As some of you may know I used to sell
my knitting on etsy, but put my shop on hold in order to knit more for myself and my family. And here are the fruits of my knitting needles... er something like that! My dear Cousin and her Husband are expecting their first child any day now so my husband and I knit up a little trove of warm gear for their baby come winter. These soon-to-be-parents are English and live in London, while their family, aka the future grandparents, live in Oxford and Oxfordshire. So I imagine this baby bundled up and making many happy trips between the city and the countryside. Since they are waiting to find out the gender of the baby- I choose to knit the baby gear in a lovely neutral gray eco wool- sure to go with everything including London. ; )
ABOVE: The package of knit goods before they were shipped to the U.K. I wrote little notes about each piece on a paper luggage tag since I wouldn't be there in person to jabber away about them. ;) I also sent them a little Elephant teething toy from
LittleSaplingToys- a favorite of our daughter's!
The Blanket: Two years ago I knit a huge
wedding blanket for Amelia and Alex, so I felt it was only appropriate to knit one for their baby. We have learned you can never have too many baby blankets- each one serves its unique purpose and will be well loved!
I wrote up a little pattern using the "Blocks and Triangles" pattern from the
Reversible Knitting book I have (it's awesome btw!) I gave it a garter border instead of the more typical seed stitch border, as I felt it would reference the garter stitch as seen between the rows of "Blocks".
My Daughter getting her hands on the dense and warm blanket.
The Triangle Side
The Block Side. The blanket is a bit on the small side- but I wanted something that could be easily packed for their journeys and will be thick and warm and really pack a punch for its size. Great for over a little lap while in a stroller, or car, or sitting on the sofa snuggled up with family!
Leg warmers and baby booties! These were my first pair of baby booties and they were fast and fun to knit, even if they turned out a little duck-footed! They are roomy enough to fit over a sock and the cuff is tight enough that they will stay on (so say the reviewers of
the pattern, and they stayed put on my daughter's fat feet too).
My Husband knit the baby leg warmers,
as he did for our daughter this past winter. And I think they are just too cute! He varied the stripes, changing their height and making them slightly irregular. We made everything in the 6-9 month range so it would fit their baby come November-ish.
The Hat: I knit this hat for a friend of mine in Maine and loved it so much I decided to knit a second one- this time for my cousin's baby. Here is our daughter modeling the hat back in March! (Since I knew I wanted to knit them a blanket I started the other faster pieces ahead of time and worked on them when I could - IE: baby and work permitting.) Here is
the pattern for the hat. I made the point on the hat a little longer and I really like the result! If they have a girl I am going to knit them a small white wintery flower to attach to the side of the hat near the ear.
Here is the little Miss modeling the hat in May, pretty cute from the side! It has a long i-cord on either side of the hat that allows you to tie it underneath their chin- but I'm sure it will also serve as a chew toy! (so they might have to tie it behind the baby's head to avoid chewing/choking! )
When their baby is born and its gender is known, I plan on knitting it a little sweater to go with the set. I will knit it with cotton yarn to make it easier to wash and the color will be in keeping with it's gender without being baby pink or baby blue.
My Cousin and her Husband were really pleased with the presents and I'm so glad they like them. In their note they said their baby would be one well dressed "Eco-Wool Warrior" lol, made me laugh and hence the blog title! Can't wait for their baby to arrive! They are going to be great, funny, and adoring parents!
