Pattern: Tiny Birds Soaker. Heart from Bikini pattern in Stitch’N'Bitch.
Yarn: Lincraft Cosy Wool 8 ply.
Needles: 4mm Addi turbos and the only metal crochet hook I own (no idea what size it is).

Adding the trim to this thing was a complete pain in the proverbial. The pattern said to add the leg edging after “partial” felting. My soaker has come out the exact size I expected but it seems quite a bit more than partially felted to me and the only way to get a crochet hook through it was by drilling holes with a needle first. I also thought it looked cuter without the ties but have stuck with them as they will probably be necessary… I don’t think I will be making any more of these until this one has been tested, but if it works out I will definitely make a bunch more - if I have time.

It was only after I started knitting this cover that I started hearing that knitted nappy covers aren’t really the best idea until after the breastfed poo stage has ended. In Isabelle’s case that was about 14-16 months. Which would make this just a little small, given the birth to 3 month sizing and the rather large children we seem to produce. On the other hand it’s super cute, it was pretty quick and it was stash yarn. Certainly a nice proof of concept. All it needs now is leg trim and ties at the waist and legs. No doubt more pictures to come.

We are having manacotti for dinner tonight. Making manacotti involves a vast number of pancakes and a great deal of standing around waiting to flip those pancakes. The thing with pancakes is you can’t really leave them alone to do something else but really it’s pretty dull standing there watching them brown.

Can you hear the sounds of “One of these things is not like the others”? Hum it to yourself.

Why it’s a plaited drawstring for the nappy cover.

As I have mentioned I taught myself to knit in order to make a nighttime nappy cover for Isabelle. I had no one to teach me so I googled “knitting video”, possibly with some extra words in there too (this did happen 6 months or so ago) and blessed be the google gods, I found just what I needed. To be honest I found learning to knit from video pretty easy and off I went. I knit my nappy cover with stripes because I thought it would look better and also because it helped me count the rows (I had no idea you could get row counters).

All was well until I got to the finishing. The pattern suggeted i corchet on a shell edging. No instructions were forthcoming as to how to achieve this shell edging so I googled some more. I found more videos and frankly I was terrified. I had already given up the idea of actually using this cover by the time I finished it so I put it aside and got on with moving states (did I mention we did this twice in two weeks - there and back again?).

Now that I am knitting again the thought of an unfinished project has been bothering me. Having realised I must do at least a little crochet in order to knit the projects I want to it seemed only fitting that I learn to crochet in order to complete the project for which I learned to knit. Remembering the horror of those crochet videos I tried getting a book from the library and it worked! I can now crochet, at least a little. I stil have a horrible time trying to learn knitting techniques from photos or diagrams, I definitely prefer video but for crochet this book rocks!

I taught myself to knit in order to make Isabelle a woolen nappy cover for night time use. I did this despite my better judgement regarding the possible ick factor of the whole evaporate-the-wee off principle behind wool covers for real nappies. I loved knitting and for a first project my nappy cover went pretty well. It will never be used, due to the afore-mentioned ick factor getting the better of me (that and a small sizing issue). It has yet to be finished, due to a deep seated fear of crochet (soon to be remedied). But this post is not about that nappy cover, it is, in fact, about what happend a few months later (an interlude that was mostly pre-occupied with moving states twice for no reason) when I decided that I really liked knitting and wanted to do more.

It turned out my friend Amber wanted to knit too. This was a very good thing because being the sensible sort that she is she went straight to the local library where she found this:

Amber also found our local yarn store and before I knew it she had made herself a gorgeous mini scarf (choker??), complete with button holes. By the time I caught up with this fact she had moved on to the Garter Stitch Blanket from baby knits for beginnners.

I am very original, so I got myself some Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran too (in different colours) and embarked on the same project. Things did not go well. I had some serious gauge issues. Each square was coming out a size all of its very own. I quickly realised that I was wasting very fine yarn on a project that was going nowhere fast. So I gave up.

I put away the lovely Silk Road and instead I pulled out the left over yarn from the nappy cover, embarking on a far more modestly sized (and priced) dolly blanket to go with Isabelle’s very first dolly which we were intending to give her as a weaning present. I finished it the night before the party by biting the bullet and making use of the first few squares where the gauge was still not that great. Never the less the blanket was a big hit (so was the dolly), she played all day and she played all night: