Did you know?

I thought I'd put in a short post about navigating my blog. Someone wrote to me and asked how to find the free patterns on my blog. There are a few ways. One, you could read all the entries (long, but terribly exciting). Click on Older Posts at the bottom of your scren to get back in time. Two, you could scroll down on the right side of the blog and look at the pictures. When you click on one, you're taken to the post that contains the pattern. Three, you can click on the free patterns topic and all of them are put together in a long string. Four, you can do a search in the search box and whatever you are searching for comes up.

I guess that's enough ways, no?

On the baby front, I'm knitting a sleep sac with sleeves. The popular ones these days are just bags ---some fancier than others--made to "swaddle" the baby. I was thinking that all would stay in place better if the sac had arms. I think the old fashioned name for such a thing is "bunting". It's 100% cotton, so I need to wash and preshrink it. Right now it looks like it would fit a 6 month old. I 'spect it will shrink down to newborn size. Lovely soft Conshohocken yarn. Wish they were still in business. Sigh...

One Little, Two Little, Four Little Baby Hats

Remember that commercial, "Wait 'til I get my Hanes on you!"???? Evidently some people objected to the play on words, clever though it was, so you don't hear it so much anymore. That's the song that kept going through my mind as I was making these baby hats. I found these men's Hanes 100% cotton undershirts, never been worn, still in the pkg in a dresser drawer. So, natchurally, I had to do something with them. I'm really into this repurposing and upcycling thing these days. Washed them to preshrink and went looking for a baby hat pattern on the internet. I found one at PrudentBaby.com and it printed out just the right size. I had a purchased hat to compare to for size and it seemed correct.

These are a size 3-6 months, so I probably will make more at a larger size...maybe. I seem to remember it was difficult keeping a hat on the baby after a while. My kids would always pull them off. I had some small embroidery designs that worked ok. I like this one the best. I don't have a serger, but I found a stretch stitch on my sewing machine that overlocked the edge and looks exactly like a serger stitch to me.
The hats are really soft, stretchy and awfully cute, if I do say so myself.

Now I really need to get out to the garden. The weather has been so unpredictable---103 F 4 days ago and now only 67. Hope I don't freeze.

Link for Cloth Baby Shoes

I found the site where I got the cloth shoes pattern. In case you are interested, it's
http://www.newconceptions.com/patpdf/Footiespdf.pdf
I notice that they revised the pattern a tiny bit since I downloaded it. The newer version recommends 2 - 4" pieces of 1/8" elastic. I was close, so maybe they'll fit.

Cloth Shoes - Repurposed Stuff - Done!

Well, I got three pairs out of the deal. They turned out pretty sweet. My only concern is whether the ankle is big enough. The pattern didn't say how long to cut the elastic, so I just guestimated by the picture in the pattern.

Ok, now I really do need to go clean, plant stuff, go grocery shopping!

Cloth Baby Shoes - Repurposed Stuff

I should be cleaning house and/or planting stuff. Company is coming on Thursday and there really is a lot I should do to get the house in order. I've only been able to plant 13 of my 100 dahlias, and those I planted in the rain. What a crummy spring. it was 89 degrees F yesterday---a fluke. But I'm not doing either and am involved in baby shoes!

This is the pattern I'm using:

I downloaded it ages ago and can't find/can't remember whose pattern it is, regrettably, or I'd give credit where credit is due. Of course I couldn't just make them out of the material recommended by the pattern. Have to put my own spin on them.

I spent yesterday afternoon embroidering the instep pieces. I had reduced the size to fit the piece using my embroidery software. Supposedly if you hold the ctrl key while making the design smaller, the program is supposed to adjust the density accordingly. It did not, to my disappointment. Some of the tops turned out to be bulletproof. So I had to toss those. Here's an example.
Is cute, but is so dense it doesn't even bend. A lot of time wasted, but I learned a lesson that I have to use designs that are originally sized to be tiny. Or, I need to digitize my own designs.

These turned out ok. So I have enough for three pairs, size 6 months. Have cut out the linings (another shirt) and the other pieces (old jeans) so today I'm ready to put them together. If I can figure it out, that is. Will post tomorrow if they turn out.

Machine Knit Tuck Baby Blanket

Knit a charity blanket yesterday using a kind of boring tuck pattern:


I'm not so happy with the side edges.
I guess I'll have to crochet around them so they look decent before donating it.
I had wanted to avoid the extra work. I think I know what I did wrong. In DAK, I put one plain row on the border on both sides rather than extending the pattern to the edges. Will have to change it and try a small swatch to see if it makes a difference. .

I made a pale green cotton tuck baby blanket last year for charity and the edges looked fine on that one.

My friend, Sandy, taught me a trick you might like to try with acrylic. When done, wash the blanket. Before you put it in the dryer, fold it twice and baste the edges together really close to the edge. When it comes out of the dryer, the edges lie pretty flat. I steamed all the borders just a tad being careful not to melt the yarn. So that part went ok, it's just the stitches that don't look very even.

Guess I'll have to get out my garter carriage and see if I like that better. Just goes to show, doesn't matter how long you've been knitting, not everything turns out to be wonderful.

Presto Chango!

It always has bothered me that people put their babies on those Koala Bear changing stations with all the germs that must be lurking. So, I thought a changing pad would be nice to take along then wash when needed. As I usually do, I checked out on the internet what others had done to make such an item, then went ahead and did my own thing. Mainly, I wanted to see what size people usually made.

Another shirt repurposed! I cut out a rectangle 13" wide x 24" long out of the shirt back. Then used some polar fleece for the other side. Since the shirt material had lines on it I was able to quilt the two pieces together easily.
Then I put 3/4" bias tape around the edges. I made a pocket and sewed a closure with velcro. The pocket is sewn to the inside. It holds baby wipes, hand sanitizer, butt paste, whatever.
Then I got the bright idea to stick a teddy bear in the pocket for the baby to hang on to while being changed. I knit two 6 x 8" pieces of stockinette and sewed a teddy bear shape, stuffed him and turned him right side out.


I made a 42 inch tie out of the rest of the bias tape and sewed it onthe end of the thing on the outside. It's easy to roll up, tie and everything stays in place.
The "package" ends up to be 13" wide x 8" deep, depending on how much stuff you put in the pocket.
Am I proud of myself, or what?