I enjoy knitting. While I learned to crochet as a kid I never quite figured out knitting until my mid-twenties after my daughter was born. I was determined so I bought a couple of books that taught me how. It’s become something I find relaxing and, with a baby on the way, it’s a calm but still productive thing to do with some of my nesting energy.

Initially I learned the English method with the yarn held in the right hand and brought over the needles with each stitch. With practice I got to be pretty quick with it but always found it tedious when I was doing any sort of ribbing. I read someplace about another method but didn’t look into it much until my friend Tracy mentioned the Continental method (sometimes referred to as the German method) on Facebook. With the Continental method the yarn is held in the left hand and the hand movements are smoother than the English method, especially when ribbing. I watched a couple of videos on Youtube to learn the basic knit and purl stitches and was soon off and running. It took a while for me to adjust, find the right tension, and not have to think about every single stitch anymore but now I have the Continental method down and find it’s much quicker than the English method. I’m so happy I learned it

Since I knew we’d be driving quite a lot on our trip to Southern Utah for spring break I decided to take some yarn with me and work on some new baby booties for my soon-t0-arrive little guy. Between the long drive South and visiting with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law in the evening I finished almost three pairs of booties during the trip. The pattern I prefer is from the book Easy Baby Knits but over the years I’ve modified it a bit to fit my preferences. The booties go together quickly and fit little newborn feet well when not much else seems to. It’s my go-to pattern when I want to knit baby booties for a gift.

I made a couple while pregnant with my first son and have them out and ready to go for this new little guy but I love them so much I wanted a few more colors to choose from.

I like using variegated sock yarn for these because the colors make fun patterns in the booties but I don’t have to think about it. I’ve made a few booties, mostly for other people, where I paid attention to the colors so they lined up in the same places but for my personal preference, I kind of like the imperfection and randomness of starting in different places with the yarn color pattern.

I like that they look like they go together but aren’t exactly the same.

This is the first time I’ve made a bigger bootie that will fit 3-6 month babies. Usually I just knit the 0-3 month version. I loved the fall-ish colors in this yarn, though, so I thought the 3-6 month size would be better for that time of year.

While it does take a little time I feel like baby booties (and baby clothes in general) go together so quickly it’s almost an instant gratification project. The patterns move so quickly I don’t get bogged down in endless monotonous lines of knitting and before I know it I have a pair of sweet, little booties to show for only a little work.

Do you know how to knit? Did you learn as a kid or an adult? Did someone teach you or did you learn from a book or someplace online? What’s your favorite thing to knit?