Baby Knits

I've got a baby (though he is starting to turn into a toddler) but I don't do a ton of baby knitting.

True, I've made him a few items: a blanket, two hats, and two sweaters. I've also got a vest in the works and want to make him a new hat for this winter.

But, I don't knit for other babies. I could knit for my nieces and nephews, but so far have only made one hat for one niece. Maybe it is because my family is so large and I fear that if I knit for one, then I'll have to knit for everyone at every occasion and then I would be constantly knitting for my family and never for me! I do knit for others. But I do so in a very limited way. I don't try to knit something for every family member for every Christmas and birthday. With five brothers, three sisters-in-law, five nieces/nephews, two grandparents and dozens of cousins, aunts and uncles, I couldn't do it. I'd have to open a small knitting business to cover them all. And that is just MY family. G's family adds a few more people to the mix.

But I do choose a few people to knit for each year. Last year, I made cowls for my sisters-in-law.

I also made scarves for G's dad and step-mom and a shawl for his mother.

And I made a hat for my youngest brother when he requested "a super cool hand knit hat" to wear at college. How could I say no to that?! (No picture, I'm afraid. I was so excited to finish it and send it to him that I forgot. And good luck getting a college boy to send you a picture of him modeling a hat (I did ask).

This year, I making a scarf for G's aunt who lives in DC and has been so generous with her time in the past year. She has cooked for us and babysat on several occasions.

I do like knitting for others. And I do like knitting for babies. Baby stuff is so tiny and dear and it goes quick! I think that if I had more knitting time, I would always have a baby item on the go for some future relative. But I really enjoy knitting most of all for me. And I don't feel bad about that. Well, I do sometimes feel bad about it: I would love to knit for everyone. If I had more knitting time, I would. But my way works for me. When I feel really compelled to knit for someone, then I do. Sometimes, I'll see a yarn and think that it belongs to so and so. Sometimes I just think so and so is so lovely, I'd like to make her something lovely. Last year, I fell in love with Lumpy Bumpy Yarn by Charlene and had to buy several skeins of it. I justified the cost by making it into cowls for my SILs.



That said, my favorite baby items to knit are hats. They are so quick and so cute on the little ones. I don't have a favorite hat pattern, but I did just make this one in a toddler/kid size by casting on 80 stitches instead of 100. I think I'll make another one. It's easy and the ribbing makes it easy to fit lots of different heads. It looks soooo cute on H even though it is not intended for him.



(Also, you can see his favorite toy, the monkey. He grabs that monkey, puts its arms over his head and walks or crawls all over the place with Monkey hanging on. Fun!)