{Craft Project} Crocheted Crocodile Stitch Baby Booties

When I found out I was having a baby girl my crafting mind went a little out of control.  Literally the day I found out my head was swimming with ideas of what I could knit, crochet, sew, paint and create for this little unborn peanut.  Pinterest found my first answer.  These!  I really really wanted to make them, however, I'm a beginner crocheter.  I taught myself about 2 years ago by using the Crocheting for Dummies book.  I had really only made a few scarves and some hats that didn't turn out that great so when I saw the complexity of these I figured there was no way my crafting patience would hold up to this pattern.

My first crochet project was a baby hat for Max before he was born.  It turned out to be the hat/hats from The Three Bears story.  Let's just say I hate checking my gauge and measuring/counting stitches which is why I prefer to make scarves as they are straight rows.  I was so happy to finish my first little baby hat for the little one in my tummy.  Upon completion I held it up to show Luke my finished product and he looked at it and said "that's never going to fit a baby that thing could only fit a doll!"  In closer examination I guess he was right.  It was a little small.  So try again I did.  This time I upped my hook in hopes to produce the perfect little newborn hat.  Again, once completed I held it up for Luke and again he gave me an amused look and said "that hat could fit me!"  He was right again.  I popped it on my head and realized that it was a pretty good fit.  I did finally end up making the third "just right" hat but it still wasn't my best work.

This time I made sure to check my gauge as I didn't want to spend all this time trying to figure out a pattern and end up with booties that either would fit a Barbie or that she would have to wait until she's 10 to wear!  In the end I was pretty proud of myself for figuring this one out!  The first booty took literally all day on a Sunday for me to make.  Once finished I thought to myself, "Seriously, I have to do this again?"  I didn't want baby girl to only have one booty but it took me so long to make the first one and get it right that I took a week off before working on the second one.  The second booty was MUCH easier than the first which tells me that I should make some more and give them out as gifts!  Then once the buttons were put on I loved them even more.  The original photos of these from the pattern on Etsy shows them in the neatest rainbow yarn but I couldn't find exactly that at the store so I opted for something more girly that would match some of her cute outfits I have collected.  I think I'm going to make another pair and try to find the rainbow yarn because the crocodile scales look so much better with the yarn color variance.

Here is my finished product!