Baby Booties and Matching Repeats

I didn't plan far enough in advance to make a blanket or sweater for the aforementioned baby shower, but I had already made note of a pattern for some adorable baby booties. After debating whether I still had enough time to do them justice or not, I decided to try to complete them in time for the shower. After all, the recipients have no idea that I knit, let alone whether or not I planned to make something for them. And, despite the usual amount of frogging as I learned the techniques used in the pattern (I'm still a new knitter and I frequently run into variations of increases, etc. that I haven't done before), I was able to complete them pretty quickly.

Of course, after I finished the initial knitting for the first bootie I realized that I liked the color combination that just happened through the luck of where the self-patterning sock yarn happened to start. And that particular Opal sock yarn had a very long color repeat that included some muddy browns and blacks that wouldn't look so nice for a baby, so there was no way the next bootie was going to match without some thoughtful intervention. Fortunately, the repeat was pretty distinct, and although it required winding off another small ball of yarn (which feels wasteful, even though I'm sure I can find some way to use it), I think I very much lucked out in making them match relatively well. Whew!

So, they're not the traditional baby girl pink and they don't match what the parents-to-be mentioned for the nursery colors, but hopefully they're girly enough. And, since there isn't a baby nearby, hopefully they actually fit a baby foot and will wrap gently around a chubby baby ankle. I personally can't resist them and think they're adorable -- thank goodness there are people that can dream up such adorable patterns!