Thursday, August 26, 2010

Keeping warm in red



Isn't it strange how baby tops are all made to be so short in the length? If you are EC-ing, you probably know what I mean when I say it is so hard in a cold climate to keep baby's kidneys warm when you aren't putting onesies on her.

I wanted a long vest or even knitted dress to put on Umi and keep her back and midriff toasty. But couldn't find anything. So I adapted this great online pattern for a vest, turning it into a knitted pinafore dress.

The original pattern is for a vest which buttons up on one shoulder and also buttons up the side. My active baby won't sit still long enough for this, so I knitted two pieces the same and sewed up both sides and across both shoulder seams. I did include the garter stitch on each side which looks great. I cast on 40 extra stitches and gradually decreased to make the A-line skirt.

Umi lives in this! It keeps her tummy and bottom warm even if she is not wearing a nappy. And when we go out she wears it over a pair of orange bell-bottomed trousers. Actually I made them from an online free pattern too, so here is a link to that.

Monday, August 2, 2010

What to do with old babysuits - cover hot water bottles!

I recently bought two hot water bottles as three of us were vying for the use of our one bottle. But I didn't have covers for them and there's no time to knit any.

Just then I noticed a big bag full of baby clothes ready to take to the op shop. I picked out two cute fleecy ones with feet. With appliques and ribbons etc they were never useful as babysuits; in fact I don't think Umi wore them. But they are great as hottie covers!

Just fill the hottie, pop into the suit, and do up the press studs over it. The neck of the bottle can stick out from the neck of the babysuit. I find size 00 fit perfectly!

It makes the whole family feel like they are cuddling up to a cute little baby at night.