Diaper bag for a friend

One of my very best friends is having a baby girl (after three boys!) and she chose pink, taupe and brown for the nursery with an elephant theme. I was thrilled to find a fabric line in those colors that's available right now so I could make her some special things for baby Hannah's debut, sometime in December. I made her this sturdy diaper bag. I hope it matches her decor (I haven't seen any pictures yet) and that it will get used for play dates or diapers or something.

The dimensions are approximately 18" wide, 15" tall and 5" deep.

The elephants make two spacious front pockets on the front, lined with the pink, white, taupe striped fabric.

On the interior, there are four pockets, two large, two small on one side and a zippered pocket on the opposite side. You can also see the magnetic button closure here - my first time using this closing technique but it was surprisingly simple so I may use it again. This interior pocket is 9" by 10".

 

The back of the bag has the same elephant print from the front pocket and pink contrasting

 edging. I used the 70 weight Pellon interfacing for this bag so it's very sturdy and stands up all by itself. I also added it to the handles because I prefer substantial handles. I used the tutorial from Sew Like My Mom as a general guideline for the bag.

I made a bunch of matching goodies for little Hannah to fill it up with. My favorite is the minky blanket in Amy Butler's Lotus flower. I've been saving this fabric for something special.

I made it larger than average so it could be used in the stroller or car and as a safe play mat for baby. I used to use these all the time when I needed a safe, soft place to lay my little one for some tummy time, especially at someone else's house. I also used one for William to designate his safe play area, ie no big kid toys allowed on the blanket. Minky is supersoft and the texture appealing. I made a border out of the Amy Butler fabric on one side to give it a more finished look.

 I had more leftover fabric than I intended to have so I also made a diaper clutch bag in coordinating fabrics.

It fits the travel size wipes and two diapers but can be used for all kinds of other purposes. It has a velcro closure and a grosgrain ribbon pull tab.  I like the pink elephants on the inside.

I also made a soft changing pad with one thick layer of fleece and an interior layer of cotton quilt batting. I never liked how thin my changing pads were and even though this one doesn't have a waterproof layer, the whole thing can be tossed in the washing machine.

It folds up in quarters and has a velcro closure.

I also knit a baby cardigan for Hannah in Madeline Tosh superwash. I think it's really cute but I think the size is too large for a new baby. I followed the pattern for a 0-3 month size but I'm pretty sure what I've ended up with is more like a 6-12 month size. The pattern I followed is available for free (thanks Carole!) and is a top-down construction, my favorite.

I think the bag and home made goodies are finally ready to go to the baby shower with me. I hope she likes it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Forest owl hat for William

Savannah loves her owl hat so much that little brother caught on and tries to steal hers whenever we need to wear hats outside. I tried to modify the pattern to knit him one in his size by decreasing to 76 cast on stitches, but it turned out to be baby sized - oops!

I used some of my leftover Malabrigo merino in Bobby blue for this one and sewed on owl eyes on only one owl. It is sitting in my stash of baby hats that I've knit, waiting for a new home. For take two, I used a skein of Malabrigo merino in Forest and cast on 88 stitches. This one turned out to be the perfect size!

I love the variegated greens in forest. William likes it so much that he hasn't taken it off. He says, "Look, Mom-mom, Willem owl hat," and points to his head. As I type this, he is sitting beside me with his owl hat on... I suppose I can call that a successful knit.

My little vampire with his new forest green owl hat.

I'd like to sew on some button eyes eventually but I think I'll have to wait until he's sleeping so I can get him to part with his new hat. Now the kids want me to knit an owl hat for myself!

Oatmeal raglan for William

It seems I don't knit enough for my little guy. This is especially apparent when he reaches into his sister's hat bin and pulls on a hat I've made for her as his first choice hat. I was glad to finally have the chance to knit him his own sweater, in a natural oatmeal color that he can wear with just about anything.

The pattern is from Jane Richmond. I used four skeins of Debbie Bliss Rialto to make it. When William tries it on, he likes the softness of it, and shows me by rubbing his hands over his tummy and saying "soft". I like the fact that it's machine washable, a must for little boys' clothing. I'm looking forward to watching him wear it in September when we go apple picking and for those walks when the autumn air is crisp.

Beret for tea leaves

After knitting Savannah's tea leaves sweater, I had enough yarn leftover to make something else. Since Savannah already has a favorite winter hat, I wanted to make her a beret. She's young enough to get away with wearing a beret and I think the colors look great against her shiny blonde hair.

This simple pattern is available for free on www.ravelry.com by Amy Rose, called the Adah beret. I knit it in the same yarn as her sweater, my favorite Malabrigo merino. I hope she'll wear it this winter on occasion with when her favorite owl hat, but it's pretty hard to get her to wear anything else on her head.

Tea leaves sweater in ocean palette

 

I forget exactly how I began knitting this sweater. It wasn't planned. I had five minutes to grab a pattern and some yarn before taking the kids to an indoor bounce house to play during our terrible heat wave (upper 90s for a week) so I would have something to do for two hours while they got their energy out (parents aren't allowed to jump).

So using some leftover Malabrigo merino (my favorite for its soft, squooshy, warmth) I knitted this up in size 8 for my daughter. The colors are marine colors for her love of all things oceanic and piratical - emerald green trim and bobby blue for the main color. She chose the buttons herself from our button collection. None of the buttons match exactly but they are all the same size and same dark navy color.

Most importantly, she loves it. It is soft and in her favorite color - she loves all things blue. And, I finished the pattern from start to finish without wasting anything or procrastinating. (This is something I'm always working on!)

I'm glad that she likes it. I can't wait to see her wear it under a long-sleeved shirt or turtle neck this fall.

The Tiny Tea Leaves pattern is available on Madelinetosh by Melissa LaBarre or on ravelry. There's also an adult version of this sweater, which is the original version.

Aviatrix hats

Suddenly everyone I know seems to be pregnant. We know of seven babies that we expect to meet sometime in October, November and December of this year. One of the hats I wished I had had when my babes were small, is the Aviatrix. It is soft and stretchy, warm and has a chin strap to keep it on baby's lolling head.

The button can also be adjusted (I'm supposed to add a second button one inch higher than the first, but haven't yet). Here's the first hat I knit in Malabrigo Merino Worsted Indigo. It is so soft and the picture doesn't do justice to how cute these look wrapped around a pair of chubby cherub cheeks.

One wasn't enough with so many winter babies on the way, so I knit a second one too, in the same yarn but with Emerald colorway. This pattern is easy but not boring and perfect using up scrap yarn since it needs less than a skein and probably less than half a skein of yarn. I plan to make a few more in girly colors and as the new babies join us, I'll bring my stash of baby hats and let the mama pick one.

A toast

Knitting relaxes me; the repetition of the process, the simple twists and knots that undo the twists and knots in my mind and shoulders, and I get to create something in the process, something that's tangible and useful and maybe even pretty, something to show at the end of the day after spending most of my day doing the toughest job for which there are no tangible results or feedback (parenting in case you hadn't guessed).

I was thrilled to finally make some Toast arm warmers for myself. The pattern is ridiculously simple yet elegant and practical. I can pull on a pair of toast beneath my shirt or over my sleeves or to take the chill off a damp, rainy spring day when working on my laptop.

Heck, my daughter can even pull them on as leg warmers when she's dancing to the Nutcracker after dinner. After moving into a smaller house, I totally dig multifunctional! I knit them in a heathered purple Cascade 220 yarn, which I like more than I anticipated. Purple was never exactly one of my colors but heathered anything is.

Here's Leslie's original post with the Toast pattern (inspired by the British company of the same name). Thanks for the great pattern Leslie!

Silly hats

I have yarn in my stash that needs to get used up (call it spring cleaning). I started knitting hats to get rid of the extra bits of yarn. I'm not in love with them but they're soft and they'll do.

William models his new silly hat. This Marley pattern is from Susan Anderson's Itty-Bitty Hats book. I'm not crazy about the colors, but so be it, it's a stash hat. The important thing is that it fits him well and is soft and warm.

Here's the side view with the silly topper, which I kind of like. There's only so much time in childhood to get away with things like this.

Here's the second stash busting hat, which actually fits me too. I used up three small balls of yarn with this one including sock yarn, which makes the variegated pattern.

I didn't follow a pattern, I just started knitting, then seaming, then added the ear flaps and made the I-cord and tassels. My exact pattern is on ravelry, although there are better examples of thorpes and jester hats to follow.

I'm trying to be a better knitter - that is not in skill but in habit. I'm trying to diminish my stash to one basket worth of yarn (currently I have four) because I can't use four baskets worth all at once anyway and I'd rather have an excuse to visit my local yarn shop with an organized mind and yarn supply. Happy spring cleaning to you too!

Owl lover's hat

My daughter is currently enamored with Kathryn Lasky's Ga'Hoole series, the one about the owls with the new movie out. So I couldn't resist making her an owl hat with my leftover Malabrigo merino yarn. Since blue is her favorite color, it worked out well.

The moment I completed weaving in the loose threads, she donned her hat while reading book eight in the series. I think it's really cute on her.

The free pattern for this hat is available by knitculture here. There's also an adult version. I highly recommend the pattern - it was well written and a fast knit that lent itself well to the Malabrigo yarn. Not to mention, it's just perfect for a kid enamored by the Ga'Hoole series.

Savannah picked out the buttons we sewed on for eyes. I'm still debating whether or not to sew a tiny orange beak and feet on one of the owls....

Weave mittens for me

This mitten pattern has been in my queue for quite some time. I'm so glad I finally knit a pair. The pattern is available for free on ravelry and is quite simple with a nice thumb gusset.

I did make quite a few modifications. I knit 16 rows of double ribbing for the cuff and after the cuff, knit 2 rows of st-st before dividing for the thumb (I should have knit 4-5 rows before following the pattern again). Instead of running the thread through the remaining live stitches to bind off at the end, I decided to use Kitchener stitch because I like the rounded, finished look better than the pucker of stitches pulled tightly together.

I also picked up 3 extra stitches (instead of 1, for a total of 14 for size small) for the thumb because my experience is that if you don’t pick up enough stitches, you’ll have holes where the thumb meets the hand and wet hands every time it snows.

I also experimented on the second mitten with increasing the thumb stitches by knitting into the stitch below, rather than making one. This avoided the little holes that are characteristic of m1. I will definitely use this method of increasing in the future when knitting the thumb increases for mittens.

The yarn is Malabrigo merino worsted and I'm in love with it. It is a lightly variegated indigo with hints of purple in it and is so soft and warm and strong and knits up well on size 6 or 7 needles. Since the pattern only used a portion of my skein, I'm looking forward to knitting something special with the remaining yarn.

A spring sweater

There's a pattern I've been drooling over for a long time on ravelry, a spring sweater called the Liesl by Ysola Teague. I finally started it this month with leftover yarn from my stash for Savannah.

It was such a quick knit, I can't believe how long I put it off thinking it would be more difficult or time consuming. I'm very happy with the yarn as well, which is Moda Dea bamboo wool, a discontinued yarn with excellent drape, stitch definition, and color. Even though it's impossible to see from these pictures, the blue velvet yarn actually has two thin strands of purple woven through it, giving it a beautiful sheen close up.

I've ordered a special clasp button for the top of the sweater. I like the idea of something you can just throw over your shoulders when a spring breeze picks up or to dress up a summer outfit.

Apparently, so does my little model, who is eager to wear this at the beach. I have banned her from climbing trees with this sweater on though, because of the lacework, which shows best in the photo below.

Next on my list, is a Liesl for me in much nicer yarn of course, but in a color not quite as pretty as my daughter's.

Fingerless mitts and pattern for toddlers

We girls aren't the only ones in need of fingerless mittens. Even toddler-sized boys deserve a pair so they can get into mischief with those agile fingers without totally freezing.

I decided to create a pair for my 18 month old toddler. They are knit with double-ribbing so they are stretchy and have a long enough cuff to help them stay on.

He actually likes to wear them so I must've done something right.

Here's the easy pattern:


Use a medium weight yarn, such as one that calls for size 7 or 8 needles, and a set of double-pointed size 5 or 6 needles.

Cast on 24 stitches.
Arrange 8 stitches on each needle and join in the round working in double ribbing.
Continue double ribbing pattern for 14 rows (or desired cuff length).
Begin knitting back and forth to leave an opening for the thumb continuing the double ribbing pattern. Knit 4 rows back and forth before rejoining and knitting in the round for 4 to 6 more rows.
Bind off and weave in loose ends.