We have booties!

What's a baby sweater without booties, right? In the past, I've always used the same pattern (it's a good one, but I can't find the link right now), and while I like it, it was getting a little boring. Back in October, I bought 50 Baby Bootees to Knit by Zoe Mellor, which is awesome. There are so many cute booties to knit! I wanted something that had some garter stitch, to match the sweater, but all of the garter stitch booties seemed to use dk weight yarn, and I wanted to use the rest of the Lorna's Laces.

This particular pair was made using the Anchor Bootees pattern, which calls for intarsia and stripes. I liked the shape of these though, and decided to knit them plain. They were so fast and fun, I'm sure I'll make more of these.

I hit Halcyon yesterday to cash in on a gift certificate and picked up the new issue of Vogue Knitting, without even flipping through it. Generally, Vogue Knitting is a little hit or miss for me, but I can count on at least two or three patterns I'd like to make. Sadly, I can't say that for this issue. First of all, I flipped through [wait, I can give you an exact number] 33 pages of advertising, articles disguised as advertising, and a couple of short pieces before I even reached the patterns. As for the patterns, there were a couple that I thought were interesting, but don't see myself wearing. One is the cover project, by Norah Gaughan. I love how the cables come together and look like snowflakes, and I love the collar, but I just don't do the whole cropped top thing. The other is the red dress featured in New York Noir. In the Northern Lights section, there is an extremely bulky, oversized cable sweater that actually looks really comfortable and I may make someday. I think that's actually the only thing I would make. Even Michael Kors let me down in this issue, with his contribution of a shiny, crocheted minidress. The two sections that I thought were complete wastes were the men's section, and the freaking intarsia extravaganza that is "The Subject is Roses." The men's sweaters... I may be rendered speechless here. Most of us have a hard time convincing a man to try stripes, or cables, or maybe branching out from the gray/black/navy/brown palette. Yet Vogue Knitting brazenly includes a striped red sweater with a giant intarsia handprint on it. AND, an asymetrical cardigan that left my mouth hanging open. And the roses, oh god the roses. Not since 1995 have I seen such reckless use of intarsia on a sweater. Is this look seriously coming back? Are the nineties already retro? It looks like the only knitting magazine I can buy without flipping through first is Interweave. I suppose it's just as well, since I have enough magazines to cripple someone if they fell over.

Next up, time to make that second mitten before winter realizes it's past due and gives an icy whallop to remind us.