Bobble Booties in Lion Brand Ice Cream - L60238 - Downloadable PDF

Lion Brand Ice Cream Bobble Booties – Free Knitting Pattern L60238

The Lion Brand Ice Cream Bobble Booties (Pattern Number L60238) are a charming pair of knitted baby booties featuring playful raised bobble texture. Designed by Lion Brand and available as a free downloadable PDF, this pattern is rated Easy, making it an approachable and rewarding project for beginner and newer knitters looking to practice a fun decorative stitch technique. The finished booties measure approximately 8.5 inches in circumference and 7 inches in height, creating a cozy and snug fit for little feet.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a pair of knitted baby booties adorned with bobble detailing. Bobbles are small, rounded three-dimensional bumps created directly within the knitted fabric, giving the booties a tactile, decorative surface that is both visually appealing and soft to the touch. These booties make an excellent handmade gift for newborns and infants.

Techniques Used

• Bobble construction (MB – Make Bobble): The signature technique of this pattern. Each bobble is worked by knitting multiple times into a single stitch, incorporating yarn overs to increase to five stitches, then working short rows of knit and purl across those stitches, and finally decreasing back down with a p3tog to close the bobble. This creates a firm, rounded raised bump on the fabric surface.
• Short-row shaping: Used within the bobble construction itself, where the knitter turns the work mid-row to work back and forth across only the bobble stitches before rejoining the main fabric.
• Stitch holder usage: Stitches are placed on holders at certain stages of construction, a common technique when working bootie shaping that requires setting aside live stitches to be returned to later.
• Seaming and finishing: A large-eyed blunt needle is used to join seams and weave in ends neatly, an essential finishing skill for any knitted accessory.

Stitches Used

• Stockinette Stitch (St st): The foundational stitch of the booties, worked by knitting on the right side and purling on the wrong side. The gauge for this pattern is set in stockinette at 24 stitches = approximately 4 inches (10 cm).
• MB (Make Bobble): A multi-step stitch technique unique to this pattern. It involves knitting into the front of a stitch multiple times without removing it from the needle, adding yarn overs between each knit to build up five stitches from one, then working those stitches back and forth before decreasing back to the original stitch count. Specifically: knit into front, yarn over, knit into same stitch, yarn over, knit into same stitch again (4 stitches increased to 5 total); turn and purl across 5 stitches; turn and knit across 5 stitches; turn, p1, p3tog, p1 to decrease back down.
• Purl (p) and Knit (k): Standard knitting stitches used throughout both the main fabric and the bobble construction.
• P3tog (purl 3 together): A decrease stitch used specifically within the bobble to close it neatly and return to the correct stitch count.
• Yarn Over (yo): Used within the bobble technique to add extra stitches temporarily, contributing to the fullness and rounded shape of each bobble.

Materials

• Yarn: Lion Brand Ice Cream (Art. #923), a sport weight yarn. The sample shown uses colorway 204 Banana Split, though the pattern notes that any color of your choice may be substituted. One ball is sufficient for the project.
• Needles: Lion Brand knitting needles, size 5 (3.75 mm).
• Notions: Lion Brand stitch holders and a Lion Brand large-eyed blunt needle for finishing.

Gauge

Achieving the correct gauge is