Larkin Baby Blanket

I did start the gift baby blanket today, and managed to get 5 hours work in. I am using the Larkin Baby Blanket pattern from Knit Picks. I chose Knit Picks Comfy Sport (75% Pima Cotton, 25% Acrylic) in the color "Sea Foam." The yarn looks bluer on the website, and greener in real life. My pictures make it look more of a grayish blue.

5 hours progress!

So far I am liking the pattern and working with the yarn. Knit Picks Comfy yarn is very soft and nice to work with, and shows stitch definition very nicely. The leaf pattern on the blanket looks a little smooshed right now, but I think it will be very pretty once I get it finished and blocked. I feel like I've gotten quite a bit knitted up with just over half the skein of yarn. I bought 10 skeins total for the blanket.

I do have a tiny bit of concern when it comes to finishing the blanket on time. It is sport weight and I am working it up on size 4 needles.  It feels like it goes kinda slow, so hopefully I can consistently find the time to work on it. Thankfully today, my daughters needed little direction during school and I was able to multitask some :)

I plan on keeping track of how many hours I spend on this blanket, just for curiosities sake ;)

Baby yarn!

The yarn came! It is always nice opening a big box of yarn; feels like Christmas :)

This is the yarn I bought for the gift baby blanket, and will be the project I start today! The color looks more greenish in person, which wasn't what I was going for unfortunately. It is still a very pretty color though.

Just a close up of the label. I really like the cotton Comfy yarn, it is very soft.

This is the yarn I bought for the bee baby blanket for my baby. The yellow is a little more muted and has a pretty brown undertone that isn't really showing that well in the picture.

A close up of the label here too. I was impressed with the Swish yarn while making Xmas gifts year before last. It is definitely soft enough for a baby blanket.

Here is the Full Circle yarn I bought for a soaker (or two, depending on how far it goes). I've never used this yarn before, but it is quite soft and looks like it will be nice to knit up. This yarn is being discontinued currently, and I'm not sure if they will be bringing it back or not. I thought I'd try it while they still had it in stock.

Here is another yarn I have never worked with before, though I have heard plenty of good things about it. Felici is a self striping yarn, and I will be using this for baby leggings!

Now to get knitting!

Fully moded "Cheeky Soaker"

Here's the front of the just finished newborn soaker!

The back!

I quite like how the ribbing looks when extended

from hip to hip instead of just in the center.

A close up of the hip ribbing, just showing the stretch :)

The stretch on the bottom is actually quite impressive! I think.

I should be able to fit a baby, prefold, and insert in there :)

Showing the leg cuff stretch here.

Over-all, I really like the Cheeky Soaker pattern. Granted it is the only soaker pattern I've tried so far, but I don't really feel the need to look for a better one. I will probably make a couple different patterns eventually, just for kicks and giggles. I think it is fantastic that this pattern is not only free, but the designer doesn't care if you sell the ones you've made (not that I plan to do that!). Many designers won't allow you to sell things you've made with their patterns, so it is always great to see a designer who supports work at home mothers :)

Knitting plans for baby boy.

Wednesday we learned we are having a baby boy! So now that I know for sure the baby is a boy, I have tons of projects I really want to knit! It is a bit overwhelming really. I have a stack of patterns that I want to make (I am apparently not capable of picking one pattern then making it, but have to print out a ton of them, lol). The stack is at least an inch thick, lol

I just ordered some yarn for baby projects. I was going to wait until we get the tax return, but I just couldn't help myself ;) I got yarn for a gift blanket and for a blanket for my baby. Yarn for a blue wool soaker, and some discounted sport yarn for making a pair of baby leggings. My order should come sometime next week! I can't wait to start on a new baby project! I'll make the gift blanket first, since that baby is due sooner. I like the pattern and yarn I picked out, so hopefully the parents like it too! I doubt the baby will care much for quite a while, so long as it is soft and cuddly :)

I started another wool soaker last night. If I work on it for a couple hours, I should get it done today.  After this soaker is finished, I won't make anymore newborn sized ones for this baby. I hope he really won't need more than 3 in each size, lol The yarn I bought will be for the next size up or bigger, and the leggings will be made to match. The leggings should be a bit big, because the baby won't really need them until it gets cooler or he starts to crawl.

I'll post a picture of the soaker once I finish it, and of the yarn when it arrives next week.

That's all for now :)

My first wool soakers.

I knit up two wool soakers last week, and thought I'd share pictures of them! I think they turned out pretty well, though I plan to make a few more changes when I make the pattern again. The pattern I used was "Cheeky Soaker" from Ravelry.com I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes yarn in Bulky. It was some I had bought for a jacket for myself, a project that I will never get around to making. One hank was more than enough for one soaker, in fact two hanks would make three newborn size soakers. Solid color Wool of the Andes Bulky (they stopped selling the handpainted, Grrrr!) is only $5 per hank. I don't think that's a bad price for a cover that can go 2-3 weeks between washes!

Front

Back

From the pictures you can see that I made different waistbands on them. The top one is the one I made first, and I really don't like how it turned out. It has an enclosed elastic waistband, but it makes it really thick and holds it open all weird. I don't think I will make an enclosed waistband again. The second one I made a 2X2 rib waistband with a drawstring, and I like this much better.

There are a couple things I don't really care for on the bottom/second one. Firstly, I really don't like the way the sewn bind off looks or the way it holds the ribbing open. I will use Jenny's Surprisingly Stretchy bind off next time, like I did with the first diaper (because I was too lazy at the time to look up how the pattern said to bind off, and Jenny's method is my favorite bind off where stretch is required). I like the way it looks, and it doesn't force the ribbing open. Second issue I have is with how the tush looks. I think ribbing from hip to hip would look better than just ribbing in the center, so I will make that adjustment next time as well. I did change the decrease on the leg holes. The pattern called for them to be leaning towards the edging, I made them lean away to get a neater looking edge.

I have a bunch of this yarn left, like 8 1/2 hanks. I would like to buy a couple hanks in a different color for some variety later on, but for now you just can't beat using up stash yarn! We hope to find out if our baby is a little guy or a little gal tomorrow!! I have a baby gift to make before very much longer, so will be making a yarn order next month (come on, tax return!!). I don't think I'll be able to help myself from getting a couple hanks of yarn to make a wool soaker that isn't gender neutral!

Before I forget, I did not prep the covers at all yet! I will wash and lanolize them when I wash up the rest of the baby stuff around the middle of April. A note on washing: I had switched to soap nuts on the recommendation of a friend (mainly for cloth diapering, but find they are great for all our laundry). I've read that soap nuts (in liquid form) are perfect for washing wool because it is low sudsing and so gentle. I can use the Lasinoh brand lanolin that I will be using for nursing care to lanolize the wool as well. I think it is awesome that I don't have to buy anything extra or fancy to take care of the wool soakers. I hope they work really well, because so far I love how cheap and easy they are to make, and not having to wash them daily will be a huge plus.