in loopy bits. However, it feels and looks wonderful crocheted up. I think it would be easier to knit with than to crochet with.

17th February:

I ended up changing round 6 from the one in the pattern to a repeat of my modified round 5. This helped to close up the wide hole at the top of the booties. They fit well now with plenty of growing room, and are super warm! I worked the claws in a small amount of off white yarn to be the Gruffalo’s “turned out toes”.

Gabriel has already had several complimentary comments on these when out in public :)