Tot Toppers

Baby Knits & Maternity Leave

WOW. Today marks THREE DAYS until the arrival of my newest little man. I cannot BELIEVE we finally got here. I know my first pregnancy seemed ever so slow, but this one, well…I am not sure what it is but potentially it has seemed even longer. I don’t have the most comfy pregnancies, so perhaps that’s it…the second pregnancy was the one that flew by.

Anyhow, before things are totally topsy turvy and I’m nursing round the clock I wanted to share some of the knitting I’ve done so far for baby Oliver. I wasn’t going to post it all, because, well lets just say he’s got some modeling duties straight out of the womb so I wanted to save showing those for when patterns were close to being ready!  But then I just couldn’t resist taking a few snapshots, forgive me for showing you something you can’t knit right away.  The good news is it should all be ready to go by the end of June.

One of the first things I cast-on for was Gramps Cardigan. How could I not.

I used Tosh DK in Norway Spruce.  I am planning on him wearing this in the fall.  I get a lot of questions on the sleeve sizing in this pattern and I do stand by it!  I think the reason why some knitters have a little trouble is that most of the sweater is knit back and forth, and the sleeves are worked in the round. A lot of knitters tend to work more tightly when in-the-round. So, if this is you, you’ll want to consider sizing up your needle for when you knit the sleeves!  Just a little tip :) Oh, and also the sleeves LOOK smaller than they actually are because of the reverse stockinette background on the cable panel,  If you gently flatten it you should feel more comfortable about the circumference of the sleeve.

Around the same time as Gramps was on the needles, I worked up these two upcoming designs while contemplating his newborn pictures. First a fingering weight cabled stocking cap (tosh sock):

And next, a new cocoon & hat set with a stitch pattern I sort of became obsessed with (you’ll see, this is not the only upcoming design that features it!).  This is Blue Sky Alpacas Suri Merino. I used it for Antilogy last fall and it had the perfect amount of soft & halo cozy for a newborn. Here’s hoping he’s not allergic to alpaca…

About this time, I realized that OH MY GOSH, what is he going to wear home from the hospital?  So of course I had to come up with something–I was about 37 weeks along.  I love a baby in a bubble so this top-down romper turned out exactly as I hoped.  And obviously I had to make a coordinating hat. I went with not too matchy matchy.  I used my Yarn Love Amy March Worsted for the romper (superwash!) and then the sportweight Marianne Dashwood (also superwash)  for the hat.  It was a good thing I got this on the needles prior to Stitches South because pretty much all the colors I used are GONE.

Right after I bound off the romper I got a blanket on the needles.  This could be my favorite one of the projects I’ve knit for him.  I have had this planned for quite some time, but I cut it down to the wire on this one.  You’ll recognize the stitch patterns used from Gramps.  Yet another pattern you can anticipate. This is Yarn Love Amy March Worsted as well, dyed to match Oliver’s nursery walls.

After working all of this new stuff up, I was ready for a break! I scoured Ravelry and found an adorable little hoodie by Carina Spencer that O had to have.  I knit it in less than a day last weekend.
Then, I decided to do another quick little hat.  Newborn knitting is seriously addicting.  It goes so stinking fast! This is the hat getting put directly on Oliver’s head when he comes out, instead of the hospital pink & blue one. I used a waffle rib for the brim.

And well, that’s that for now!  I am also mid-Safari Sun Baby Hat for him, how could he not have one of those as a “summer” baby.  Should finish that one up today.

So see?  There are plenty of things you can knit for warm-weather babies!  I can’t wait to snuggle with my new baby and start putting him in all this stuff.

I wanted to also mention my maternity leave.  If you e-mail me between now and towards the end of June you’ll get an auto-reply. I am taking about 6 weeks to get used to being a mom of three.  I hope that if you do have a pattern question, you’ll go post in my Ravelry Group and members can help each other out. Thank you for understanding!  Its times like these that I wish I had a whole team working for me.

ONE LAST THING.  Oliver, in his kindness, has decided to do a contest from the womb.  Enter the baby pool for a free t-shirt!