baby

Booties, Bonnets and Blankets, Oh My!

I finished the Cutie Booties and the Easy Peasy Sock Hat for my friend’s gift. The last piece I wanted to add to the collection was a blanket. I have seen lots of cute custom blankets around lately and figured there has to be a tutorial around that could help me make a simple baby blanket. I did a search and found this perfect tutorial at Prudent Baby – DIY Snuggly Baby Blanket.

It is such a simple and effective pattern. I wanted a light weight blanket for Summer or belly time. I used a bit more than called for- a yard and a half of flannel and cotton. To be honest, I didn’t even cut it- I just started to sew (after washing the fabric of course). Not because I didn’t think the pattern was right, but because I understood it wrong. For those who know me, reading comprehension isn’t always my strong suit.

With right sides together, I sewed all the way around with a basic stitch, leaving a 3 inch section un-sewn to be able to flip it outside right later. Then cut the excess trim after the first round of sewing. Don’t forget to cut the corners out as well to make it lay flat when you turn it outside right.

Once it was trimmed up, I turned it right side facing out.

I even used a pin to make sure my corners were perfect. This is a trick my Mom often talks about.

Then I ran the blanket, right side up, back through the machine using a scalloped stitch in a contrasting color.

I have never used a fancy stitch on my machine and thought this would be the perfect project. Turns out, I was right!

All together, I think this will be the perfect gift for my friend and her little baby girl on the way!

Easy Peasy, Itty Bitty Sock Hat

I’ve completed the next piece of the gift set for my friend who is expecting. This part is the Easy Peasy Newborn Sock Hat by Keri McKiernan. It’s a free pattern available for free over at Knitty Gritty Thoughts, another blog I frequent.

This was another nice way to use up remaining stash sock yarn. I wanted the hat and cutie booties to match, so I decided to divide the top i-cord into two i-cords and attach them with a button to create a heart shape. I think it makes it super duper cute!

What are you working on this week? Happy Knitting!

Cutie Bootie

This Saartje’s Bootees pattern by Saartje de Bruijn is a MUST HAVE in any knitter’s library. It is the perfect baby knit and the perfect use for remaining stash sock yarn.

They are knit on straight needles and cleverly written to easily shape a bootie. I used size 1 needles, which I have trouble with, they are a bit small for my hands, but I was okay with on this project.

I used some left over fingering weight 100% merino wool from Sunshine Yarns (formally NH Knitting Mama). This is the yarn I used for Bontemps cowl, a gift for my favorite Mother In Law.

I have a few other items I plan on putting together for a nice gift package for my friend. But these were my favorite baby knit of them all! Happy Knitting!

Pretty as a Picture

Back in June I made a matching set for my newest niece on the way. They were super cute baby britches. Well they finally fit the perfect little angel and look perfect. How perfectly heavenly is my niece?

Just Right Baby Hat Fits Just Right

I was delighted to receive an email this week from my Sister-In-Law. This great email also included these precious pictures of my newest niece Hannah in the Just Right Baby Hat I knit for her.

This hat is SO precious. She looks so adorable in it! I just love baby knits! Happy Knitting!

“Off The Vine” Sweet Pea Hat

This is my latest original pattern. It is a newborn hat I call “Off the Vine” Sweet Pea hat.

I had been tossing around baby hat ideas in my head for a while. I really wanted to participate in the KnitMore Girls newborn/preemie hat challenge. But nothing I was working out was coming out the way I was planning. Then my search for a sweet pea hat happened when a friend wanted to commission me for a “pea pod” hat for twins that her friend was having. Then it clicked together for me.

My inspiration was from this sweet pea image I found:

(c) 2007 Tracy Flickinger

I thought this was so cute and simple. I used size 8 dpn’s with Lion’s Brand Organic Cotton yarn. I wanted something to give it an organic look. This is what I came up with…

I added the picot edge to make it sit sweetly on the new babies face.

I wanted to make it simple. The baby is the key to this hat. I wanted it to look very organic and used a heavier weight cotton yarn to give it a natural feel. I wanted the baby to look like they were just picked off the vine.

The top is decreased with a long icord that is tacked down to make it curl without adding any wire or something to stiffen it. It is soft and simple.  It really came out like a pea pod top. I am very happy with it. I plan on writing up a pattern soon. What do you think?

Gift to Be Square

LOL- my stupid titles make me giggle. I thought this title was perfect for this post. Our knitting group recently finished up a project for a fellow knitter in our group who is expecting very soon. We all decided to do a “knit a square” baby afghan. I was in charge of picking out the yarn. I really wanted to lean away from the traditional baby colors and try something new with an earthy, timeless feel. It also needed to be a yarn that would withstand the many washes and drys if it was going to last past newbornhood. I chose three colorways from Vanna Yarns by Lion Brand.

Each group member took a skein of yarn and knit 6 squares. We had fun sneaking around our unsuspecting mother-to-be, as we randomly stuck yarn pieces and squares into other members bags during group. Once all the squares were complete it was time to assemble them.

We decided the best way to attach them all was to single crochet each square. That would make up for any difference in gauges.

Once it was all crocheted together, it was just about sewing in the ends…lots of ends! :)

We were all SO excited with the final product. It’s amazing how it all came together.

We had a few skeins of extra yarn, so we decided to do two more projects. I made the Cabled Raglan Baby Sweater by Rebecca L. Daniels.

It was my first sweater. It’s a very simple pattern and I highly recommend it if you have not made a raglan and want to learn the construction.

I added a pink elephant button to give it a nice baby feel!

Nicolle from our group also made an extra addition- she named her Ellie. She is pink of course, to match. This is from the pattern Elijah.

All fit perfect inside the perfectly matching basket. It all came together so well, and was well received by our mommy-to-be.

Cute as a Button

Spoiler alert for Chelsea. I completed the baby outfit made for my future niece or nephew.

This pattern is from One More Skein. I used Sky Blue Organic Cotton yarn and I so LOVED this yarn. I think this will be my go to yarn for baby sweaters from now on.

It is made to match the Super Quick  Baby Britches. Griffin helped choose the blue buttons to tie it all together. I can’t wait to get pictures of the baby in this outfit. It’s a bit bigger- probably a 9-12 month outfit, but I will be sure to post pics when I get them.

Baby Sweater for Quick Britches

My new little niece or nephew needs a matching sweater for his/her new britches. I am working another great pattern, Nash’s Garter Stitch Baby Sweater from “One More Skein”. It seems this book has come in VERY handy. I love this book. This sweater very nice. I am using Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton and LOVING it. It is so soft, there is no way this sweater can come out wrong!

Did I mention I love this pattern? It’s super simple and easy to understand. I can’t wait to get it finished and choose buttons!!!

The Just Right Baby Hat

While my Mother-In-Law was in town last week, I got a few quick projects done. It was nice to have an extra set of hands to look after the Griff so I could get some knitting done. My Sister-In-Law is expecting her second baby in August. She lives out West near my MIL. I wanted to send her home with something for the new baby. I found a very cute and simple pattern on called “Simple Newborn Hat with a Touch of Lace” by Ginny Foreman, available for free on Ravelry.com.

I used Bernat Softee white yarn for this hat. The yarn was a bit difficult and kept pulling in places, but all in all, very soft and affordable yarn. It worked up very fast and only took about 4 hours for me to complete. To give you a reference for size, I actually blocked it on a red wine glass. It is so cute and small and soft…I am keeping this pattern handy for any other friends or family members in the future.