itty bitty (PINK!) basketball boots...

...for the sweet and sporty newborn, lol. in this case our great-niece maddy, who turned two weeks old over the weekend and is getting cuter every single second! i was a little bit stumped as to what to make, or rather, what to make FIRST; but when i saw this pattern on ravelry, i just could not resist:

chucky baby hightops pattern by: erin blacks designs; hook: F; yarn: cascade 220 in white and three different shades of pink, because i didn't have quite enough of the color i wanted to use, but in retrospect, i love the detail that adds! ps: the elephant was a fun find at homegoods, i just put her in there because she, the boots, and the couch all matched each other so perfectly; there was also a giraffe which i got for big sister naty, but i had already wrapped! :)

i actually wound up making two and a half of these things. or, more accurately, i made one complete bootie and in the midst of working on the second realized that i had mis-read the directions for one round quite early on. ordinarily, i would just make the second one to match, but in this case, it was the round with the little ridge that divides the sole of the boot from the side, and makes it stand up (which, in crochet lingo is called a "turning" round); and when i did a little experiment it turned out that a round of backPOST single crochet looked very VERY much better than the  backLOOP single crochet i had previously done. so after the second was completed, i ripped the first one back and re-did it. don't get me wrong, i'm all for fudging whenever possible; but as my friend cheryl says, "a *REAL* knitter isn't afraid to rip out!" in this case, we need to substitute crocheter for knitter, but either way, she's quite right. on the other hand, the extra effort feels like it warrants a close-up, so here's one now:

if you're wondering how i got the boots to stand up so nicely, i stuffed them pretty tightly with white tissue paper, and YES, i left that in there when i wrapped them! sounds crazy, but without the stuffing, they looked slightly lumpy and deflated.

i should mention in passing that lovely husband jeff is pretty anxious to re-upholster the beautiful hand-me-down couch that my sister's SIL generously passed along to us last year, and while i agree with him completely that a non-pink couch will look better in the room, i have to say there's no beating a PINK COUCH for staging baby gifts, lol!

hope you have a happy, fun, crafty day, darlings! ♥♥♥