Baby Shoe Pattern

New shoes & big dreams: Lidia Kight overcame poverty in the Dominican Republic

Lidia grew up in the Dominican Republic, barely a two-hour flight from Miami, but it might as well have been another planet. Now 41 and living in Jackson, Lidia has a driver's license, a high school diploma, a job and a college degree in the works. She has carpeting on the floor, a refrigerator full of food, a hot shower every morning -- and a big story to tell about how she got to this point in her life.

It started with a new pair of shoes and a dream.

Lidia's father had never been to school; her mom only made it to third grade. She had two younger sisters and a big brother. When she was 4 or 5, she says, her parents began "farming her out" to other households, where she worked in exchange for food and clothing. Many families beat her. Lidia did everything she could to get herself kicked out of the homes, because she would rather be with her own family. Once, she ran away from a family she was working for, and her mother spanked her and took her back to the house.

"My parents tried to do the best they could ... but it hurt me, even though it was like the thing to do," says Lidia. "We worked for enough to eat that day. That's still how it is today. A lot of stuff still hasn't changed."

Lidia's family often traveled the dirt paths down the mountain to the city, where they tried to sell or exchange whatever goods they had. It was a rough trip for Lidia, especially as she got older -- her classmates teased her, and she never had proper shoes for the arduous trip. Her toes are still curled under from the years she spent trying to cram her big-girl feet into the child-size shoes donated by charities. She remembers feeling resentful during her childhood, wondering why God had given her such a hard life.

"I had these plastic shoes that made a squeaky noise on the hot pavement. I wanted what they had, what looked better to me," says Lidia. "Why did I have to be on a donkey full of food, yelling, 'I've got tomatoes, I've got papayas!' For many years, I wanted to hide under that donkey's tail. That's what I wanted to do."

But Lidia knew there was more to life, and she was determined to find it.

Knit Baby Shoes Make a Great Gift | Fountain Link

Knit baby shoes are a great gift to take to a baby shower for a new baby or expectant mother. Because they are so tiny, you can knit up a pair of baby shoes or booties in less than a day and have your gift ready to go. You can even use scraps of yarn to make them since knit baby shoes don’t require a lot of yarn.

The mother will really be excited to see that you put so much care into your gift to knit a pair of baby shoes for her child by hand. Even though they don’t take a lot of time to knit, even a small knitting project takes more time and effort than simply picking something up for the baby next time you’re at the store. However, if you want to buy a little dress or sailor suit and make some baby shoes to match, that would be great too.

You could also join forces with a friend who is planning to buy baby clothes for the new little one. You can select yarn to match the outfits she buys and knit a pair of baby booties to match each one. When the time comes, you can either wrap the gifts together and label them from both of you or wrap them separately but make sure the gifts are presented to the new mother together.

Of course, you’ll need to buy a baby shoes knitting pattern to follow while you’re making the baby shoes. There are some really cute ones available on Etsy. Most of the designers charge somewhere between $4 and $6 each for their patterns, and they are well worth the price. Remember, you can reuse a pattern over and over again, and there is sure to be another baby shower again before too long.

If you really can’t afford to buy a pattern, there are some free ones online as well, but most of them are not as cute as the ones on Etsy. Try looking for free patterns on the websites of the big yarn companies, such as Red Heart and Lion Brand Yarn. Most of these companies provide a variety of free patterns because they want you to buy their yarn to make them.

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