My doctor and his wife have just had twins - a boy and a girl; They were born Monday night. The funny thing is that their eldest child will celebrate her 2nd birthday today. They’re going to have all their children’s birthdays in the same week. Won’t that be fun? Unfortunately I didn’t even know they were expecting again and so have nothing ready to contribute :(
I’d like to knit some baby hats and socks (and maybe thumbless mitts too?) and I’m thinking that sock yarn would be perfect for this because it’s mostly wool (so it will be warm) but can still be tossed in the washing machine. Does this sound like a decent plan? Is sock wool soft enough for baby skin?
Socka
So I spent most of last night chasing down baby stuff only to find that a great deal of it is now being made in DK to worsted weight yarn. Foo… I had figured baby things would be made from baby or fingering yarn for which, I think, I could substitute sock yarn without too much trouble.
Lionbrand Self-striping
I did, eventually find a few things like this wonderful Baby Cardigan Set from Opal. I shall probably avoid the cardigan, but the hat and socks are too cute for words :) /I also thought these Basic Baby Socks would do the trick. Hats were a little more difficult as very nearly all of them are made in DK or worsted weight yarn.
Opal self-patterning
The Beatrix Hat is a serious possibility. I like the shape of this one :) I wouldn’t be doing it in stranded knitting though - just using the patterned sock yarn and letting it do its own thing. This Opal Baby Cap might work too though there may be a size issue; I’ll get to that in a minute. And there is this classic Harlequin Cap though I would probably not make it double.
Lana Grossa Multi-effect
As you can see, my sock yarn colors aren’t exactly baby-colors. I like pastels, myelf, but I’m uncertain they should be inflicted on babies just because they aren’t big enough to protest :) I guess this will wind up being rather a unisex assortment and maybe that will be useful with boy-and-girl twins,
I’m a bit nervous about the sizing of things. Because these guys are twins, I kind of wonder if they’re a bit smaller than the average newborn. And would things geared even for newborn sizing be a bit big for them? Would I be better off using a large preemie size pattern than standard newborn size? I want them to have these things for this upcoming winter and, of course, I don’t want the assorted clothes to be too small to last through the cold weather, or too big to be useful. I’ll take my best shot but if anyone out there knows how big around a newborn’s head usually is, I’d be grateful for the information :)
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
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umm, how soft for baby? well, for baby #1 i thought nothing less soft than a cloud would do, for baby #2 i knew they weren’t too delicate for soft wools and cottons, and by baby #6 i was of the opinion that i could dress them in a brillo pad if i’d known how to knit with the stuff- actually just about any of the ‘washable’ yarns make up into soft garments especially if they are ‘shampooed and conditioned’-
baby heads? bigger than alaska!!
have you considered the ‘miss dashwood’ pattern from knitty? i think it is really cute and there is a blog somewhere that showed one done without the picoting etc that looks nice for a little boy too-
stay happy-
My suggestion? Don’t knit for the size they are now, knit for a 1-year, 18-month or 2-year size. Mothers appreciate having larger clothes “waiting in the wings,” especially since babies do grow out of things So Fast.
Last Christmas I gave a mother a sweater for her child and he is only just now big enough to wear it—and it was so much fun getting a call from her this week saying he was now wearing the sweater. There is something to be said for delayed satisfaction after all!
Barb - Brillo pads? Isn’t steel wool what you use to knit a garage with? Right - shutting up now :)
I did go and look at Miss Dashwood but worried that it was way too feminine looking - for a boy, anyway but, with your mention in mind, maybe I’ll go and have another look. Thanks :)
Ryan - I believe you’re probably right. It would be much more logical to knit for a future size. My head is totally down with that. But my heart wants to make them something they can use now :)
Having knit for newborn twins (a good friend had herself a set two years ago), I’d go with larger newborn size. Sure they’re probably very small right now, but they will catch up FAST. With all that work it’d be good to have something they could wear a few times before sprouting too big.
As for colors, what does your doctor like? I made a bright purple blanket for one of the twins as purple is their mother’s favorite color - and at age two he can NOT be parted with that blanket under any circumstances. So it’s really more about what the parents like, since babies look pretty adorable in just about anything.
I made my nephew the mexicali ole sweater in sock yarn and it came out beautifully - very soft and warm. I made the 12 to 18 month size - which was a good thing cause that kid grew fast! At least he was able to wear it a few times before he outgrew it.
I join the others in advising you to make the bigger size. BTW, our Knitters’ Guild says a newborn head is the size of a large grapefruit. But babies don’t stay little very long at all and at least a nine-months to a year-old size would be more practical and probably worn this winter. I’m currently knitting a baby sweater for a little guy who is to arrive in November from sock yarn. It’s very similar to that Opal pattern. My watchout, if you do something like sweaters, is that in sock yarn they take a long time to knit because there are many, many teeny tiny stitches in them. I’m using the fair isle looking stuff for sleeves and fronts and a coordinating solid for the back and bands because I didn’t have enough of the fair islee to do the whole thing. I believe the “male” version of Miss Dashwood is on a blog called Moth Heaven and you’d have to go back to sometime in the spring to find the picture.
Kathy - A purple blanket? How cool! I’m not surprised he won’t be parted from it :) As for colors, I believe the yarns I have will do nicely :)
Colette - I bet it was gorgeous! If I had enough of any one color I might give it a try, but time is also an issue so I’ll stick to hats, socks and maybe mitts :)
Colette - Thanks, I got to the Mr. Dashwood courtesy of Google this morning. That’s definitely a possibility; it’s such a cute chapeau :)
Grapefruit - ahhh, gotcha!
Hi Robbyn, I think the red and white Opal would be a great color for a baby. I was going to suggest the Harlequin but I see you already found that. I do have a free pattern I printed out and the hospital auxiliary that posted it told folks they really needed “regular” size hats rather than preemie size. That’s at http://www.touchinglittlelives.org/knithatpat.html. I have another really cute baby hat pattern that I printed off and was just looking at… when I can find it I will give you the url 
Haven’t there been studies that suggest babies need bright colors to learn to see better, etc? I’d say go with the brights over the pastels, anyday - not least because the poor parents are probably about to be deluged in boring lavenders and baby-chick yellows.
Rob - Thanks for the pointer; it looks useful! I can’t believe I’m making baby things but it’s kind of fun tings being so little and all :)
Molly - I have’nt heard of the study but it certainly would seem to make sense. I can’t help but think that strong colors are more interesting anyways - though I do admit that may simply be my preference.
Hey Robbyn, I found the baby hat pattern I liked so much, but it turns out it is not a web pattern. It is the Slip Stitch Baby Hap from the 2005 Knitting Pattern a Day calendar—the February 11 pattern if you bought the calendar. Very cute, two colors done slip stitch but yes… in DK weight yarn. I will probably make a few for give-aways.
Rob - Thanks a bunch! As it happens, I have that calendar so I’ll go and check it out :)
Sounds like you are asking similar questions to the ones I keep asking - I am writing patterns for baby clothes at the moment.
I’m using Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock for baby socks and mittens. The colour patterns make really good stripes and there are lots of colour ways. My neice is very happy with hers and they are soft and warm. Otherwise, Artesano Alpaca Inca cloud (can you get that down your way?) which can be used single for the socks on 2.5mm and double on 4mm for a really snug hat or single on 4mm for a cardigan.
Also I found a site using google giving average head sizes and other measurements (not feet though) for babies through to adults. I didn’t save it though but I did print it and it is at home. I think the newborn was 12 inches round, baby was 14 inches and toddler was 16 inches round. Hope this helps!
Abi - I haven’t heard of the alpaca you mentioned, but I’ll keep an eye out for it. Lorna’s Laces is inded lovely stuff but a bit out of my price range at the moment :)
