the 7 month sweater (a cautionary tale)

My dear darling neighbor was expecting a baby last March.

In February, I decided I wanted to whip something up for that sweet little addition to our neighborhood.  By the time little B.W. was born, I had the body of a very adorable sweater, but no sleeves.

Fast forward 7 months...

I finally had those sleeves knitted on, added the button bands, sewed in the loose ends and attached some buttons. B.W. was 6 months old and growing bigger every minute. Better late than never, right?

Fortunately I'd long since learned my lesson about knitting newborn sized things. That lesson, by the way, is don't. Teeny tiny newborn sized things are oh-so-adorable, but they'll also be oh-so-unwearable after about two weeks what with the way those little beings grow like weeds. Baby will get far more use out of a 12 month sized item than a newborn item. 

Do not be seduced by the adorableness of teeny tiny itty bitty!!

But I digress. Where was I?

Oh yes, 6 month old baby got the sweater, which happens to fit perfectly. Phew!

Pattern: Little Coffee Bean Cardigan Oh how I love this (free!) pattern. It's so well-written and versatile.

Yarn: Recycled from a thrifted merino/cashmere blend sweater. It was all originally blue, but the green stuff was dyed with food coloring (a remarkably satisfying experiment that I documented here)

Cost: 

Yarn: about $3.00

7 months of my time: about $47,040

Total: the most expensively awesome baby gift ever.

mi hermana. also, a dino sweater

My sister left today to serve a mission (Carlsbad California, Spanish speaking). She'll be gone for 18 months.

I couldn't be more proud.

She's been living with us for the past 6 months, and I've gotten very used to her helpful nature and cheerful disposition. She's been an incredible help with the kids, provided me with stimulating day-time adult conversation (and lots of funny stories from her waitressing job), and has basically been a great person to have around. And she used to babysit the kids one night a week so that Mr. Snickerdoodle and I could go out. On dates. Loved that.

The reality of her departure hasn't quite sunken in yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll be curled up in the fetal position and sobbing by this time tomorrow.

Maybe some knitting will distract me. I just finished up this sweater for my cousin.



She's expecting a baby boy in April. No name picked out yet, but his aunt calls him Choncho. I wonder if that will stick...

Have I ever told you that I have 73 cousins? Crazy.

Anywho...

One of my favorite baby gifts is a simple cardigan made interesting with a bit of embroidered something or other. I think this bit of embroidery is cute...

... even if it's hard to tell what it is. Loch Ness Monster? Earless green giraffe?

It's actually a dinosaur. Some kind of sauropod, my kids tell me.

And one more thing, I've learned a lesson that I feel compelled to pass on to you:

When you're knitting baby stuff, bigger is always better.

Like size 6 months or bigger at the very least.

It's terribly tempting to knit teeny tiny sized things because teeny tiny things in general are so cute that they make your eyes hurt.

But we all know the sad truth: that babies grow fast.

What is the sense of taking the time and energy to knit something that a baby might only be able to wear for a couple of weeks (or not at all if they're ginormous like my kids)?

Save your teeny tiny knitting for Barbie. Heaven knows she could use some warm clothes.


P.S. If you're interested in the details of the dino sweater, you can find them here on Ravelry.

the quilt

{It's not too late to join in on the knit-a-long. Don't knit? That's okay; just check out my virtual knitting lessons. Help us spread the love and keepy needy babies warm. And don't forget to enter yourself in the giveaway!!}


I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It wasn't very nice of me to put up teaser pictures of Stella's vintage quilt in that last post. I should have known you'd want to see the whole thing. (and the Little Miss herself, thrown in for good measure)

Happy now?

You can see pictures of the entire quilt, front and back, here (you've got to check out the cheerful tangerine colored binding-- it didn't make it into my pic, but it's one of the best things about the quilt). My friend Amy whipped it up from pieces of her vintage sheet collection.

knit for good show -n-tell

This first picture is for those of you who want to knit, but lack a little confidence. Meet the two newest knitters in the Snickerdoodle household:

My sister Kaley (and live-in nanny for two more weeks!)
and my 6 year-old, Lincoln.

If a six year-old can learn how, so can you. If you've been trying to work up the courage to learn, hitch up your britches and get to it!

How's that for a pep talk?

And now, my first little Knit For Good cap. It's teeny, but teeny babies are born every day, right?

(I totally broke my first knitting commandment: Thou shalt knit a gauge swatch before thou beginnest a project. Oops!)


Be sure to take a quick look at the flickr group to see the great caps our Snickerdoodle friends are putting out there. I want to send an extra special shout out to those who have contributed so far: jajvennett (11 hats!), angelapea (4 hats!), and wolfcreeker (1 super-de-duper cute hat!).

Thank you, and keep 'em coming!

P.S. A non-knitting-related show-n-tell: the quilt in the background of my pictures was a gift for sweet Stella from the kind and ever-talented Amy. (Her Mr. is a friend and co-worker of my Mr.) It's made up of scraps from her vintage sheet collection and it might just be the most beautiful thing I've ever laid eyes on.

let's do something good together

When most of us think February, we think love, right? Romantic love, more specifically.

Which is great. I really like romantic love (just ask Mr. Snickerdoodle).

But Love is a much broader topic than just romance. It includes, among other things, love for mankind in general. Or womankind.

Or heck, even babykind.

The love I'm thinking about is the kind of love that makes us want to reach out and help others. To turn our time, talents, and resources into tangible expressions of love and goodwill.


Take a moment to muster up as much of that feeling as you can.


{I'll wait...}


Ready now? Okay, read this:

Nearly 4 million babies die each year in their first month of life - half within their first 24 hours -mostly from preventable or treatable causes. But by giving mothers and caregivers a package of simple tools, including guidance on healthy newborn care practices, the majority of these deaths could be prevented. Items crucial to saving more babies’ lives include:

• antibiotics to treat infection
• immunizations against tetanus
• skilled birth attendants at every birth
• counseling on breastfeeding
• information on basic newborn care such as keeping the cord clean and keeping the baby warm

And this:

Baby caps are a simple and effective tool that can keep babies warm and ultimately contribute to reducing newborn deaths in the developing world.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

How about now?

This is a bit of a big deal for Snickerdoodle. The first event of it's kind here on the blog. And the first, I hope, of many more. Maybe we can make it an annual tradition.



Here's how you can participate:

Step 1: Download a Caps for Good Action Kit. It'll give you all the info you need to submit a cap.

Step 2: Knit (or crochet, but I can't help you there) a baby cap, using whatever pattern you want. It only takes one to join the fun, but you don't have to stop there! Don't know how to knit? Don't worry. I'll hold your hand all the way. You can do this!

Step 3: Grab a blog button, and help spread the word.

Step 4: Share your handiwork to inspire and encourage others. You've got two options for this:

• join the Snickerdoodle Flickr group, and upload your baby cap photos.
• Email me with a picture of your cap or a link to a blog post featuring your cap.
  

I'll be sharing the pics and links in periodic show-n-tell posts.

Step 5: Follow the instructions in the Caps for Good Action Kit to mail in your cap(s) no later than Feb. 28th. If you really feel like going the extra mile, have a go at this Recycled Mailer Tutorial.

I understand that you're busy doing all kinds of good and important stuff, and you're the only one who can decide whether or not you've got time for this sort of thing. Just keep in mind that you've got a whole month to knit one little tiny baby cap. This is doable.

If you're an experienced knitter, then pick your yarn and pattern and get cracking! But don't forget to share your handiwork, and be sure to check back with the blog throughout the month for more knit-a-long fun-- including a giveaway!! (more details on Friday)

If you've always wanted to learn to knit, now's as good a time as any. Stay tuned, and I'll walk you through the whole process and give you a great beginner baby cap pattern. We'll get started tomorrow with a Pep Talk for New Knitters and Virtual Knitting Lesson #1.

So, what do you say?

Will you join me?

P.S. Knitting a hat to donate will enter you in the Giveaway!

finished project: the orange dream cap

The first of many caps from this pattern.

Unfortunately, the last of this yarn.

Is anyone else hungry for Orange Dream Bars?

The thing I love about this pattern is that it looks kind of complicated but really just involves the clever use of a few basic knitting skills (knitting in the round, increasing and decreasing). An advanced beginner would be fully capable of great results from this pattern.

Here are some action shots:

Those cheeks!!

That attitude!!

(is my sweet 7 week old really giving the camera the bird?!!)

and never one to be left out: Jack

two finished projects

If you've read this blog for a while, you may have been aware that I've been hard at work for the past nine and a half months on my very favorite kind of project: a baby.

This "project" took longer than any of us expected: Stella Jan showed up on November 21st, 11 days past her due date. She was born at home on a lovely Sunday morning, and weighed 9 lbs 14 oz, and measured 22 inches long. We are all thoroughly smitten.


My second (and less notable) finished project of late is the Lucille sweater and bonnet that I knit for my girl. I used Elann.com's Peruvian Baby Cashmere yarn in parchment, and some tiny vintage mother of pearl buttons I found on Etsy. Love!

Yarn Harvesting

This may be a minor exaggeration, but it feels like our circle of family and friends has been producing a couple of newborns a week lately. I know this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black, since I too happen to have a bun in the oven, but see, I firmly believe that those new little bundles of wonderfulness need cozy warm sweaters and it's my calling in life to make sure that happens for the babies. At least for the babies I know. And at the rate we've all been going, my formerly healthy stash of baby sweaters has been reduced to zilch, zero, nothing.

So will everyone I know please stop procreating long enough for me to rebuild my stash of baby sweaters? I'm not asking much really, I only need a couple of weeks. Thanks!

Whenever I need to embark on a baby-knit-a-thon, I get busy harvesting yarn from thrift store and/or hand-me-down sweaters. It's a great way to get wonderful, soft yarns at an unbelievable price.

A couple of teeny tiny sweaters worth of super soft merino wool yarn for $2.50?

Yes, please.

{a lovely cashmere-blend sweater with a funky fit: perfect for reincarnation into something baby-sized}

{The newly unraveled yarn enjoying a nice warm bath}

{drying and de-kinking}

{and finally, reincarnated as an itty bitty sweater}

This, by the way, is the very best yarn harvesting tutorial I've ever come across-- and I've read lots of them. You'll definitely want to check it out if you're at all curious about the process.

Dawn, the woman who wrote the tutorial knows what she's talking about; she does good business selling recycled yarn in her Etsy shop, TwiceShearedSheep (she also sells some lovely stitch markers that I've been drooling over lately). I think it's incredibly generous of her to share her knowledge.


(I'm not in any way connected to the shop, incidentally. Just passing on some link love in gratitude for her great tutorial.)

Hiya!

It's been a splendid summer here: lots of sunshine and fresh air for the kidlets, and although I've been mostly playing the part of the exhausted pregnant lady, I have managed some sewing and knitting craftiness for a top-secret project (hint: starts with "e" and rhymes with "betsy").



Here's a sneak peek:
This little romper was a pair of buttery soft, but ill-fitting linen women's pants in its previous life. The addition of some happy stripey fabric facing (upcycled again-- woo hoo!), and a cheerful little embroidered bird makes it something special, don't you think?


Oh, and I used these vintage buttons for the straps. (from Etsy seller kikivontiki)

Vintage buttons.... sigh....

two little coffee beans

Two little cardigans from Elizabeth Smith's Little Coffee Bean pattern. This is such a well-written pattern. I love that it's completely seam-free, since it's all knit in the round, even the sleeves. I'm sure I'll be coming back to it.

I learned magic loop knitting to avoid purchasing double pointed needles for the sleeves. It was delightful to find that the technique is easy peasy!


Just using up stash yarn and buttons with this one. I think the stripes are fun, don't you? My gauge was off so it ended up disproportionately wide, but still wearable.



Okay, so the birdie is a little wonky. I still think he's pretty cheery. Yarn was Bernat Cottontots solids-- same as Matthew's sweater.

welcome to the world...

My little nephew Matthew Ben made his grand appearance today. I finished his sweater just in time. Well, I probably had a little time to spare since I made the 6 mo. size-- big enough to grow into.

I had a lot of fun with the extra little details: the twill tape tag with his initials and the content and care hang tag.

Seriously though, people, I think I'm going to need to join an addiction treatment program or something. I've got another baby sweater in the wings (so cute that it's physically painful), and more planned. I just can't stop myself. My sincerest apologies to any non-knitters who are getting sick of all this.

P.S. The pattern is Presto Chango by Valerie Wallis

yellow brick road baby sweater

I cast on and got half-way through this sweet little baby sweater during last week's family movie night viewing of The Wizard of Oz. A couple of hours knitting the next day were all that it took to finish it up. (ignore the needle closure-- I've got some tiny little ladybug buttons that I still need to sew on) It was so fast and easy I could hardly believe it! My favorite part: it's knit in the round, so the only seaming required was a couple of inches on each sleeve. This was instant gratification baby knitting at it's best.

I'm pretty sure this is going to become my go-to baby gift. Short sleeves for Spring and Summer babies, and long sleeves for Fall and Winter babies. The eyelet look might be a little feminine for boys, but it would be really easy to skip the yarn-overs (that's what makes those holes) in favor of un-holey (tee hee!) raglan increases and moss-stitch borders on the body and sleeves for a more boyish sweater.

My modifications here:

• Short sleeves: instead of working 3 inches on the sleeves before the border pattern, I jumped immediately into the border pattern at the division, only doing one row of yarn-overs.
• three button holes instead of just one.
  

sunshiny baby jacket, a start

I couldn't resist getting a head start on that ribbed baby jacket. The yarn is Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in "maize". I've been pleasantly surprised to see how nicely this bargain yarn knits up.

The green yarn is temporary-- it's part of a provisional cast-on technique that I'm using in order to be able to come back later and add a hem to live stitches. Other knitters on Ravelry that have worked this pattern have noted that the way the bottom of the finished jacket rolls up is kind of annoying, and some of them recommended hemming as a solution. We'll see how it works.

busy

We have reached the whirling dervish stage of babyhood. This kid is in to everything: if it can be knocked over, pulled out, and generally mussed up, he's right there and ready to get that party started. He is one very busy little manchild.

To buy ourselves a little peace and quiet, we've taken to putting him in his highchair with a tray full of dishsoap suds scooped from the sink. If we keep sending fresh bubbles his way, it'll keep him occupied for about a half hour; a baby eternity.

He did try a tiny taste of bubbles the first time, but has sworn off them ever since.

(my favorite part: clean-up is a piece of cake. By the time he's done, the bubbles are just a little puddle and I only have to dry the tray off with a towel.)

Anybody else have some good tricks for keeping little hands occupied? I wanna hear 'em!

any cloth diaperers in the house?

Anybody?

Baby Jack in a Bumgenius 3.0 April 2009

Baby Jack in a trifolded prefold and Bummis cover May 2009

Looks like some of you are clicking over from Pinterest. I'd kind of forgotten about this post until I saw the traffic headed this direction. Welcome!! You should know, though that I found that vinegar and oxiclean did not turn out to be a long term solution to our ammonia problem. Click here for my revised advice on cloth diaper ammonia (we've been ammonia free for 6 months now!!)

I'd be happy to get into a discussion of why and how we cloth diaper later, if anyone is interested, but this post is for those who are already using cloth. If you know any cloth users, send them this way-- I promise they'll thank you.

The bane of our cloth diapering experience has been persistent ammonia build-up in our microfiber inserts. It usually builds up gradually and is easy enough to take care of with a monthly good strong vinegar soak (inserts only). Well, recently all three of my boys were sick with croup and we took a couple of weeks off from using cloth diapers-- I had too much to do taking care of sick kids to keep up with diaper laundry.

Trouble is, we had a pail full of urine-soaked diapers that sat unwashed that entire time. When we finally washed them and put them back into rotation, we found ourselves with a horrific, knock-your-socks-off ammonia odor every time Jack peed. I tried our go-to vinegar soaks and they had absolutely no effect. None. I actually thought we'd reached the point that we'd have to suck it up and buy new inserts.

I did a little research on the interwebs and found a 39 page thread on diaperswappers.com discussing the use of a vinegar and oxiclean soak for ammonia stink. I figured I had little to lose at this point, so I gave it a shot. Lo and behold, it worked like a charm.

The magic is in vinegar and oxiclean. Apparently, when you combine acetic acid and peroxide, you get peracetic acid-- used in industrial applications as a super disinfectant. Vinegar is a weak form of acetic acid and oxiclean is a weak form of peroxide. So when you combine vinegar and oxiclean you get a pretty weak form of peracetic acid. It will foam like crazy-- kind of like when you combine vinegar and baking soda-- and some people have even said that theirs gets hot (mine never did).

To use it on my diapers, I put all of my (washed) diapers in the diaper pail and added 4 gallons of vinegar, enough water to barely cover the diapers and 3 or 4 scoops of oxiclean-- enough to get a good foaming reaction and then let it soak overnight. I found that all the diapers floated up to the top, so I used a yard stick to agitate things a bit before I let it sit. I did this outside, for ventilation's sake, but if we ever have to do it again I'll put the pail in the bathtub (to catch overflow) and leave the vent fan on. The only fumes I noticed were the strong vinegar smell. The next morning, I dumped it out into the bathtub and rinsed as much as I could there and then transferred the diapers and inserts to the washer for more rinses. You might want to wear rubber gloves at this point. I didn't, but it really dried out my hands. It took about 6 rinse cycles in my washer to get all the bubbles out.

This whole process might seem like kind of a pain, but the results were 100% worth it. My inserts are acting like they're practically new again! They are bright white (had been a bit dingy due to our hard water), have absolutely no stink issues anymore and absorbency is still great. From what I've read, the effects are pretty long lasting-- possibly 6 months. The elastic, aplix and PUL on my diapers is holding up fine too, but if I did it again, I think I'd only do the inserts-- they seem to be where the ammonia build-up was.

And all I have to say about that is Hallelujah, people.

Hallelujah.

baby food love

(yellow: spaghetti squash, tan: quinoa pilaf)

We don't buy special baby food for Jack, except for when we go on long family road trips. It's just so easy (not to mention cheap!) to make our own.

Usually that involves grinding whatever we're having for dinner up in the baby food mill-- would you believe that the kid loves curry?

When I've got a little extra time, I also puree batches of various fruits, veggies and cooked grains and freeze them in ice cube molds for a quick and nutritious baby-ready food.

refashionista

I come from a family of recyclers. The Depression-era saying "Use it up; wear it out; make it do, or do without." could be our family motto. Heaven forbid we throw away a zip-lock bag after using it only once (or twice, or three times!), or throw compostable food waste into the regular trash. I cloth diaper my babies, for Heaven's Sake!

And thrift shopping has long been one of my favorite past times, long before it was fashionable, as a matter of fact.

Knowing this about me, it's no surprise that I fell in internet love with the blog Wardrobe Refashion. I've been lurking there for a while, soaking up all kinds of refashioning inspiration and finally decided to take the plunge. I pledged (starting May 1st) to abstain from buying new clothes for the next 2 months. I can buy handmade (Etsy included-- yay!) or thrifted clothing, as well as sew or refashion clothing items myself. Click here to read the official rules.

So, inspired by the fabulous refashionistas at Wardrobe Refashion, I made Jack's blessing outfit out of two of Joe's old white dress shirts. It turned out really well. See for yourself.

Next up, easy breezy wrap skirts made out of nifty thrifted sheets.

my emmeline and other updates

I finally got around to making my own emmeline apron and I'm like a little girl with a new party dress-- I want to wear it all day, every day, and maybe even sleep in it too!

My sweet little niece Amy Elizabeth made her grand appearance last week so I've been in a bit of a rush to finish up this lovely little piece of knitting:

And finally, here's a week's worth of progress on our lilac blossoms:

I can see the beginnings of tiny blossoms in the middle of those leaf buds, but I'm so thrilled with the baby leaves that I won't feel too bad if we don't get actual lilacs. I've brought in a couple of branches from our flowering plum tree and waiting with bated breath for our crabapple tree to show signs of being ready. What I wouldn't give for a forsythia or pussy willow right now!

Forcing buds-- well, at least forcing leaves-- is easy. Just cut a few little branches off a flowering bush or tree. Bring them in and immerse them in a basin of water for an hour (give or take)-- this helps soften the scales on the buds. Cut the stems at an angle, put in your favorite water filled vase (I'm partial to recycling glass salad dressing and soda pop bottles), and place in a sunny window. Change the water every three days and wait for Spring to arrive early to your house. This can take up to a month, so be patient.

Seriously, you gotta try it.

Aha!

I've been planning a tree mural on a wall in Teeny's nursery for a while now. Unfortunately, I'm not terribly confident in my artistic abilities (I blame it on my evil 6th grade art teacher, Mrs. B.), and I haven't been quite sure how to get my hands on a projector so that I can trace my design rather than paint it free hand. And then today I was going about my ritual scan of my favorite craft blogs and found a link that shows how to make your own projector out of a box, some tape and a lamp. Eureka!!

Here's the image I'm planning on using:

Wouldn't this be cute with some paper leaves and colorful paper birdies hanging out on the branches?

finished projects

I'm a fabulous project starter, but I'll usually get half way through with something when I find a different project that I've got to do RIGHT NOW. So, the completion of not one, but two knitting projects is an accomplishment for me to be proud of.

First off, Joe needed a warm watch cap to go with his pea coat. I used Malabrigo Worsted Merino in jet black (the picture makes it look faded, but it's not at all) to knit this pattern. This is the best yarn I've ever touched, let alone knit with. It is so unbelievably soft and buttery. Not to sound greedy or anything, but if anyone wants to make me really happy on my birthday, they could get me a skein of this yarn in any color and I'd be delighted!

Second up, a sweet little pair of baby leggings. Again, the color is off in this picture, it's really more of a fresh green pea color. The great thing about these is that since they're knit out of 100% wool, they'll also double as a cloth diaper cover. Find the pattern here.