A baby’s wardrobe can never contain enough booties. That’s a scientific fact! This baby booties knitting pattern lets you cover your baby's toes with little kittens! The booties are decorated with oh-so cute kitten features and that makes them an absolute must-have. The foot part of the bootie is simple – garter stitch all over and no leg part to work. The ears, eyes and nose are small knitted pieces stitched on to the tops and they’re finished off with embroidered mouth, whiskers and eye centres.
Our free knitting pattern for baby booties uses two needles – no need for knitting in the round with this pattern. Before sewing on the ears, measure their positions so all ears match each other – unless you want a wonky look, that is! Mark the centre point of the top of the bootie and then mark points 3 rows down from the contrast edge and 2 sts either side of the centre. Then follow the instructions to shape the angle. When securing embroidered features on your finished, make knots tiny to avoid irritating baby’s skin.
We've included options for 0-6 months, 6-12 months and 12-18 months in our baby booties knitting pattern. The 0-6 months is in the main body of the pattern, with option for the other 2 sizes given in brackets. Make sure you are looking at the correct part of the baby booties knitting pattern for the size you want to create.
This free knitting pattern for baby booties on two needles was designed by Ann Franklin and originally published in Love Knitting for Baby magazine. If you want a more basic booties, see our how to knit baby booties pattern.
Baby booties knitting pattern materials
- DROPS Baby Merino, 50g x 1 ball of each in: Grey (shade 19) – A White (shade 01) – B Pink (shade 07) – C Black (shade 21) – D
- 3.25mm (UK 10, US 3) knitting needles
- 3mm (UK 11, US 2/3) knitting needles
- Stitch holder
Baby booties knitting pattern sizes 0-6 (6-12: 12-18) mths to fit sole length 10.2 (12.2: 14)cm, 4 (4¾: 5½)in
Baby booties knitting pattern tension
27 sts and 54 rows to 10cm (4in) over g-st, using 3.25mm (UK 10, US 3) needles. For more on tension in knitting and its importance on finished sizes, see our article on knitting tension squares.
Baby booties knitting pattern abbreviations
sk2po: Slip 1 st kwise Knit 2 sts tog, pass slipped st over For standard abbreviations our article on knitting abbreviations.
Baby booties knitting pattern
Work begins at sole.
Foot (make 2)
Using 3.25mm (UK 10, US 3) needles and yarn A, cast on 8 (10: 12) sts.
Knit 5 rows.
Row 6 (WS) K1, m1, knit to last st, m1, k1. 10 (12: 14) sts
Knit 9 rows.
Row 16 As Row 6. 12 (14: 16) sts
Knit 11 rows.
Row 28 As Row 6. 14 (16: 18) sts
Knit 17 (27: 37) rows.
Next row K1, k2tog, knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1. 12 (14: 16) sts
Knit 5 rows.
Next row K1, k2tog, knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1. 10 (12: 14) sts
Knit 4 rows.
Next row K1, m1, knit to last st, m1, k1. 12 (14: 16) sts
Knit 1 row.
Rep the last 2 rows until 20 (24: 28) sts are on the needle, ending on an inc row.
Knit 11 (13: 19) rows.
Next row K5 (6: 7), k2tog, turn.
Working on these 6 (7: 8) sts only, knit 33 (37: 41) rows.
Cast off.
With RS facing (centre stitches will be the 1st sts on left-hand needle) slip 6 (8: 10) sts onto a holder or safety pin. Rejoin the yarn to rem of the sts and work as folls:
Next row K2tog, knit to the end of the row. 6 (7: 8) sts
Knit 33 (37: 41) rows.
Cast off.
Baby booties knitting pattern edging
Using 3mm (UK 11, US 2/3) needles and yarn B, and with RS facing, pick up and knit 18 (20: 22) sts from the inner edge, knit across the 6 (8: 10) sts from the stitch holder, pick up and knit 18 (20: 22) sts from the second inner edge. 42 (48: 54) sts
Knit 2 rows and cast off.
Baby booties knitting pattern ears
Outer ears (make 4)
Using 3mm (UK 11, US 2/3) needles and yarn A, cast on 11sts.
Row 1 (RS) K5, p1, k5.
Row 2 As Row 1.
Row 3 K5, p1, k2, k2tog, k1. 10 sts
Row 4 K4, p1, k2, k2tog, k1. 9 sts
Row 5 K4, p1, k1, k2tog, k1. 8 sts
Row 6 K3, p1, k1, k2tog, k1. 7 sts
Row 7 K3, p1, k2tog, k1. 6 sts
Row 8 K2, p1, k2tog, k1. 5 sts
Row 9 K2, k2tog, k1. 4 sts
Row 10 K1, k2tog, k1. 3 sts
Row 11 Sk2po to cast off.
Inner ears (make 4)
Using 3mm (UK 11, US 2/3) and yarn C, cast on 9 sts.
Row 1 K4, p1, k4. 9 sts
Row 2 As Row 1.
Row 3 K4, p1, k1, k2tog, k1. 8 sts
Row 4 K3, p1, k1, k2tog, k1. 7 sts
Row 5 K3, p1, k2tog, k1. 6 sts
Row 6 K2, p1, k2tog, k1. 5 sts
Row 7 K2, k2tog, k1. 4 sts
Row 8 K1, k2tog, k1. 3 sts
Row 9 Sk2po to cast off.
Baby booties knitting pattern eyes (make 4)
Using 3mm (UK 11, US 2/3) and yarn B, cast on 8 sts.
Break off yarn and thread it through rem sts. Take sts off needle and pull yarn tightly to join the sts into a closed circle.
Baby booties knitting pattern nose (make 2)
Using 3mm (UK 11, US 2/3) and yarn C, cast on 3 sts.
Knit 2 rows
Sk2po to cast off.
To make up the baby booties knitting pattern
For all seams, use an over-cast stitch.
Join the cast-off sts at the heel, matching colours. Sew the bottom edge of the top of the bootie to the side edges of the sole, with the heel hem at the centre of the cast-on row of the sole, and matching row endings.
Sew in all ends neatly.
Sew the inner ear and outer ears together, with cast-on edges together, and with a small outline of the outer ear showing around the inner ear on all other edges.
Sew the ears to the front of the booties
3 rows below the contrast edging, sewing half of the ears parallel to the contrast row, with the centre of the ear level with the corner of the contrast edging, then sew the second half of each ear at an angle so that the bottom of the ear is 6 rows below the top, and about 3 sts further to the side than the corner of the contrast edging.
Join the eyes into a circle and sew below the ears, about 3 sts apart.
Sew the nose at the centre of the face, 3 rows below the eyes. Using back stitch, embroider a mouth below the nose using the same colour yarn.
Using yarn D, sew a small French knot or a few back stitches onto the centre of each eye to make pupils. Using the same yarn, use long stitches to make 3 whiskers on each side of the nose.
Download the baby booties knitting pattern
Do you want a copy of the baby booties knitting pattern that can be easily printed out? Or a copy that you van save in to your computer? We hear you! Click to download the baby booties knitting pattern PDF. This is an A4 PDF with two pages containing the baby booties knitting pattern and accompanying photographs.
More like the baby booties knitting pattern
Check out some of our other free knitting patterns on Gathered. For a beginner pattern, see our how to knit baby booties knitting pattern. Check out our basic baby hat knitting pattern and our premature baby hat knitting pattern, too. Little ones will love our mermaid knitting pattern and our toy dog knitting patterns. Or maybe our pirate toy knitting pattern is the choice for your little one.
