Today we are having a baby shower for a co-worker. Abhi and Parul are the proud parents of an adorable, healthy baby girl. Vartika was born on 10/17/11 – 6.2 lbs. and 19” long. Her Hindu name means “lamp”, but it has a deeper meaning as the “most luminous part of the flame, inspired from the glow of her face”. That flame is said to be pure and chaste in Indian mythology.

I finished Vartika’s little crocheted “Converse” baby shoes in the nick of time. They are to go with the sweater I recently knitted for her. For information about the sweater, click on this link:

http://www.knittingparadise.com/t-35213-1.html

Suzanne Resaul’s cute baby sneakers are fairly easy to make. The pattern is not without mistakes. However, if you’re a fairly experienced crocheter, you’ll be able to easily see where minor adjustments to the pattern need to be made. The main things to keep in mind are:

1. Use the recommended WORSTED weight yarn for the soles, toes and shoe laces and SPORT weight yarn for the tongue and uppers.

2. Make sure you end each row with the proper number of stitches which are clearly indicated. Minor pattern adjustments will need to be made to achieve this. For example, there is no “Ch 1” at the very end of the last upper row. Just remember to keep your stitches symmetrical while making each section of the shoe.

So what did I change? (You know I ALWAYS change something!) I did not use the recommended weights of yarn, because I wanted to use the exact same yarn I used for the sweater. My soles, toe and laces were done in sport weight, and the tongue and uppers done in worsted weight. This is the opposite of what was recommended. MY BAD! But I doubt that Vartika will notice that the soles are a little too small for the uppers, and the tongue a little too heavy. Also, I think that using the recommended WHITE worsted weight and SOLID color for the tongue and uppers would greatly enhance their “sneaker” look. So next time, that’s exactly what I’ll do. And for the little “Converse star” logo here’s what I did (as opposed to the pattern instructions):

Ch 4, slip to form a ring.

Ch 5, sl st in middle of ring repeat for a total of 5 petals on the “flower”.

Embroider star with contrasting yarn per Suzanne’s directions.

I tacked down the petal edges with needle and thread. Same for one place on the shoe laces at the bottom so the baby can’t pull them out.

Suzanne Resaul doesn’t include instructions for making larger sizes. However, once you’ve made these, you’ll easily be able to figure out how to make them larger. If the toddler is walking, be sure to add the non-skid material on the bottom as recommended.

I’m sure this won’t be the last time I make these. The hardest part is crocheting into the loop BEHIND the back loop. Suzanne specifies this in order to create visual ridges on certain parts of the shoe. It’s quite hard to do with the size 4 crochet hook, so before doing each stitch, I had to first pull up the “loop behind” with my tiny steel crochet hook. That was really the only tedious part in making these cute little sneakers.

Also, I’ve noticed that there are a couple of YOUTUBE videos on how to crochet high-top sneakers, though I haven’t seen any of them. Suzanne’s instructions were good enough for me. Thanks, Suzanne for taking the time to write down this adorable pattern!