New Star Man trousers

I made a new pair of sweatshirt pants the other night!

 

I used the Ottobre Design pattern Star Man as a base and added knee pads and a ton of top stitching.

 

I also added back pockets. They are set a bit too low, but they are mostly there for a decorative purpose.

 

I remembered that I have a wash away glue stick, and it was a great help when attaching the pocket!

 

 

Ottobre design Starman & Be cool

I made a pair of trousers and a tee for my oldest son the other night!

The patterns are Starman (trousers) and Be Cool (tee) from Ottobre Design. I’m very happy with the fit. The kid is 4 years old, and I made size 110.

I stayed up late with this project. When I attached the neck band, I got the seam allowance on the right side. However, I simply stitched it down, and  I’m quite satisfied with the result.

Clover Earfla Hat and Eiras hals

I made a little kit for our daughter!

The hat is Clover Earflap Hat from Dover&Madden, and the neck warmer is Eiras hals from Waaga.

I used a quite luxurious yarn, babysilk from Du Store Alpakka. It was a delight to work with!
The gauge is 24 stitches, which is what the patterns call for. However, I find that the hat I made with merino yarn (28 stitches) fit much better. Well, well, now she is prepared for next winter!

Merino mittens

The kids always need more mittens, so I want to find a good pattern.

I've tried to knit back and forth, I figure that it is quicker for me than to knit in the round. These mittens are made based on a pattern from an old book I found. I used extra fine merino wool, 28 stitches per 10 cm.

I'm, however, not impressed with the fit. The search will continue.

Jeans - Ottobre Design

I made a pair of trousers for my older boy, 4 years, using the Good Old Basic pattern in Ottobre Design 4/2015.

It’s a pair of jeans with side pockets, back pockets, one front and one thigh pocket.
I did not use denim, but a thin cotton fabric I had in my stash.

A lot of the details disappear because of the printed fabric, but I consider this a test version. I’m happy that it turned out really well, it’s a great fit, and I will certainly use this pattern again.

 

 

 

 

Clover Earflap Hat

I've had my eyes on this pattern for quite some time now, Clover Earflap Hat, by Dover & Madden.

I knitted a larger size, since my yarn was finer than directed by the pattern. It was a really nice pattern and I enjoyed knitting it.

Silor shirts

After a little mishap with one of the znok tees, I’ve finally finished all four of them.

 

It’s been a while since I posted here. I’ve been busy doing a new sailor suit for my older boy. I made him a sailor suit when he was two years old, and when I tried it on his younger brother, who turns two later this summer he exclaimed that it was his best shirt. We were about to go to a wedding, and I had to sacrifice a couple of nights to make him a new suit.

I will iron both of them and publish some better photos!

 

The pattern is a vintage on, Simplicity 1200:

 

More tees

I am trying to finish the tees for the boys, using the fabrics I ordered a while ago. I am doing fine so far:

However, I had a mishap with the smaller tee with short arms. I sewed the right side of the front to the wrong side of the back!

Knitting Askeladen wool diaper covers

With our third child I want to give cloth diapers a try! With our oldest son we used the ordinary diapers and wet wipes you find in stores, and didn’t really know that there were options.  We had to use a lot of ointment to cure his little red bottom. Whit our second son we replaced the store bought wet wipes with small towels that we just soaked in water and put some oil on to clean him, and there was no red bottom.

Now, I want to address the problem of the marks that the store bought diapers leaves on the baby skin! So, I’ve decided to try cloth diapers. Our daughter is now two month old, and I must say that I am impressed with the cloth diapers so far.

I’ve tried both pocket diapers with PUL fabric and wrap diapers. With the wrap diapers you have to use a diaper cover to make it waterproof. I have knitted diaper covers using flossa yarn from Finland, and wool yarn from Denmark, produced by Askeladen.
Our daughter is getting red rash from the PUL diaper, but I’m really satisfied with using wrap diapers with wool covers!

Wool covers are supposed to prevent the baby’s clothes from getting wet while at the same time keeping the baby comfortable in both hot and cold weather. Wool is 100% breathable.

The yarn from Askeladen is called Lanolin yarn. It is prepared very carefully, and the natural fat, lanolin is preserved. The baby’s wee is acidic, and the lanolin is alkaline, which means that the wee is neutralized = the covers cleans themselves! Of course the covers have to be cleaned if there gets poo on them.

I bought two skiens of yarn from Askeladen, one with 2 threads, and one with 3 threads. I got 6 pair of diaper covers!

The last one is not on the picture; I knitted it in the car the other night.

I use wrap diapers with hemp/bamboo/cotton soakers, and these covers do not leak.

These covers are made with 2-thread lanolin yarn in the ribbing and the rest with 3-thread lanolin yarn. The size is 4-8 month.

Znok tee

I finished one of the tees the other night.

The fabric is from Znok Design, both fabric and print is organic, and it's absolutely wonderful to work with.

The pattern is Biscuit from Tamanegi-Kobo.

 

 

Work in progress

It's been a while since I wrote here. I've been occupied, since our daughter was born two months ago.

I'm working on a post on knitting diaper covers. I have had opportunity to try the different models my granny, mother-in-law, and myself have made.

For now I'll just share some other work in progress. More tees for the boys.

I got a subscription of Ottobre Design for my birthday from my husband. I've tried one pattern so far. It is a bit, and I did not copy the neckband before sending the Magazine to my mum, so it has not been finished

I've also done some cuttin and sewing with the Znok fabrics I bought. Both boys will get one tee with long and one with arm.

Since my oldest boy is very keen on the dinosaur fabric I didn’t dare cut it before I had tried the Biscuit tee in a larger size. I did a holyday tee to try out the size 110. I’ve found that I have to make the pattern longer to fit him better. However, I did cut the other tees before realizing that =)

 

Elk burgers

I’m always trying new recipes, hoping that the dishes will be accepted by the two little guys. Perhaps most parents wish that their kids would eat a bit more varied food, more vegetables etc.

One dish that’s always a hit is burgers! This time I tried elk burgers:

The burger is 100% elk meat, spiced with different peppers, juniper berry, thyme, and rosemary. The bread is a kind of potato bread with a lot of rye flour. The recipe (in Swedish) can be found here:

 https://www.coop.se/Recept--mat/Recept/ae/aelgburgare-med-roed-coleslaw/

New Fabrics

During the week I got some new fabrics that I ordered for the boys.

"Jurassic" from Znok Design.

 

JNY Design "Caribbean Holiday"

My husband bought a year’s subscription of Ottobre Design for my birthday, and I find the magazine very inspiring. However, we are currently redecorating a room for the boys, and the little one is due in three weeks, so maybe it will take a while before there will be any progress concerning the new fabrics.

Larger Tuula socks

My little guy (1,5 years) often sleeps outside in the pram during nap times. No matter how well we dress him his little feet gets cold when he’s wearing his winter boots. We’ve found that it is much better to take the boots off when he is going to sleep and put on some nice warm socks instead.

It is getting pretty cold now, so I made him a pair of Tuula socks using merino wool.

There are 28 stitches around, and I’ve used needle no 5. I added a 1 ply wool yarn to make the foot even thicker and warmer.

Knitting wool diaper covers

Our third child is due to arrieve soon, and this time I going to try cloth diapers. I have never used a cloth diaper for any of the boys. For our first son we bought ordinary baby wet wipes and diapers, and his little bottom often went red. Then we replaced the wet wipes with terry cloth wipes which we soak in water and use with vegetable oil to clean him, and his skin was much less irritated. So, the next step is to try the more breathable cloth diapers.

I want to avoid non-natural fibers, like PUL-fabrics. However, this means that I have to get my hands on wool soakers. I would like to knit the soakers, but I don’t see that I will have time to make them!

Fortunately, my mother, grandmother and mother-in-law have stepped in to assist me!

My grandmother made the first three diaper soakers:

For the covers without legs she used the free diaper soaker pattern from Ottobre Design, size 0-8 month.

And knitted in “flossagarn” from Lankava, Finland.

 

Flossagarn is yarn that is unspun and very delicately threated to maintain the natural wool fat, lanolin.

The diaper cover with legs are made after the pattern "Samuels ullbyxa".

My mother-in-law has made this diaper cover, using the same flossagarn as above and the Ottobre pattern:

*** Picture is coming soon ***

We have left these pair of knickers unsewn. I intend to insert KAM-snaps in order to make them adjustable.

Since the Ottobre pattern is rather large in size, I wanted to try another pattern and another yarn. I ordered a pattern and yarn from Askeladen, Denmark.

During the holidays we have spent a few hours in our car, and I took the opportunity to try the Askeladen pattern myself:

I did the soakers a bit smaller than described in the pattern. There are 60 stitches around the waist.

So, now I will go on and make/source diapers.