Baby Items

My first sewing-for-baby project was this nightgown from an old tshirt. I used the pattern from this website. 

Took me longer to put together the pattern pieces than to actually see the gown, and so I planned on making a few more, but never did. Baby E wore this one time; it was a little short for her. I'll definitely keep this pattern in mind for gift sewing. 

Next up in sewing-for-baby: flannel blankets. Used the tutorial found here and flannel from Joanns. These were super easy, and we've been using them all the time. The flannel is nicely absorbant of baby drool--these are great for tummy time. If you can buy the flannel during a sale, these could be a very inexpensive but useful gift. 

Newborn baby pants were next up. Used this pattern and Hawaiian print fabric leftover from when I made pj pants for the family 3 years ago. Baby E never actually wore any of these! I made one more pair out of an old shirt that she wore once, but I dress her mostly in one-piece footie outfits (so much easier). These were fun to make, and turned out cute, but just not useful for us. 

FO: Round Blanket

Pattern: Round or Pinwheel Blanket (ravelry project page)

Yarn: Tahki Cotton Classic in "dark jade" and "linen white"

Like the last project, another throwback baby blanket worked in the round knit for a friend--this one for my dear friend Miko's 3rd son who was born in February. This pattern was really easy, and I love the result--simple and clean looking. 

For the edge, I worked about 6 rows of seed stitch in green then a couple rows in white, then did an attached I-cord bind off. 

I'm not usually a big fan of knitting with cotton, but this yarn is the exception. And it washes well, so a natural choice for baby items. 

FO: Undercover Blanket

Pattern: Undercover (ravelry project page)

Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Worsted in "peapod"

Another throwback FO. Knit this blanket for my friend Kari's second baby who was born at the end of December last year. Simple pattern, easy to memorize. I especially love square blankets that are knit in the round--not having to turn my work/purl on wrong side rows makes it seem faster.

FO: Pumpkin Hat

Pattern: improvised

Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in "glazed carrot" and some worsted superwash that I dyed green years ago

Size: Infant 

Now that I have a baby, time to revisit pumpkin hats! This first one is on its way to a sweet baby in New York. A replica is on the needles for Baby E. 

After this, turkey leg hat???

FO: Baby Yours (aka Tedious Gray)

Pattern: Baby Yours (ravelry project page)

Yarn: Socks that Rock Mediumweight in "every day gray"

6 month size 

Made this sweater last fall for a coworker's baby. Pleased with the results. But man! This sweater was tedious. First, trouble with gauge swatch not matching gauge of actual sweater (negative reinforcement for gauge swatching). To decrease seaming, I picked up stitches for the sleeves and worked down to the cuff. Not pleased with the way the garter stitch above and below the cable puckers. 

If I make this again, I would changed the checkerboard stitch to stockinette or seed stitch. I'd work the body in one piece to eliminate seaming. And I'd work to eliminate the puckering at the cable top/bottom. 

The yarn was great--hope to work with it again soon. 

Let's do this!!

Its been almost 11 months since my last post. I'm a bit too busy with baby to craft much these days, but I can blog from my phone while nursing, and I've got about a year's worth of projects to talk about. 

Why I'm not knitting much these days:

Baby E, 1 month old

Star Wreath Quilt

Taking a break from my pre-vacation house deep-cleaning and packing to share pics of the finished quilt!



I'm so so so happy with how this turned out. The design is based on this pattern, using bright kid-friendly colors. This was my first real experience with free-motion quilting (aside form a little 12"x12" wall hanging), and I feel like I learned so much during the process! At this angle, you can see the nice texture from the quilting



I decided to do a variety of quilting designs on this quilt, to practice many different ways of free-motion quilting. I started with a basic wobbly meander in the green areas of the wreath



Next, I did a sort-of paisley-ish design in the orange parts



Then I did a pebble stitch in the yellow area. I really love this look, but this stitch seemed to take way longer... maybe also because there's so much yellow.



Next, I did heart echo pattern in the middle of the purple star, and those weird snakey things in the purple star points. I don't really like the weird snake-looking things, but they don't bug me enough to rip them out. :-/



Finally, I did the loopy-meander in the blue sections. This was probably my favorite stitch. Also, it seemed the easiest... maybe because it was the last one.



For the back, I used paper-piecing for my niece's name, Jiya. When I saw that stripe fabric, it was love at first sight--I think it makes a fun back for this quilt.




The binding is a cheery orange with yellow flowers



In lieu of a label, I wrote on the back of the quilt with fine-tipped permanent fabric marker. :)



As with all gift-giving, I know that once I give this away, I need to let it go (as I did with the first blanket I made for her.... which is lost and gone forever in the Indian postal system). I do really hope she likes it, though! I have such fond memories of my blankets as a little kid--I hope this can be that kind of thing for my niece. And this time I'll be hand-delivering it--so I don't have to worry about it getting there in the mail!