Newborn Jaywalkers, Toe-up Pattern

I decided to use the Jaywalker pattern and scale it down to a newborn size. The original Jaywalker pattern by Grumperina can be found here on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jaywalker#

I did them toe-up, two-at-a-time, with a magic cast-on (Cat Bordhi's video is a great example as well), and a Fleegle heel.

You can queue these in Ravelry.


Yarn
Fingering weight (First photo - Angels & Elephants in color Polperro, Second photo - Plymouth Happy Feet in color 11 - Olive/Wine), small amount

Needles
Circulars or DPN's in #0 or #1 (I used both sizes to do them two-at-a-time since that's what I had) This is written with using two circulars, so if you use DPN's, then adjust it to how you arrange sts on them.

Finished size
foot length approx 3" (this is customizable), foot circumference approx 3.5"

Stitches used
kfbl - knit through the front of the loop, then without slipping off needle, knit again through back loop and then slip off needle (increased one st)
dd - double decrease, slip two sts together knitwise, then knit the next st, now slip the two slipped sts over the knit st.
sewn bind off - using tapestry needle, thread needle purlwise through next 2 sts on needle, then back through first st knitwise and slip that st off needle, continue until all sts are worked and weave in ends.


Toe
Begin by casting on 12 sts using the magic cast on. You will have 6 sts on each needle.
Rnd 1: Knit all sts
Rnd 2: (inc rnd) k1, inc1, k to last st, inc1, k1 - x2

Repeat these two rounds until you have 32 sts total between both needles (16 sts per needle)


Instep
Now you will be working the pattern on the instep needle, and plain stockinette on the sole needle.

Pattern -
k1, kfbl, k1, dd, k1, kfbl, kfbl, k1, dd, k1, kfbl, k1

Rnd 1: knit all sts
Rnd 2: work in pattern on instep needle, work plain stockinette on sole needle

Repeat these two rounds 9 times to reach a foot length of 2" or until 1" shorter than desired length of foot. The gusset and heel turn will normally consume about 1" of length so you can adjust your final foot size with that in mind.

Gusset
Work in pattern across instep needle, and then began gusset increases on your sole/heel needle.

Working on the sole/heel needle now, k1, inc1, knit to last st, inc1, k1. On instep needle, continue where you are at in the pattern (either a knit row or pattern row). On sole/heel needle, knit all sts.

Rnd 1: (instep needle) Work where you are at in pattern
(sole/heel needle) k1, inc1, knit to last st, inc1, k1

Rnd 2: (instep needle) Work where you are at in pattern
(sole/heel needle) knit all sts

Repeat these two rounds until you have 26 sts on the sole/heel needle (you will have 16 sts on the instep needle still, bringing you to a total of 42 sts between both needles).

Now, you are ready to begin turning your heel, which will be worked only on the sole/heel needle. Note where you leave off in pattern to pick it back up (either a knit row or pattern row) after you turn the heel.

Turn the heel
Place a marker in the middle of the sts on the sole/heel needle. You will have 13 sts on either side of the marker. All work will be done on this needle only for now.

Knit across the needle until you are two sts past the marker. k2tog, k1, turn
Sl1 purlwise, purl across the needle until you are two sts past the marker. p2tog, p1, turn

*sl1 knitwise, knit across needle until 1 st before gap, k2tog, k1, turn
sl 1 purlwise, purl across needle until 1 st before gap, p2tog, p1, turn*

Repeat these two rounds until you have ended on a purl round and have two sts left on each side. Now you will sl1 knitwise, and knit until 1 st before the gap, k2tog, k1, and NOT TURN. Continue working now on your instep needle (no gap this way - see Fleegle heel link above for clarification).

Ankle
Continue working in pattern where you left off and work in pattern on both instep and heel/needle so it wraps around the ankle on both sides. Work for 9 complete repeats of pattern (18 rnds) or until desired length.

Cuff
Work in 1x1 ribbing for 6 rnds or until desired length.

Bind off using the sewn bind off. More information and pictures can be found here.

Any corrections, or questions or whatever, let me know. I'm bound to have missed something due to my pregnant brain.

Baby's new Curly Purly

So here it is this morning after I finished up the ribbing on the second leg cuff. I knit the entire tiny soaker last night with that exception. The color IRL are very pretty olive and harvest mix (both Malabrigo leftover from my f.pea mossy sweater and my first pair of knit longies). I did a k3tbl, p1 ribbing for 21 rows approximately, then switched to St st, and did k1,p1 ribbing for the leg cuffs for 15 rows. Jim got a giggle over the "pod legs" as he calls them. I used the sewn BO that I learned from knitting up my Baudelaire sock (I have to start the next one...I'm definitely doing two-at-a-time-toe-up-socks next time!) It's attractive, trim, and stretchy.

I added in 3 short rows as indicated in the pattern since I knew it was a trim-fit soaker. It really is. The long waist and leg cuffs I think help to keep it trim and in place. But look at how cute it looks when you fold them back :)

So, this was a satifying project as it took no time at all, took barely any yarn, used up some of my stash, made me feel more prepared for the upcoming birth, and now I can finish up the embroidery on the face of M's floppy puppy. That's all I have left to do. I buckled down yesterday morning and finished the ear and tail, seamed and stuffed, and now I just have embroidery to do. I actually like that part the least (well, I really didn't like the seaming either - there was a ton!) because I have such trouble making french knots turn out right. I have to work on that....

So, I need to knit up some socks for the baby too. I haven't gotten my BFL from Angels & Elephants that I ordered (coming from UK so it's cheaper, but might take a bit long with the holidays) so I found a pattern that calls for DK yarn for baby socks. I'm going to see how that goes with my locally spun alpaca that I got. It looks to be a DK weight so I'll swatch it and see. I was thinking of doing the Saartjie booties out of it (Bockstark way to use that wonderful magic CO) also but I think it might be a little big and if so, I'll probably wait for my BFL sock to just make life a little simpler right now.

I think we're ready for the holidays. Despite the fact that I haven't done any baking, have no idea what I'm cooking for Yule or xmas, and that I never sent out my holiday cards yet. Oh yeah...I need to scan that Santa picture.

Beautiful snow again this morning, and really a lovely morning. Even with taking four little kids to the dentist - it went swimmingly. Honestly. I feel peace and happiness is in the air. Jim came home with a carload of holiday cheer and presents, and things are feeling good. Despite the fact that Jim has to work xmas night.....

Hopefully more snow, although it's warming up a bit now and actually finally melting some. Hopefully no freeze tonight - Jim's off Sat. night which is when the freezing rain is supposed to start. I'm thankful he won't be going out in that weather. Driving at 1am where there might be ice makes me worry until he texts me to let me know he's OK. School was canceled all week, so the kids officially now are on Winter Break, but with the snow week they are off a total of 25 days in a row. Talk about a vacation.....

The most disenchanting LYS visit ever.

Wow. I don't think I can ever go back there. I went into the Knitting Bee since we were on that side of town and thought I'd check them out after hearing all these rave reviews. I was excited, I was hopeful. I hadn't been to a yarn store in two weeks and I was so ready to pick out yarn for f.pea's mossy jacket. I knew what weight I wanted, I knew a basic idea of what color I wanted, I thought 25 minutes would be enough.

It started out OK, I was greeted when I went in, and shown the grand tour of the store. After that I got to work touching and looking, walking back and forth to find what I wanted. It's normal to touch yarn when you're trying to find what you need right? I was stuck though and nothing was jumping out and grabbing me, so I kept going back and forth enjoying myself exploring the store. This prompted what I'm guessing was the owner to come and ask me if I needed help. I told her "No, I'm just trying to pick out what color I want". She laughed and made a joke about just wanting to touch everything. She seemed harmless, I went back to looking.

A few minutes later she popped up behind me and began to ask me what I was making, and after explaining it was a newborn sweater, she began her bizarre episode of trying-to-make-me-buy-her-favorite-yarns. I attempted telling her what colors I wanted, and that I loved Malabrigo and Manos and that I wanted Fall colors or Winter colors. She kept mentioning how lovely Spring colors would be, and showing me cottons and telling me Alpaca wasn't good for a baby and that Cashmerino would be lovely. No matter what lovely Fall greens and browns I chose, she kept showing me lettuce greens and talking about Spring. I'm not sure when I put out that "I need you to hold my hand and pick out my colors for me" vibe, but man was I regretting doing so now.

When I told her I was going for a worsted weight because the pattern was written in aran and the smallest size was a 6 mos so I was using worsted, and smaller needles to get newborn. Then she opted to try educating me on how I shouldn't make everything in such sizes because babies grow. That's when I explained I had four kids already so I knew that. ::insert her eye-brow-raising here:: Is it wrong to have your own plans for a project, especially when it's for your newborn? ::sigh:: It didn't stop, as I put back the yarns she kept giving me as suggestions I heard her ask another store employee "Tsk - Where is that Smooshy I gave her?!". I guess I was offending her yarn choices for my project.

Then she came up and was again pointing out the lovely spring colors of green in the Malabrigo (I guess she was settling on helping me find a better color choice in the yarn of my choice...) and began to now ask me if my children had the same hair color and color tones as I did. So I said, "Well, no not really. I've got all colors really. I've got a redhead, a brown, and a blonde". This proceeded to produce some eye-brow-raising towards the other store employee. I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. I should've just left then.

At one point, I'm on my knees looking through yarn feeling horribly rushed and frustrated, and they are both standing behind me, watching me. I don't hear the whole conversation, but I pick up something along like the lines of how I don't seem to mind non-superwash wools. I turned around and saw one of them seeming at a loss for why I'm so weird with her hands upturned in disbelief as she explains this to the other employee. So I told them that I'm already cloth-diapering, and using wool soakers so those are being hand washed anyhow. It's really not a big deal to me. You know, honestly, if I have a superwash item, with the massive amount of laundry I'm doing already for the 6 of us, if it gets tossed in the machine, I will at some point end up putting said item into the dryer on accident. Probably on the first run. Or my husband will, if he picks up where I left off laundry-wise, or vice versa. I don't see the huge convenience of being able to toss it into the washer, but still having to dry flat. Trust me, in our household, it's much easier not to set ourselves up for accidental feltings with the so-called wonder of superwash. I mean, I'm not picking up each washer item and tossing it into the dryer. I'm grabbing handfuls of wet stuff and tossing it into the dryer. Is it really that hard to toss an item into a bowl or sink of mildly soaped water, do some other things while it soaks, then rinse and lay flat? I digress though.

So, all the other customers leave, and now I'm imposing on them tremendously because it's now 4:03pm! The younger employee comes up apologetically lets me know that they're closed so I'm going to have to get going. But that it's OK because they have a staff meeting. Does that mean I'm not going to hell for staying a few minutes late now? Gee. Why don't you actually let me browse instead of hounding me and trying to force me to buy machine-spun yarns in fresh, happy spring colors?

Absolutely bizarre. And completely frustrating. I grabbed a hank of Malabrigo Olive and got the heck out of there. I should've just got nothing after all that shouldn't I? So I still don't have all the yarn I need for the sweater, and none of the sock yarn I wanted to pick out for the other kiddos. I really should've gone to Yarn Garden instead. It would've been so much less painful. Do I sound bitchy? Well, yeah, I am about it. It was just weird. When I go into a yarn store, I'd like to be left alone like when you go into a bookstore. You know, I've never had a bookstore employee try to coerce me into buying their favorite books on cooking when I tell them I'm looking for a book about fluffy kitties.

There also seems to be a huge trend of middle-aged LYS owners that make a funny little face when you tell them you love Manos or Malabrigo. This one seemed confused that I wasn't going to felt with it. Guess the hand-spun isn't popular with everyone. That's cool with me. Just don't bug me if I like it. I'm going to venture out again and hopefully return in the next couple of days with some lovely sock yarns and a good idea of how I'm going to knit up my mossy. I love the rustic look of the mossy! I hope it turns out good after all this.......I've got a lot more things to knit in the near future, and some more Sheepy Pants longies as well. And lots of oddly colored socks per my children's requests. And some more of those lovely little newborn socks that are so easy to make. And perhaps even something for myself...and poor dh, who will never pick out the yarn for his ear warmers.