Baby Knits

There are quite a few sweet babies joining our family and friends this autumn and winter, and we couldn't be more excited. The first of these sweet babies, our nephew, arrived last month, and he's as cute as can be!

When we first heard the news from the expectant parents, I knew I wanted to knit something special for these babes. But, being relatively new at knitting, I knew I had to keep it simple.


I first learned to knit this past winter, after my Mom made Baby M this sweet pumpkin hat. She taught herself how to do it using this book by Debbie Bliss, and when I visited my parents last Christmas, I decided to give it a try. I chose the "wrong" yarn for the project so my gauge was off and I ended up making an enormous baby hat, one that was too big even for me. I wasn't totally put off, though, and upon returning home, I promptly went to my LYS to purchase some pretty yarn and this book, which I have really enjoyed. While there, I decided to sign up for a class to learn to knit in the round, and I haven't looked back since.


I love to knit, even if I haven't made more than a few dozen (yep...) hats. All of our friends' kids now have hats knit over the summer, when we didn't have tv. And all of our sweet little friends will be finding knit goodies under the tree come Christmas morning.

But back to the baby knits...


Like I said, the knits I wanted to make for these new babies had to be fairly simple and quick knits. I have always loved the look and feel of baby booties, and so wish Baby M had gotten some when he was born (forget that he was a summer baby and we had two terrible heat waves right around the time he was born...). So since these babies are cold weather babies, I thought, why not?

I made these simple booties (minus the pompoms) from Claire Montgomerie's book using Baby Cotsoy (SO soft!!), and these adorable seamless booties using some cotton viscose blend. Both were such quick knits and turned out so cute that I am now ready to make more! Good thing a dear friend is expecting her second in April... :)

Finally... Finished!

They say better late than never, and, in this case, I couldn't agree more! I finally finished Baby M's Halloween quilt. Yes, I know... it's a week and half late, but he doesn't seem to mind, so I won't, either.One reason it took me longer to finish it than I'd expected is that I decided to hand quilt it. I actually tried to machine quilt it (twice!) but was so unhappy with the way it looked, I decided to try hand quilting it instead. It worked out well, too, because for a while there Baby M decided he wouldn't nap unless he was in his car seat. I can't tell you how nice it was to have a project that I could work on while we sat in the driveway.

I found hand quilting quite enjoyable, which surprised me. I've always loved the look of it, but it was always a bit intimidating to me. My stitches are not as even as I'd like, but for my first attempt, I'm very happy with it. Now I'd like to take a hand quilting class to learn how to do it properly (especially how to hold the quilt while you're working on it... I always ended up with some pain from holding it awkwardly).

When I started working on this quilt, I was less than thrilled with my fabric choices, and thus not too excited about it. After spending so much quality time with this little quilt, I have to say that it's really grown on me. In fact, I kind of love it now (and so does Baby M, who you can see running around all over the quilt in these two pictures!).
I tried to use my scraps for a pieced backing, inspired by AmandaJean. I like how it turned out, but I found it challenging lining everything up to get the pieced strips to be straight. Do you ever make pieced backings? How do you line them up so that they're straight? I'd love any tips!
Happy Friday!

Halloween came & went...

...and I didn't get to finish the Halloween baby quilt, as I'd hoped. That's alright, though, because it turns out Baby M didn't really get the whole idea behind Halloween this year anyway, so he won't care if it's a week or so late.



We had a really nice Halloween, and we lucked out because it didn't rain. Baby M got lots of running around time: running at the park, running around the house, running around in the backyard... so by the time we finally made it out to trick or treat, he was exhausted and thoroughly confused. I can't even imagine what must have been going through that little head of his as he saw all these people dressed up, asking for candy. Maybe next year he'll understand Halloween a little better.

In the meantime, I'm off to go work on the quilt a little more. Hope to be able to show it, finished up, in the next few days.