Quackers

Whenever I show these to anybody, their faces light up and they can't help but smile.  Duck Feet Baby Booties.  C'mon, they're freaking adorable!

Pattern: Duck by Jeny Staiman in Knitty Spring/Summer 2010
Knitty is an awesome online knitting magazine that features free patterns

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in colorway 340001 light yellow
1 skein (137 yards per 50g skein)

Needles: US 2

I had some previous experience with sock knitting (casting on for toe up, knitting in the round, turning the heel, etc) but never anything duck related.  This pattern taught me a few new tricks: Turkish Cast-on, Applied I-Cord and a new stretchy bind off.  Jeny's pattern is written beautifully.  Everything is straightforward and thoroughly explained.  I also loved that she had so many pictures to illustrate the various techniques and even provided links for further explanation.  All-in-all, a fun pattern to knit. 

Modifications:
For the toes, I kept getting gaps at the beginning of each cast-on row.  After a few tries, I found that casting on an extra loop and then knitting it with its neighbor tightened it up enough so that it no longer gapped.  Here's a close-up view of the toes.

My only other modification was to knit the applied i-cord along the side toes in one continuous cord (i.e. I started from one side toe, worked my way around back and then just continued to the other side toe).  This gave me two less ends to weave in.  (There are a lot of ends to weave in unfortunately).

 But look how cute.  

 For those who like to stand unsupported, Jeny has a toddler version available on her blog: Curious Knitter

They stay on pretty well - even on active crawlers.

Model:  Caden Violet (9 months) courtesy of Pat's Kids Modeling Agency, Inc.