My Latest Frantic Mama

Pattern: Frantic Mama Soaker
Yarn: Malabrigo, Apple Green
Needles: size 3 and 6 16" circs for body; size 3 12" circs for leg cuffs
Mods: used changes for babies with chunky thighs

My New Favorite Soaker

I have a new favorite soaker pattern--the Frantic Mama Soaker from Crazy Hat Lady. It's so easy to knit (gotta love pure mindless knitting for sleep deprived mommy brain), and it looks absolutely adorable on K.



(Pardon the "flashy" photos--I'm no photographer, and it's really hard to take a decent pic in winter in MI.)


Pattern: Frantic Mama Soaker (pdf)
Yarn: Wool of the Andes in Winter Night and Tomato (I think that's what the red was called--long since lost the ball band)
Needles: Knit Picks 16" circs, sizes 3 and 5 (plus a 24" circ in size 4 for the flat knit portion of the crotch--my gauge is looser knitting flat)
Mods: None

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Get your woolies now!

All Dutch Baby Dudz inventory will be 25 percent off through Christmas.

www.dutchbabydudz.etsy.com

Etsy Buy Handmade dutchbabydudz

I will be adding lots more inventory soon!

A Couple More Woolies for Little Peanut

I had juuuuust enough leftovers from my Purewool longies to knit a couple of size medium soakers. They should fit Little Peanut next summer (fingers crossed).



For some reason my camera really doesn't like this yarn--it's fairly true to life colorwise, but it looks so flashy . . .

Pattern: free Fern and Faerie soaker, size medium
Yarn: 100Purewool 3 ply in Festival colorway; this looks a bit better knit up, but I still don't really love it. *shrugs*
Needles: US size 3 and 5
Mods: knit the ribbing a bit shorter and the stockinette portion of the body a bit longer



Pattern: free Fern and Faerie soaker, size medium
Yarn: 100Purewool 3 ply in Warm Ice colorway
Needles: US size 3 and 5
Mods: knit the ribbing a bit shorter and the stockinette portion of the body a bit longer

A Passel of Woolies for our Little Peanut

I've been working away on some woolies for the new baby. Here's what I've got so far (none of these have been washed or blocked yet--I was too eager to share):

Pattern: Ladybugz Morning Glory Longies, size small

Yarn: 100Purewool 3 ply, Warm Ice colorway

Hook: G
Mods: Made straight leg instead of flared. Worked a few extra stitches at the crotch join to form a small gusset.

Pattern: Ladybugz Morning Glory Longies, size small
Yarn: 100Purewool 3 ply, Festival colorway (this colorway looked gorgeous on the hank, but it pooled really weird in crochet--very long color repeat); I'm not sure like this pair that much, but they'll be warm and soft and water resistant. :-)
Hook: G

Mods: Made straight leg instead of flared. Worked a few extra stitches at the crotch join to form a small gusset.

Pattern: Sheepy Sack (pdf)

Yarn: Patons merino, denim colorway

Needles: US size 3 and 6

Mods: none

Pattern: Sheepy Sack (pdf)
Yarn: 100Purewool 1 ply, Colibri II colorway
Needles: US size 3 and 6
Mods: none

Pattern: Punk Knitter's soaker, size small
Yarn: Fisherman's wool, Kool Aid dyed by me

Needles: US size 3 and 5
Mods: none

We're not finding out the sex again, since it was so much fun to be surprised the first time, so I'm sticking with yarns that I would happily put on either a boy or a girl. However . . . I have a funny feeling that this peanut may be a girl, so I think I might work up a few girly things too just in case. Lots more knitting and crocheting to do . . . And I need to buy more wool!

I also recently tried out a new pattern to make a soaker for T. I like it!

Pattern: Adirondack Babie soaker, size large

Yarn: Fisherman's wool
Hooks: E and F

Mods: None (but smaller hooks to get gauge)

Jolly Green Giant

T's nighttime soakers from last summer are a tad short in the rise for his now truly gigantic overnight diapers. So . . . what's a mama to do but knit up some new nighttime woolies? (It seems huge after the newborn size stuff I've been working on. LOL.)

Pattern: Punk Knitters soaker

Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky, emerald

Needles: US size 5 and 7 (and 6 for the flat knit portion of the body, since my tension is looser for flat knitting than knitting in the round)

Mods: Bulky instead of worsted weight yarn (and needle sizes to work with yarn weight). (I knit a size down to get correct sizing for T with the bulky yarn.)

T is showing the very beginnings of interest in potty learning (yay!), so I'm hoping I won't need to knit all new woolies for him for next winter. Not that I don't love having stuff to knit, but some non-diapering stuff would be fun! *fingers crossed*

Diaper Shower Goodies

I got to sew for another diaper shower for an online friend. Such fun! I love sewing diaps for other mamas. Here's what she'll be receiving:

Small/medium Ladybugz shorties in a soft acrylic (her little ones can't tolerate wool)



A small and a medium pocket fitted sewn from the VB AIO pattern and modified to make them snapping. Outer and inner flannel with a hidden layer of birdseye. Stuffed with trifolded inserts of terry and flannel:

Outers:


Inners:


And the whole kit and kaboodle ready for the mail:


I really like how the snaps turned out, especially the crossover settings. I'll have to make some like this for our stash now.

I hope she likes them!

Curly Purly Longies

After ages of sitting in my UFO pile, T's nighttime longies are finally finished. This is his final pair of woolies for this winter.

The lighting really stinks today, so the color looks all washed out. The second picture is a little more true to the color IRL.

Pattern: Curly Purly soaker, size large, morphed into longies
Yarn: Peace Fleece, Patience Blue
Needles: 16" circs in sizes 3, 5, 7

I am again just so enamored of the way PF blooms and softens after washing and lanolizing. I love this yarn!

More Crochet Woolies

Somebody stop me! I can't seem to stop crocheting woolies! This pair is for T, and they will round out his daytime longies stash for this winter.




Pattern: Ladybugz Honeysuckle shorties
Yarn: Patons Classic Merino, denim and gray (not sure what gray colorway is called--the ballband was gone)
Hook: F
Gauge: 4spi
Mods: smaller gauge, wider crotch gusset, longies instead of shorties

I need to get making some more longies or my Etsy shop. I just got some great yarn from The Shearer's Yarn to make some longies for sale. Can't wait to dig into it!

Never fear, I have a long knitting to-do list now too, and I'm starting to get back into the swing of things:

1. Chemo caps for my dear friend who is fighting breast cancer
2. A shawl/wrap for said friend
3. DH's stocking cap and gaiter (belated Christmas present)
4. T's 2nd birthday sweater
5. (but they probably shouldn't be last in line . . .) T's nighttime longies, which I already have a good start on

So I hope to have some knitted FOs to share soon!

A Seraphim Soaker

Pattern: Seraphim Soaker (size medium)
Yarn: Wool of the Andes, Wheat and Winter Night
Hook: US size F
Mods: extra row on the cuffs and decreased at the tops of leg openings on each row to make the cuffs fit more snugly

Dutch Baby Dudz Gallery

Tomorrow I will be bringing my first batch of wool soakers to the Hop Scotch Store, a children's shop that specializes in locally handcrafted items. The proprietor tells me that they are working on building up their base of cloth diaper customers and that the items they have in stock are selling very well. I'm so excited! Here are some of the items I'll be stocking at Hop Scotch. (Please pardon the poor lighting in some of the photos. I've noted where color is not accurate.)


(accurate color in last photo above)


(color is actually the same as the navy stripe in the red, navy, and white striped shorties below)


(accurate color in last photo above)

I'm also getting ready to launch my Etsy shop, Dutch Baby Dudz. I have lots more to do before that happens, since I've been focusing on getting items done for the Hopscotch Store. I'm shooting for early September for my first stocking on Etsy. I can't wait! You can check me out here!

This has been taking up nearly all my knitting/crocheting time lately (this and Sockapalooza), so knitting content on the blog has been pretty scarce. Thus, I thought it was high time to share what I've been up to. Wish me luck!

Fattycakes and the End of the Wool Soaker Parade

My first Fattycakes diaper. (Can you tell this flannel print is my practice fabric? Not the most boyish print--ahem!--but it's covered up by a soaker, and it was cheap, cheap, cheap.)



Turned out cute, don't you think? I don't have a snap press, so I had to wing it with some snaps and a snap kit from Joann's. The snaps are pretty wonky and not placed quite right (too far in from the edges on the front), but it works. I may try front-closing Aplix next time. I just wanted to follow the pattern as closely as I could the first time around (though I did tack and encase the elastic instead of zig zagging it on, since my Lastin isn't here yet and all I have is polybraid, which doesn't work well with the zig zag on my sewing machine.)

And here's the final soaker for T's summer stash of woolies. Sorry about the crummy pics. Apparently, my camera doesn't like this color, or maybe the lighting is just bad today. The bottom photo shows the color better. (It's still not quite right though--it's a sage green. It looks exactly like the color of sage leaves to me IRL.)




Pattern: Fern and Faerie pattern #406
Yarn: Patons Classic Merino, sage
Needles: US sizes 3 and 5 and (and 4 for the flat knit portion of the body, since my tension is looser for flat knitting than knitting in the round)
Mods: started with fewer stitches for the waistband and then increased for the hips in the first row of stockinette.

I really like this pattern. The cool thing is that it includes instructions for both a soaker (flat or in the round) and longies (flat or in the round), and they're all customizable to the body measurements you need. You knit a gauge swatch, take a few measurements, plug the numbers into the formula, and voila! The perfect fit for your babe. Awesome!

A Punk Knitters Soaker

Yay! Some knitting content! It's another soaker for T.



Pattern: Punk Knitters soaker
Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky, bare
Needles: US size 5 and 7 (and 6 for the flat knit portion of the body, since my tension is looser for flat knitting than knitting in the round)
Mods: bulky instead of worsted weight yarn (and needle sizes to work with yarn weight), picked up fewer stitches for the cuff (pattern says to pick up one stitch for each row of knitting, but I skipped a row every 6 stitches or so).

I'm hoping that this will be suitable for nighttime since I used bulky weight yarn. I loved working with the WOTA bulky. It's lofty and really quite soft. We'll see how it performs. I've been wanting to try this super basic pattern for a while just to see how it goes together. It is so easy to knit and went super fast (probably partly because I used bulky yarn). We'll see if I like the fit--it'll be interesting to see how the lack of shaping works out on a baby bum.

One more soaker to go, and T will have a very generous stash of woolies for summer. More FO pics coming soon!

EZ Shorties

I finished another pair of shorties for T Tuesday night while watching the Pistons (and dang it, they lost again!). I may have to forego knitting while watching tonight's game or I'll probably forget what I'm doing and have to frog it. Anyway . . . this brings the count to three new pairs of summer woolies.



Pattern: Baby Leggings from Knitter's Almanac (Gotta love EZ!)
Yarn: Patons Classic Merino in camel
Needles: US size 5 circs
Gauge: Between 5 and 5 1/5 stitches per inch
Unstretched measurements: 16" waist, 21" hip (widest part, at last increase), 20" rise. It fits my 14-month-old son perfectly (but with not a whole lot of room to grow, so it would probably fit a younger baby as well).
Mods: Increased the number of stitches set aside for the crotch to 14 front and back; 5 stitches just doesn't seem like enough for an active toddler. Also did just 7 rows of ribbing after dividing for the legs to make shorties instead of longies.

The rise is indeed long, as I've read elsewhere, but I decided to just knit the pattern as written (with the exception of the mods mentioned above) the first time just to see how it turns out. It's really not that long after blocking, and since I used merino, I know it'll shorten some with the felting from regular wear anyway, so I'll probably be thankful for the extra length down the road.

This was a fun and easy pattern, and it turned out really cute. So far I give it a thumbs up, but T hasn't worn it yet. I'm interested to see how it fits and behaves on a babe in action.

Next up: Ottobre in bulky wool (probably for overnight), perhaps a pair of Ladybugz shorties in merino (I had the sudden urge to try something crocheted and bought the pattern last night--we'll see how that goes), and maybe another pair of EZ shorties in merino if I like how this pair fits. I'd also love to do another Curly Purly soaker, and the Tickle Turdle Wrap caught my eye last night. So . . . I have some decisions to make.