Yarn Along...

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading and I love sharing my projects and current reads here. I would love for you to join me every Wednesday to share a single photo of what you are knitting (or crocheting) and reading too!~



I have to apologize...

My yarn alongs are certainly lacking variety lately, but I am in full baby, birth and diapering mode!

This week found me knitting yet another diaper cover.  An Ottobre Design soaker with slight modifications.  I won't say it's my favorite pattern thus far.  I was not a fan of the actual construction...thinking knitting flat would be easier, I actually prefer knitting in the round for soakers of this style.  It's also not without mistakes.  The seaming was no easy task.  Don't look too closely, but my stitches don't line up.  This might bug me astetically in the larger scheme of things, but fortunately it won't affect the functionality of it.

I do love the Malabrigos Rios yarn I used for this project.  It was a joy to work with!  And it's perfect for sensitive baby skin.

As for reading I'm going back to Redeeming Childbirth by Angie Tolpin.  I started this book three years ago when I was pregnant with my third child, but I never finished it.  This time, I'm pressing on as it is such an encouraging read about Christ-centered childbirth.

I'm joining Ginny at Small Things for her weekly Yarn Along and I hope you'll check it out.  So much delightful inspiration!

Yarn Along...

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading and I love sharing my projects and current reads here. I would love for you to join me every Wednesday to share a single photo of what you are knitting (or crocheting) and reading too!~

I'm still working on the same diaper cover from last week.  It's coming along nicely, though I'm getting bored with the last little stretch of knit, purl, knit, purl.  I thought maybe it would be too big, but now I do believe it will work out perfectly.

I did start working on a project that has been a year in the making.  The white egg looking thing is actually going to be the fluffy unicorn from Despicable Me.  I started it last year for my youngest daughter's birthday and hopefully I'll actually have it finished for her this year.  I've got a few more days to get it done.

In other wooly news, I scored a LlamaJama 100% Wool diaper cover for free from a buy sell or trade site.  WooHoo!  I was super excited except for the fact that it was HOT PINK!  Yesterday I set out to dye it green all while praying I didn't ruin it completely.  I did use regular fabric dye.  Which left me feeling less than stellar what with all the natural dying I read about, but that is truly an art form (with science mixed in).  For my first experience I decided to go the easy route.  Also I was working with a very rich existing color.  Had it been a natural color I feel like I could have experimented a little more.  It felted just a tad, but it actually didn't draw up as much as it could have.  It'll be a great cover for when my boy is a bit older and the color turned out great!  Overall, I'm very pleased with it.

Reading has pretty much been a no go this week.  As soon as my head hits the pillow each night I'm out.  Such is the song of the third trimester!  Which I am at.  But I can assure you from this point on, any reading that does happen will very likely be birth related.  

I'm sharing with Ginny over at Small Things for her weekly Yarn Along.  I do hope you'll join me!!

Yarn Along...

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading and I love sharing my projects and current reads here. I would love for you to join me every Wednesday to share a single photo of what you are knitting (or crocheting) and reading too!~

I knit this precious little wool soaker for my nephew back in November (Ravelry notes here) and it is what set me on the course of exploring wool's roll in cloth diapering.  I dabbled with my last child by sewing up two soakers from thrifted sweaters, but I was completely confused and intimidated by the wash and lanolizing routine.  I never used those covers and eventually gave them away.

But this time I decided to really knuckle down and learn.  It turns out, it isn't a difficult process at all. 

This will be my fourth time cloth diapering and my preferences have changed so much since I started in 2008.  Slowly over the years I've moved to natural materials.  For my first two children all of my diapers were bumgenius pockets.  I actually did add in a few organic elementals with my second.  For my third I transitioned to organic cotton prefolds and PUL covers.  Now, this time around, I've settled on organic cotton prefolds and fitteds with wool covers.  I think my journey in knitting has affected my decision greatly.  There are so many distinct differences when knitting with manmade materials vs natural...in how they feel, how they wear and how they stand up to hard use.  Things I didn't consider prior to learning to knit.

So given wool's long history of it being a breathable, self cleaning, moisture wicking material...I think it's the perfect choice for us and baby #4.

Which leads me to this weeks Yarn Along project.  The WHW Plain Wrap.  

I chose this diaper soaker because of the ability to customize closures.  I haven't decided on whether I'll use aplix or buttons yet, but I'm leaning towards buttons.  I knit the small size wanting to have a cover for those first few weeks (I have big babies), but the more I knit the more I think I should have actually gone with the newborn size.  We'll see.  Next on my list and after researching even more I believe my go to soaker pattern is going to be the Curly Purly pattern with inch and a half leg cuffs.  It seems to get stellar reviews in both ease of the pattern and functionality.

I'm still knitting the baby socks from last week and finishing up Hands Free Life from last week as well.

New on the list of reading is my friend's Bradley Birth Workbook.  Birthing nerves are upon me and this has lots of useful tidbits.

I'm joining Ginny over at Small Things today for her weekly Yarn Along.  Please check it out!!