Lacy diaper covers

At a close by town center I saw a woman/teen wearing lace shorts, maybe these, or similar. Those shorts inspired me to make another set of bloomers for Likka. I have had scraps of lace just waiting in my crafts stash and now the pants were a perfect use for those. I used the same pattern as I did for the previous bloomers. Some of the lace scraps I had were just a centimeter wider than I needed, just perfect, no leftovers anymore.

There is lace covering only the bum. There is eight pieces of lace, which of only two are exactly similar. Not all the lace I had was white, there is also yellow, pink and blue lace. The pants turned out bit more funky than I had envisioned, but that is ok, I like funny clothes.

Mamelukes

Babies and dresses are a bit difficult combination. Since babies don't tend to stand upright, at least not all the time, the dresses do not drape nicely over the bum. Instead babies crawl in various ways and try to eat the hem of their dress. If you don't dress the baby with pants or tights the diaper can be seen. Not that the diaper is such a bad thing to see, but I feel like it bit ruins the look of the dress and tights or pants are a bit too much on a hot summer day. And that is why I made Likka underpants to wear over the diaper. I had the lace and the fabric already at home and used a bit modified pattern from an Ottobre magazine 1/2013 pattern 2. I think they look super cute on Likka and my dad asked if they sell lace diapers in stores nowadays, hilarious.

In case you are wondering about the title. These style of underpants are in Finnish called mamelukes (mamelukit). I do not know why.

Pink sweatshirt

Not sure Likka needed this, but I made it anyhow. I guess it's good for colder summer evenings. On day she can wear a sleeveless top and then when evening comes I can just dress the sweatshirt on her. I have had the pink fabric for quite some time. I am bit surprised I decided to make the sweatshirt for Likka from that fabric. In theory I dislike dressing girls to pink (and boys to blue). But it is not the colour I actually dislike. I dislike that girls are only dressed as princesses and boys as superheros. I really don't mind the occasional soft pink dress on Likka if it fits the occasion, but for everyday, that is not my cup of tea. But I think this sweatshirt in hot pink and with the dark blue accents and the stripy lining makes the shirt look very perky and bold. It's not too girly.

Anyway... I love how it turned out. Not only does it look really good in my opinion but I love that I was able to make it look so professional, I'm really proud of it. I finally figured out how to use the double needle and used it on the hem of the shirt. Also the rib knit on the hood is perfectly stretched. There were so many details on the shirt which made me learn new sewing techniques and I think I was able to learn them well. I'm happy I made this, it makes me proud.

Pattern from Ottobre magazine 1/2013 page 12 in size 74 cm

Yet another pair of baby mittens

I needed to knit something so I made a pair of mittens for Likka. Because of the horizontal stripes with purl knit these would be in Finnish called train mittens, I guess because the stripes remind of tracks, not sure though. But anyway these stripes for some odd reason help keep the mittens on. The knit makes these flexible like an accordion and also the cuffs are long so even when Likka tries to pull these off, she wont manage to fully do so.

The palm side of the mittens is straight, no stripes. If you are real pro like me (heh), you can knit similar just by looking at the pictures, but in case you are not here are the instructions. Although these instructions are not most detailed, so not for a beginner.

Using superfine yarn create 30 stitches with 3,5 mm needles. Divide on three needles.
*knit, purl*  *_*repeat for 15 rows
*knit five rows, purl five rows*  *_*repeat four times
knit five rows
*knit, purl*  *_*repeat for 10 rows
^knit four rows
*purl 15 stitches, knit 15*  *_*repeat four rows*^  ^_^ repeat three times
Knit making a decrease on every needle until four stitches are left per needle. Cut yarn and pull through all sixteen twelve stitches. 

Replacement bathrobes

You might remember that I mentioned that I have replaced some of the items I got rid off on the Minimalist game. Two of those items were bathrobes. In theory there was nothing wrong with those robes, but the only occasion where it ever occurred to us to use the robes was after sauna. I'm not sure you know but after sauna you will get sweaty really easily if you feel even a bit too warm. That is what we call after sweat in Finnish. But after having sauna it's nice to hang out and relax and it's preferably done in a bathrobe, but our robes were just way too hot. Once you put them on you were sure to have after sweat issues.

For years I have been thinking of replacing the robes with Japanese yukata. Yukata is similar to a kimono, but it's made from cotton and is way more casual than the kimono. Yukata is also very simple to sew and so I assumed I could make ones for us, but I've postponed making those for years now and so I felt that it's very unlikely I will ever be inspired to start those and decided to buy them.

 
I bought two similar yukatas, both were from the men's section of the online store, there were nice patterns on the women's side too, but I preferred to have both the same and I like the simple stripe pattern which was only sold on the men's side. With the yukata also came belt on the same pattern, it's standard that the belt is not attached to the yukata robe in any way, but I think I will make some sort of belt loop for it, just so that it is easier to use.

I know the yukata is nothing as fancy as a silk kimono, but I would love if we had one wall in the bathroom where I could keep one of the yukatas hanging from a bar as shown in the first picture. It would just look so good.

And no after sweat problems anymore. Yay.

(I'm not getting payed to link to the Kimono shop, I just bought mine there, and I'm happy with them, but I'm sure there are many more online shops similar to the one I've linked here)

Apron for a baby

I was in Ikea the other day for a lunch with a mommy friend, it was quite an ex tempore visit so I did not really think through that we would have actually needed something from there. I should have bought a painting apron Måla for Likka from there. Not that Likka paints, but many of our friends wear that apron on their kid when they feed them. The apron has sleeves too so it protects the clothes way better than a regular bib.

Likka has now started to practise eating, so far it's not going very well. She has tasted quite many vegetables already, but from most of them she has not eaten more than a molecule. She might have eaten a full spoonful of sweet potato in the course of a week, maybe. Which means most of the purees given to her squirt out from her mouth and onto her clothes. I've also let her 'eat' on her own, she likes to chew cucumber sticks and I've gived her some salad, tomato and avocado to try. But it's awfully messy ofcourse. So we could have used that Måla apron.

Then I decided to make one. I had some PUL fabric left from making the diaper covers and so I used that. The apron turned out ok, but it is bit difficult to dress on Likka, the fabric is not very slippery so the sleeves are slightly difficult to pull on. I should have made bat sleeves for the apron, then it would be easier. Also the apron could be slightly longer, so it would protect Likka's pants too. Anyway once it's on it does work quite nicely, but it won't fit her for long. I guess I could make another one but I don't have enough material anymore and I'm not going to go and buy any, the material alone is more expensive than the ready made apron in Ikea. So I guess I need to make another trip to Ikea sometime later. 

I forgot to take before shots of the apron alone, so here it is after eating or tasting just one slice of tomato. Beautiful.

Balaclava for Likka

I was not going to post anything this friday, because I had nothing to write about. But then suddenly I made a balaclava for Likka. I got some fabric pieces from my grandmother few days (or maybe weeks already) ago and two of the pieces were already cut, but my grandmother had never sewn them together, so I did that.

From those two pieces I got Likka a balaclava. I did not bother to sew a rib knit around the face opening, I just used stretchy honeycomb looking stitch on it. That works well too. Likka is already sleeping when I'm writing this so here my hand represents Likka's head.

I'm not sure who my grandmother was going to make the balaclava but if it was for me then she has had the pieces waiting in her fabric stash for thirty years.

Little cowgirl

 

I went through part of my clothes cabinet not so long ago and found there a bandana I got from a summer camp in my early teens. I had thought that I could use that bandana to cover my hair when painting, but the bandana is just a bit too small to use that way, so I newer use it. I couldn't make myself to throw it in the trash either which is why I made drool/burp bibs from it.

I was able to make two drool bibs, I was hoping that I could make them from all four corners but the side of the bandana was too short and I had to settle for two. The back side of the drool bib has thicker cotton fabric since I do not think the thin bandana fabric is very absorbing on its own. The bib can be snapped close with the press fasteners on the back. I used three male fasteners and one female on the other bib and three female and one male on the second, that way I was left with even amount of fasteners.

I did not use any pattern for this, so incase you want to make a similar one, here are the measurements. But if I would do these again I'd cut the fabric deeper from the front, I've marked that with the blue dash line.

So like said I made two of these, but you are only seeing one. I gave the other one to a friend already, her child burps quite a lot. Likka does not burp much but drools commendably.

Next week is all about cloth diapers. So prepare yourself for a cloth diaper overdose.

Baby vest

There is a particular reason I've been making so many cardigans for Likka. We finally got winter here and eventhough the heating in our home works great and the temperature inside is about the same as it is on summer, the floors do get cold. I myself need to wear wool socks all the time, I think it's a bit drafty on the floor level. And do you know where Likka spends most of her time when she is awake? On that cold floor of course. Well there is a rug or a blanket underneath her but still I think the floor is a bit cold place to be.

That is why I have made her those cardigans and now a vest. I had some material left from the red wool cardigan my mother gave to me. From the left over of the cardigan sleeves I made a wool vest for Likka. This time I was able to make the neck bit better, it's just the right size. The vest can be opened from the other shoulder (like Likka demonstrates here) so it's easy to put on.

The vest looked a bit dull without any decorations so I added the flowers on the waist. The stalks are this zigzag ribbon and you know the ribbons that are attached to shirt neck on stores so that the shirts do not drop off from the hanger? I always remove those ribbons and since it's impossible for me to throw away crafts material I save those ribbons. Now I finally used two for the flower buds.

Wool cardigan converted to a wool overall

(Argh, the colours in this picture are all wrong!)

My mom gave me an old red wool cardigan to use as a crafts material. It was in perfectly good condition, just the button holes were torn.

Now we finally got winter here, from plus five it suddenly dropped to minus fifteen Celcius and we actually got some snow! That is amazing! The snow came really late this winter. But this means that Likka needs something really warm to wear. Likka has a few wool overalls, but those are still too big, so I quickly (well... it was supposed too be quick) made her another overall from the old wool cardigan. It's not so common to cut knits and sew them, but it really isn't much different than sewing regular fabric. You just need to make sure every stich row from the knit is sewed close so they don't unravel, but using a short stich on the sewing machine should do the trick.

Like I said it was supposed to be quick thing to do, but I wanted to sew on top of the neck rib knit with a double pointed needle I had bought some time ago. With that needle I need to have a second thread running from the top of the machine and there is a hole for somesort of spool holder. I just don't have that holder so I've used a random stick on the place. Now I took one very large needle and placed that on the hole, but the needle was too slim and it dropped right into the sewing machine. Outch. I was too afraid the needle is somewhere inbetween the moving parts of the machine so I did not dare to sew anymore and I had to open up the whole machine to remove the needle. Well the good thing is that I did clean the insides of the machine from all the lint while it was open.

Then I took another stick to use as a spool holder and started sewing. But it seems that the double pointed needle did not do a good job on the seam, it did not work at all. I just got long thread runs on the sides, I'm not really sure what was wrong, maybe the fabric was too thick, I don't know. Since that did not work out I decided to use regular zig zag on the seam.

Then I noticed I had made the neck too large. Whole thing looked like an overall for dogs, it looked hilarious. It would have been perfect for a small bulldog. :)

So I took the rib knit apart from the neck and shortened it and then reattached it. I think the neck is still too large but I don't want to take it apart again.

Ostrobothnia cardigan

Ostrobothnia is an area in west of Finland. It is famous for its flat landscape, agriculture, people being bit cheap and the Jussi sweater. My dad is from the Ostrobothnia and so is my mother's mother. For some odd reason I have always been proud to say I have roots from there. Likka has roots from there too of course and so I made her a Jussi sweater inspired cardigan.

After the exponentially ascending learning curve from the previous cardigan, I started to make this one from the top down. This time I made a smaller neck and the knitting went very smoothly. I did do a bit of a mistake when calculating the placement of the arms but it does not really show on the finished cardigan.

On the previous cardigan I made too many button holes and I actually prefer zippers anyway so I sewed a zipper on the Ostrobothnia cardigan.

I'm really pleased with this cardigan, it is slightly too long, but that means there is some room for growth.

Cardigan attempt

Often I'm too eager to start a project so I forget to plan. Inspired by the On the edge of the cloud - pattern by Muita Ihania I started to knit a cardigan for Likka. I actually did do a test knit first and calculated how many sticthes I would need for the waist, but I think I either miscalculated or something else got wrong because the waist got too wide.

I knitted from the waist up. Once I hit the arms I started to look for instructions on how to make the arms. I did not find anything in the exact same size and yarn weight, but what I did find was a cardigan knitted from the top down. I had not realized I could have knitted it like that too and that seemed so much easier and better compared to the waist up style and I got bit deflated by my already started cardigan. 

So I did not find any good instructions and just started to knit from the top of my head. I knitted both arms and attached those to the body part. Then I knitted the straps (?) for the buttons, I assumed every ten rows could have button.

And then it was done. The waist is too wide, the arms compared to the waist are too narrow, there are too many buttons and the neck is too big. Also I was supposed to do the whole neck area with the blue but I run out of yarn and had to continue with the other colours.

I was not happy with this one and desided to make a better one. So... yes, I made another... that one on the next post.

Tardis socks

A has two god daughters, the other who I made the hamburger and other crocheted food is 2,5 years old the other is 17 years old. The older one studies in England in Wales. The school building or castle is from the 12th century. That combined with English heating system must make the place drafty.

So she needed wool socks. Her mother thought she would want Dr Who inspired socks because she is a big fan of the show. I found a pattern for Tardis socks from Ravelry and knitted those for her as Christmas present. 

When I started making these socks I at first assumed that I would use the size 4 mm needles and bought three skeins of blue light weight yarn. I don't know why I did not check the instructions before heading to the store. Anyway at home I noticed I should have bought superfine weight yarn. Luckily the store I bought the yarn from had also the blue in superfine and I was able to return the wrong yarn and buy the right one instead even though I did not even have the receipt anymore.

Once I noticed I had to use such a slim yarn I was bit afraid these socks would be really burdensome to make, but I was so wrong. I finished these unbelievably fast, these were fun to knit.

Holiday baby booties

 

For the holiday season I made Christmas inspired baby booties for Likka. I couldn't find a pattern for these so I made my own. It didn't really work out that well. I wanted the tip to be curled, but the booties ended up flat, so I adjusted the tip by hand sewing few stitches on the top. And I made the booties too small to begin with, they hardly fit Likka. Maybe I'll make new ones later.

 

The bells are so cute though because those jingle when she moves her feet. But she doesn't yet understands that she can control the jingling.

Dress out of a shirt

My biceps are apparently getting huge, because one day I lifted a thing from the ground and as I was moving my arms up the other sleeve tore close from the bicep. Ups.

Since the shirt was now unusable I made a dress out of it for Likka. The button-front is now the back and I added a pocket to the front of the dress. And edged everything with bias tape. I tried to size it so that it would fit Likka when she is able to sit, because dresses on someone who cannot do anything else than lay do not look too good in my opinion.

I ♥ baby pants

Boohoo, the "I ♥ NY" pajama shirt I bought as a souvenir from New York got so worn I was embarrased to use it. It had giant holes under the arms. I liked the shirt and I used it quite a lot since the trip to New York in 2007... Christ! was it already 2007!? Gee, now I'm actually wondering how could it have hold up for six years. Wow.

Well ofcourse I couldn't just throw the shirt away, but I made another pair of baby pants from it for Likka. The pants wont fit her for long, I wonder what I will do from the "I ♥ NY" baby pants then...