Snakes Alive!

I finally found a little project to use up my leftovers of DK. But when I looked at the knitted pieces before sewing up, they reminded me of a family of snakes! Once you sew them up however, they become cute little baby bootees.
The pattern is ridiculously easy - I memorised it and was able to knit and sew up 3 pairs in 3 days, whilst out in the car!
You need 25gm of DK wool and a pair of 3¼mm needles.
Work in plain [garter] stitch throughout - all in one piece.
SOLE Cast on 6 stitches. Inc 1 st each end of rows 3,7,11 and 17 **[14sts] SIDES Knit 17 rows. Dec 1st each end of next and following 4th row. [10sts] Now knit on these 10 stitches till this strip is long enough to wrap round sole [approx 80 rows] Cast off. Wrap side round sole, crossing left side over right, and stitch across the front. Now sew lower edge of strip all around the sides and back of sole piece. Repeat with other slipper but wrap the right side over left this time! [see picture] Stitch through both layers at the front, and decorate with bow or button.

If you want to make the sole a different colour, change yarns at ** I have just spotted the left hand bootee was positioned badly - the button is in the right place!

At Sandringham on Saturday, in one of the craft tents, Marion and I noticed a whole table of  'trad' baby bootees, similar to the ones on the left. We wondered if modern Mums still like these lacy pastel creations- there is a lot of work in them [and those ribbon ties are a bit fiddly]
Whilst I admire the work that has gone into them, and respect the skills of the ladies who made them, I confess that I am a bit more pragmatic. Most babies pull off their footwear and are prone to losing socks and bootees. I think I prefer knitting cute, quick-to-make, easy-to-wash, cheap and cheerful. [and yes, I did sew the buttons on very firmly!]