vintage newborn baby bootie pattern from 1966

This weeks baby bootie is a 'newborn bootie' pattern from 1966. The 'fancy stitch' is easy to knit and it can be made both for baby boys and girls. Interesting detail is the picot edge which is occasionally appears on knitted tops or sweaters. Always wondered how it's done? Scroll down to read!

"A quick-and-easy gift, you can knit these bootees in a night. Make them in white or lemon and they will suit either a boy or a girl."

   

material & sizing:
The suggested tension is 8 sts to an inch. I used the same gauge as always, used fingering weight yarn, metric size 3 needles and a tension of approx. 28 sts to 10cm (7sts=1in) The finished size is 9 cm (=3,5 in) from heel to toe, which should indeed fit newborn to 3 month old babies.br />
construction:
The bootie is knitted top-down. You start with making the picot edge.
the finished bootie before sewing:

I made 2 repeats of the 'fancy stitch' after the picot edge. The instructions tell to continue until the work measures 1 1/2 in. Instead of measuring the length I repeated the pattern twice, for the same look as in the original picture (making 4 rows of small holes). Close-up of the fancy stitch with the tiny holes:

The instep is shaped by knitting the instep and picking up stitches along the edges. A common problem can be holes in the inner corner.

trick: how to avoid holes?
If you have ever tried to knit socks you might be familiar with the holes in the inner corners when knitting a sock with a heel flap. There are a few sock-knitting tricks to avoid those holes. These holes are actually created by the stretched-out strands of the previous row, between the last stitch before starting to knit the instep and the first stitch of the instep. Here we are knitting tiny booties, so there is just one trick you need to apply: when you pick up stitches along the edges, pick up an extra stitch next to the inner corner. Then you knit this stitch together with the stitch next to it in the next row.

the toe-shaping:
   



trick: seaming along the sole
If you don't do this in the right way you'll end up with vertical lines along the seam on the right side or a very thick seamline. Here you can see how I pick up the middle loop of the chains along the edges (seaming on wrong side). This way it looks good from the right side and the seam won't be thick!


picot edge:
The picot edge in knitting is actually created by making a row of holes (K2TOG, YARN OVER) Then the work is folded along the row-lines and sewn or knitted in place. This creates the scalloped edge. These row of small scallops are called picot.
In this pattern you make the picot edge like this:

• you knit 3 rows in stocking-stitch
• knit a row with holes
• knit 3 rows of stocking-stitch again
• fold and knit together the loops on the needle one by one with the loops of the cast on edge

did you know...
...that a picot is a loop of thread created along the edge of lace, ribbon, crocheted, knitted or tatted material. The word picot is pronounced [pē' kō]. It is a diminutive derived from the French verb piquer, meaning 'to prick'.

   

the pattern: