I love knitting for babies.  Everything is so teeny-tiny and cute and fairly quick to knit.  And baby yarns are so soft and in pretty pastels that no grown person can get away with wearing.

When one of my best friends learned last spring that she was expecting a baby girl, I couldn't wait to knit up something super cute and pink for baby.  I hadn't tackled booties yet and decided to attempt making a pair of booties with a matching hat.

I was drawn to this Cable Baby Booties pattern from Knitting on the Net because I love cable knitting.  I'd been knitting about a year and a half when I decided to try cable knitting for the first time.  I'd always been really intimidated by it because to me it looked really complicated - but it turned out to be surprisingly simple!  It's such an easy way to add impact to something.

I used Bernat's Softee Baby yarn in Pink (I love the look and feel of the softee yarn) and had to drop down a few needle sizes to achieve the right gauge.  I readily admit that I am not one to knit a swatch and check the gauge, I usually just grab yarn and needles and have at it - as a result my first bootie came out just a little large and looking sloppy. The stitches didn't seem to be that snug nor lay right - I could see through some stitches meaning that little spots of teeny tiny baby foot would be exposed, and that's not something you want when you're knitting something to keep teeny tiny baby feet warm.

Ultimately, once I got the gauge situation resolved, the booties were a very quick knit.  I was able to finish two while watching daytime TV.  Started one when Days of Our Lives came on at 1pm, and was finished with both by the time Oprah was on at 4pm.  I'll be glad to return to work full-time, but really will miss having all this free time to knit!

Once the booties were completed, I went on the hunt for a cable knit baby hat.  I loved this pattern from Sweater Babe because of the design it makes at the crown of the hat.  I wanted it to have a ribbon trim to match the booties, so I altered the pattern slightly to add a row of eyelets, then threaded ribbon through and tied the bow. 

I liked the hat so much that I'm going to try to alter the pattern to fit my own head!