Summer Camp *booties
Ahh summer camp... I have many fond memories of summer camp as a kid and am lucky enough to get to re-live it every year with an annual golden ticket to my friend's cabin in Maine. It's our college reunion of sorts and all of my friends from design school crash in the upstairs sparsely furnished bedrooms or pitch a tent along the lake front. With so much sequestered creativity and lack of cable or wifi, a lot of weirdness and fun ensues. It's a great time to reunite, work on arts and crafts, and eat the best meals a group of glampors could ask for - homemade ricotta, two kinds of homemade ravioli (ricotta spinach + lobster), homemade vodka sauce, homemade pesto, homemade alfredo, and homemade bread, to recall just one dinner.
{the bootie toolkit}
Deciding on a craft or two to bring before embarking on the long drive up coast is no easy feat and while I was tempted to toss my sewing machine in the backseat, I settled on a more conservative knitting project for the sake of our carpoolers.
{bootie in progress during roadtrip}
I've had this baby moccasin bootie project half-started and stashed away for several years now, all the while booty-less babies were being born. It just wasn't right. So the night before setting out I called on the knitting talents of a great friend, who was willing to spend her Friday night teaching me all the new techniques I would need to know to get through the pattern.
It took her four hours to help me half way through the pattern, it took me another four days to complete... the first bootie. I dreamt of returning from camp, pockets rich with booties, babies lining up for adorable alpaca moccasins. Boy (or girl) was I wrong.
{lakeside knitting - I found listing out the steps easier to read than in paragraph form}
{finally off the knitting needles...}
I have a bit more practice to go before I'm churning these out overnight but my knitting vocabulary has expanded exponentially. Here's a list of the techniques that you can plan on learning while making these if you start out as I did (a talented flat scarf knitter with some ribbing experience):
- reading a pattern
- knitting in the round with multiple separate needles (although the pattern could be adapted for using the type of needles that are connected)
- switching colors
- ssk (slip slip knit) - a left decreasing stitch
- using stitch markers
- "picking up" stitches
- Kitchener Stitch
- and my favorite part, the "Duplicate" embroidery stitch for the toe decoration
While incredibly challenging, it was satisfying to see the little foot shaped sock emerge. I'll update once I've completed the set... For now I'd like to ask baby Clara, Reid and Ellis to stop growing your feet for awhile.
{finishing touches using the "duplicate" embroidery stitch}