2 Norwegian Baby Caps

I used the Sweet Baby Cap pattern to knit both these caps. The purple is made from some unidentified sock yarn that was lurking at the bottom of my yarn box, along with some extra purple. The green and brown one was requested by a Facebook friend for her little boy after she saw Hoot's purple one. The green is Amalfi - I LOVE this yarn - and again some random sock yarn. Good little stash buster, although it took some brain power to adapt it for the sizes I needed.

And both have chin straps, and pretty vintage buttons from my stupidly large collection of buttons.

Ten Squares

26 - Moss Stitch Zigzag - Grey

27 - Moss Stitch - Lipstick Pink

28 - Ridged Stripes with Bobbles - White

29 - Double Moss Stitch - French Navy

30 - Chequerboard - Grey

31 - Reverse Stocking Stitch Stripes - French Navy

32 - Step Stitch - White

33 - Stocking Stitch with Garter Stitch Stripe - Apple Green and Electric Blue. 

(As you can see, I'm not blocking these squares. They're acrylic, there's little point.)

34 - Basketweave - Grey

35 - Garter Stitch - French Navy

36 - Moss Stitch Zigzag - White

These will be the last squares until the New Year at least. I've got other things I want to knit, and I'm aiming to use up most of my stash box...Have no fear though, the squares will return at some point, I've still got another 60 or so to go!

Six Months and Early Weaning

So. It happened. We weaned Hoot early. I think I was more bothered about it than The Man. She'd been very very slow to gain weight, both the Health Visitor and our GP were advising early weaning - as in beginning to introduce solid foods at 17 weeks, rather than wait till the WHO advised 6 months. 

I thought. I read. I thought some more, and read many things about early weaning. I remembered that we weaned The Squid at 18 weeks, but that I'd been ok with that as he could sit up unaided and had no tongue thrust. He seemed ready, and we were (and still are) happy with that decision. 

But Hoot was still so small at 17 weeks. Still fitting into 0-3 month clothing, and being drowned by the 3-6 months stuff. Not yet sitting unaided, and totally breastfed. I don't know if it was a strong desire in me to reach 6 months exclusively breastfed, or what, but I felt uncomfortable with the idea.

But Hoot made her own choice. At exactly 17 weeks, she ate her first solid food. Not the baby rice, or puréed apple, but the chicken noodles stolen right out of my bowl! Over the next week she ate anything she could get her hands on with gusto, from apples I was munching to attempting to steal my (cold) cup of tea.

So, here we are, at 6 months. Hoot is now on 3 'meals' a day. We began with purées mostly, and finger food alongside it. But now, she's ready and willing to feed herself. So the purées are (almost) all gone, and she eats what her big brother eats. She proving to be an independent little soul, refusing most spoonfuls of food unless she can hold the spoon herself, and often dragging the bowl towards herself so she can immerse her teeny hands into it.

Struggling with Squid Separation

The Squid started nursery over a month ago. Just one day a week, as I cannot drive yet. Once I can drive, we're hoping to have him in 3 days a week. But he's still so reluctant to go. He's suddenly started having the separation anxiety phase he should have gone through at 8-10 months old.

He tells me "I'll miss you!!" every time I leave the room. He hangs onto my leg when I get in, spends most his time trying to sit on my lap (or on my head, if I'm sitting on the sofa, feeding his sister). He's like an ex cat of mine, always attempting to sit on the keyboard as I type. This was the little boy who I was so proud of when I dropped him into the middle of a 1 year old's birthday party, having barely seen more than 7 babies in one room at a time - and he just ran off and joined the 50 other kids without even a backwards glance.

I'm not sure how to tackle it. How to reassure my beautiful boy that we're always here for him. Even if I can't hold him right at that moment, I'm always thinking about him.

Squares 16 - 25

16 - Port Banff Rib Square - White

17 - Double Moss Stitch Square - Apple Green (CO 33 sts)

18 - Big Chequerboard Square - Grey

19 - Chevron Stripe Square - Apple Green/French Navy

20 - Basketweave Square - White

21 - Mock Rib with Garter Stitch Stripes Square -  Teal

22 - See Stitch Square - Grey

23 - Little Ladders Stitch Square - Mustard Yellow

24 - Banded Broken Rib Square - White

25 - Skinny Rib Square - Periwinkle Blue

Four Months of Hoot

We're four months into having two children now. And I cannot believe how easy it's been. Hoot has just fitted in, exactly right, I can barely remember what life was like without her.

She's gone from a small ball of pink to a fully fledged baby in less than four months. She is strong, and so so beautiful. I'm utterly in love with her. I think we all are. Squid is a fabulous big brother, and declares his love for her many times a day. She is now rolling, and just about to fit into our night time cloth nappies. This time round, we haven't bought a pram, so she is slung 95% of the time - we do have a bike trailer that doubles as a pram, and she's been in that a few times, but is certainly more of a sling baby. I'm sure everyone thinks we're mad for not having a pram.

Hoot is a sweet, smiley baby. She's not demanding, but very good at screeching! She sleeps beautifully (yes, at the moment, she really does sleep from 7pm-8am with one dream feed, I'm very aware that this could all change at any point), and feeds like a piranha. She's a dinky dot, dropping down the centiles and scaring the Health Visitor, but I'm not bothered as she is so clearly thriving. 

The first time round, with The Squid, was hard work. At four months, I was stuck in deep in depression, recovering from psychotic episodes and struggling with sleep. I was struggling with adapting to being a mum. But this time? This time I feel like I'm flourishing, and ready to take on the world. Who knew it would be so different?

Bumgenius Organic Repair

Vintage Post - taken from my previous blog...

I recently bought four Bumgenius Organics (or old style Elementals) for cheap, as the elastic was very slack. I set about repairing them, and am very please with the finished results. Thought I'd share how I did it, for other parents out there who want their nappies to last a little longer.

Here's a good comparison shot - the blue nappy (left) has had the elastic repaired, the black one (right) has not. The difference is pretty clear!

Here's another comparison, with the bigger one on top :

For this repair you will need:

1. A Bumgenius Organic (also referred to as an 'old' Elemental)
2. Scissors
3. Seam ripper
4. Sewing machine with straight stitch and zig-zag stitch functions
5. Three pieces of elastic, 6mm wide (1/4 inch), 4.5 inches long
6. Small safety pins
7. Thread in white and something the matches the threads on the outside of your nappy
8. A wee bit of patience

We will be replacing the leg elastic, the back waist elastic, and also separating the soakers/inserts at the front for easier folding and quicker drying.

1 - Open the nappy along the front, above where the poppers are (or velcro, if it's got velcro). Open it enough to fit your hand in, about 3-4 inches. Turn the nappy inside out.

2 - Using the seam ripper, take off both leg elastics. The stitches are very small, so take your time and make sure not to rip the PUL (waterproof outer layer). Take note of where the original elastic is attached (in line with the second row of rise poppers). You can use a safety pin to mark.

3 - I found that because of the way the elastic is attached and the nappy sewn, some of it is hard to remove without hurting the PUL.

4 - If you find this, just cut the elastic, leaving a small stub at the end (this also gives you a good stop and start point for exactly where the elastic should be attached).

5 - Attach new elastic. Use a straight stitch first to secure it, then switch to a zig-zag. Pull the elastic taut as you sew. You should find it fits exactly when pulled tight. Start at the rise popper end, PUL side up, and sew it directly onto the serged edging. Here, I've used black so it shows up better, but it doesn't really matter as it's on the inside. Repeat for both legs.

6 - Now onto the back waist elastic. Feel along the edge of the nappy to find a little lump, this is where the elastic is attached. If you're lucky, a bit of elastic may be poking out.

7 - Using the seam ripper, open up where the elastic is attached, about 7 stitches or so. Do the same at both ends.

8 - Using a small safety pin, attach the new elastic to the old at one end, then unpick the old elastic at that same end. At the other end, pull the old elastic through the casing and the new elastic should come with it. Attach the new at both ends with a safety pin, and then using straight stitch, sew the ends to the nappy. Again, be mindful of sewing it onto the serged edging.

9 - Turn the nappy outside in, and sew around the space where the back elastic is attached. This is a little tricky (and a bit hard to explain!). Basically, just follow the original stitching to replace what you unpicked earlier.

Now, if you don't want to remove the front end of the insert, skip ahead to step 14. I would recommend doing it though. It will help your nappy dry quicker, makes it easier to fold when the nappy is on the smaller rise settings and also makes it easier to boost.

10 - Turn the nappy inside out again, and find where the insert is attached at the FRONT of the nappy. 

11 - Using your seam ripper, unpick all the stitches until you have remove the small rectangle of fabric. Get rid of that little rectangle of fabric, and try to remove as many bits of thread as you can

12 - Turn the nappy right side out again. In some of the nappies, the inserts are sewn together at the front end, so unpick this. 

13 - Here are the two inserts detached from the front, showing how much easier they are to fold now. It will leave holes, but I've found that with a few washes these holes close up and they make no difference to the performance of the nappy while being worn.

14 - Now with your nappy turned right side out, all that's left to do is use a straight stitch to close up the front hole (yes, I have a pink sewing machine, because I am awesome).

And that's you all done! Here's the finished nappy, being compared with the blue one, and the old elastic compared with the new, big difference huh?

People have asked me before about holes in their Bumgenius Organic nappies, holes that have appeared in the cotton layer that covers the PUL. These holes are fine to leave, you can repair them by hand-sewing or patching them - but really, they are just cosmetic and don't affect the nappy's performance. 

I've also been asked about 'wicking' that can occur with this style of nappy (where the wee leaks through the leg holes onto clothes). This is easily avoided by making sure all the cotton is tucked in around the leg opening, you should not be able to see any cotton on the outside when the baby is wearing the nappy.

I was going to round this post off with a cute Squid in fluff picture, but he moves too fast!

Moving Blogs...

I'll be moving from my Wordpress blog, back over to good old reliable Blogspot, plus adding in various posts and tutorials from my previous blogs. Please bare with me while I get everything in order.

Seven More Squares

9 - Diamond Seed Stitch Square - Periwinkle Blue

10 - Port Banff Rib Square - Grey

11 - Moss Stitch Square - Mustard Yellow (cast on 31, rather than 28)

12 - Basketweave Square - White

13 - Stocking Stitch Stripe Square - Lipstick Pink, Teal

14 - Chequerboard Square - Grey

15 - Mock Rib with Garter Stitch Stripes Square - Electric Blue