sleeping bag from repurposed materials

This item of baby cuteness has been on my to-do list for ages now.

All my babies have slept in a sleeping bag from about  6 months old until they are old enough to wake from bed in the morning and need to walk to our room, about 2 years.
They do several things: comfort (once they are strong enough to wriggle free from a swaddling blanket); stop them kicking their blankets off and getting cold; signal bedtime. I swear by them and have so far been using a cotton go go bag by merinokids.co.nz
Heading into winter here, I wanted a lined wool one for Adelaide. The outer layer was a really ugly wool skirt made of the softest merino wool knit fabric, wrap-around style with two panels crossing at the front. I just kept two panels to make the bottom of the sleeping bag and used a simple bodice pattern to create the top. Lining it was a problem only because I had it all wrong in my head and forgot to sew it as an open garment, instead I fiddled around with a closed neck and only one side opening, which closes with a zip.

It's lined with an old merino wool top and some flannel I had planned to make pyjamas with. Very warm and will easily fit until 2 years old.

The vintage button just tidies up the top of the zip a little bit. You don't really need one there, but it looks pretty I think.

baby bolero

Another Hadley Fierlinger pattern from Vintage Knits for Modern Babies.

This one is for summer, though knit in wool to offer some real warmth when needed to the Adelaide's core. It's really cute and cuddly and goes with everything. I also love that it has no front so spills and food stains aren't a problem.

  This knit really changed with blocking. At first I had a puckered mess that wouldn't sit flat. After washing and blocking it now has a nice look. And she's gorgeous in it.

As if we needed a reason to love her any more...

My notes are on Ravelry here. 

knitting ahead

I have cast on for the child's tomten jacket for Hugo. It's an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern from Knitting without Tears. More on Zimmermann later. The gauge directions were for a newborn (5 stitches an inch) which I got with my needles and aran weight yarn.  So I added 8 stitches as directed to get a toddler size. How annoying then, that what I have is HUGE, much huger than Hugo. Perhaps he will fit it when he is five...
Anyway, it has been an ok knit. Lots of garter stitch, well, all garter stitch. I have switched to continental style knitting for this one because it's faster and less stress on the wrists. That style doesn't suit purling though, so it's only good for stockinette in the round or plain garter stitch on back and forth knitting, I've found.

 Also on my knitting radar are some gorgeous knits FOR ME! I have never knitted a garment for myself (or any other adult size) so this (Aidez) will be 'the big one'. What an awesome free knitting pattern website! I have only just discovered it after finding the pattern on Ravelry. It answers all my wants for something cosy and warm, bulky but shapely, chunky but detailed in the cables, and it calls for thick wool so it won't take too too long to knit.

The yarn for it is on its way. Chunky merino in a denim shade. Yay! 40 balls of it. Yay! I can knit anything without worrying if I'll run out of yarn.

Also with this wool, another 'big one' for me: the ever popular Owls sweater. Can't wait to have one. It will be denim coloured too. I'll  be wearing a lot of denim blue this winter. Beats the greys and blacks of all my previous winters!

This little 'milo' vest for Hugo is another matter. I have only 2 balls and it doesn't state a yardage (or how many metres/yards per ball). I'll have to wing it and if I run out near the end I'll add some colour work to the yoke. It's a very popular pattern. I finally bit the dust and purchased a copy (pdf download, so easy, wish I'd done it earlier). It's well worth the AUS$ 5.00 because it has sizes up to 6 years and variations for the cable panel in the front and every size adjustment is all mapped out for you.

This cone of wool was a dud purchase (though only $12). I thought it would be softer, but alas, it's as scratchy as those old handknits that made acrylic so popular in the 1970s. I can't think of a use for it, other than knitting dog jerseys for Mum's three, or just keep it as a giant cone of string for household use.

I also spied in the latest NZ FQ magazine that deep burgundy reds were back this winter for lipsticks (like the colour of my chair in the picture there). How that pleases me so. It was the 90s when it was last in (my teenage years) and it reminds me of Drew Barrymore and 90210. Denim and burgundy then. Navy and merlot. Nautical and plum. However you name it, it sounds pretty good to me.

baby mary-janes

Laidey has a new pair of shoes. Little red mary-janes.

Just perfect for these in-between months when she sits most of the time, will soon learn to crawl and then will need proper leather shoes when she learns to walk. She's too old for typical baby bootees now so these have a bit of a grown-up look to them that really appealed.

I made these with some leftover Debbie Bliss cashmerino yarn in Aran weight. It was just right for this project. The pattern is from Hadley Fierlinger's Vintage Knits for Modern Babies again. I love this book and have a few of her other projects on the needles right now.

I have found this pattern to be an improvement on the crossover mary-janes I have made previously from this Ravelry pattern, but still, the strap was too long (or her ankles too narrow) so I placed the button way back on the button band. I think they need a dome too, see where it's gaping a little?

Anyway, these are really stretchy so I hope they will be useful until we hear the pitter patter of her little feet running down the hall in a few months' time. 

Next, I just have to dress her in her red and white dress with white tights and these shoes - is there a special occasion coming up? Do we need one?

hand-dyed hand-knitted wool

These lovely handknits had been through two kids and all their puke and spills - they were really stained and were about to head to the 'bottom drawer', meaning they would only see the light of day again as a bedtime cardigan, or worse, never be worn again. Sorry, there is no 'before' photo.

 'After' - Different shades of cornflower blue. 'Before' they were (from left to right) taupe, cream, torquoise and mint green. With LOTS of stains.

Mum had shown me some store bought knits she had dyed a lovely burgundy colour, and I thought I should try dying these baby clothes.

The brand is Rit. The colour is a denim shade of blue (I can't recall if it was Royal Blue or Navy Blue), suited to boys or girls, since I didn't know what I was having, but all our children have to get blue eyes since that is what we have (remembering fifth form science).

So in a bucket of hot water (about 50 degrees C) I followed the instructions on the packet and you can see them here on the website of Rit dye.

They turned out so well. I will always wash them separately though as a lot of dye leaked out while rinsing, A LOT. The process was easy, the bucket didn't stain, the sink didn't stain. The clothes are like new again and I only had to change two lots of buttons.

Do try it (sounding like the Dilmah guy).

progress

We are in a spin during December. Two birthdays, end of year everythings, Christmas and the tail end of spring cleaning. It's all go, and I've gone and bitten off even more to chew.
My brother (16 years old) is on a three month holiday from school. No part time job so we thought about putting him to good use. He and I are currently painting our dining room. Two days down, 4 hours each day. The red is no more! and I have headache from breathing oil-based paint all day.
I will post a photo soon.
I also made my first Christmas pudding and just couldn't resist eating some right away because it smelled so good and it was so easy to make. I'll definitely make at least one more for the big day. More on that soon, too.
So here's another retrospective for you.

I made this outfit for Adelaide a few weeks back. I made the jacket actually 2 years ago for Hugo but the buttonhole maker on the machine chewed the fabric. I stored it away, not really liking the colours on him anyway, then thought of this idea to cover up the mistake.
The pants were easy to make, with double seams (since I have no overlocker) and I hand-stitched the sleeves into place with matching embroidery thread and a blanket stitch. She should fit this by winter. It's a lovely, soft and stretchy merino wool. Always a must for baby clothes.
The pattern is Butterick, but I gave it away to a friend and only have a copy of the templates to work from, so I can't give more details than that, sorry.

Horner pants

Hugo has some Horner pants. Made from this lovely pattern in Anna Maria Horner's book, Handmade Beginnings, it was very easy and a good way to use some favourite fabric scraps on a garment.
I had the grey cord fabric from years ago, it was an off-cut and luckily the pattern calls for a shorter piece to be used on the back where the yoke is made from another fabric, so I had just enough of the grey, and just enough of the brown tulips (which I have used before for Hugo pants and it was originally a strange, Asian-label, female shirt!
The size is 24 months. Hugo is nearly 2 and a half and they have some length to grow in, so I'm pretty pleased.

I didn't line them and make them reversible, simply because it's summer and the fabrics were already pretty thick and warm. So I finished with a folded over hem and a waistband made the same way. This actually took off another couple of cm of length, so again, very pleased they fit with some growing room - I was taking a gamble...

Hope to make more of these, so easy and I love the idea of making reversible pants for grubby babies.
And this size will fit Hugo for another year I'd say, and I could easily add some length if he grows longways, as I'm pretty sure the bum of the pants has room for a nappy, which he doesn't wear.

My baby surprise jacket

This pattern was truly hard to get a hold of.

But I'm glad I kept trying.

Before even getting the pattern I researched a lot on the web. Here's what I found useful:

This was a series of videos for each stage. I found each one invaluable, especially the first one about sizes, gauge and yarn.

Here were some good tips about colour use and some useful pictures showing where your colour stripes will end up sitting on the garment.

Finally, this spreadsheet, which has been widely blogged about, was useful in the beginning then I stopped using it as I got used to following the pattern. Many others have found it very good.

But honestly, why is this pattern so closely guarded on the net? I understand copyright and all that and totally respect it, but with all this help on the net already, I was only missing a couple of row numbers from being able to knit it without the pattern. In fact, the pattern itself was quite disappointing, only two half columns in a magazine, and poorly written (despite its genius in design). Anybody else think this? 

The books were not available in Wellington libraries, the knitting shops didn't have them, or the worksheets, either. It was some good fortune I asked at my local knit shop and she copied the article from the magazine for me, agreeing it was just too hard to come by here. Send some copies to NZ please (the updated ones with notes and extras like how to knit a hood)!

So until a book turns up (I'm not paying upwards of $18US plus postage) at a local library I won't be able to try my hand at any other Zimmermann designs, and I would really like to. 

My darling looks divine in her EZ jacket anyway. I adore the colours I chose, especially the gold stripes and pink angora giving it a little fluff. The sleeves aren't long, but in fact that works for tiny hands being sucked all day long. 
 Str-e-tch! Oh life's so good being a baby.