Handmade Presents

Amazing what one can do when enjoying the benefits of parental leave. This Christmas, I bought only a few gifts and the rest I made myself. Sorry for the bad pictures, I grabbed them at dusk on Christmas Eve...



Fingerless gloves: knitted with Novita Mambo, I made two almost identical pairs. Pattern is here, really fast and easy to make.



Beaufort hat: a fairly easy job, nice cable-like pattern without actually having to make cables. I had to ravel the crown decreases the first time (way too small). Another inch in length, and it was a success. The yarn is Jaeger Matchmaker Merino Aran.

 




Twiggy Bobble Hat: I made it with moss stitch in order to hide the gaping holes that result from the bobbles. The yarn is Schoeller + Stahl Limbo Superwash.

Retro Hats

Again it happened that the shops didn't carry any nice hats for the autumn. I made both of my boys their own fleece hats. I drew the pattern of one well-fitting cap that we already had. The material is again micro fleece. The second hat has even more retro colors, sorry that the pic isn't so great.

Corduroy Crawlers

I have a weird (and wonderful) affinity for corduroy. I love wearing corduroy trousers myself, and I had the brilliant idea of making a pair for the boys as well. The pattern is from Ottobre Design. The ingenious part of these pants are the fleece knee pads for better crawling. And they have cute little pockets on the back side, made of a vintage Marimekko bed linen my mom had stashed away. The fabric is really worn out on some spots, but some parts are still like brand new. Old Marimekko fabrics always have wonderful, bright colors even after hundreds and hundreds of washes. Love it.

Mini Shawl

I’m making a Mini Shawl with two very different yarns; Novita Mambo and Rowan Cork, 2 + 2 rows of each. Using two yarns makes it easier to follow the pattern, no need to remember which row I’m on. Also like the striped look, wrong side looks fun as well.

Jackyll & Hide

I found this pattern on Knitty a long time ago, and thought immediately it'd be perfect for my brother. This autumn I finally had time to make one! There wasn't enough of the white yarn (Grignasco Cover), so I added the black neck part. My brother was very happy with it, and has reputedly used it in the Chilean mountains (the hat can be rolled up if you don't like the intimidation mode).

Dotty Hoodies

Hoodies were needed in the summer, and when I couldn't find any good ones in stores... The fabric is a dotted jersey from Myllymuksut which was great to sew. I even made the buttons myself, but I must admit that the fabric was a bit too thick for the job. The pattern is from Ottobre (4/2007).

Highchair Cushions

We have two solid-wood highchairs which desperately needed cushions (too slippery for the small bums)... I explored the cushions TrippTrapp makes, and then ended up drawing them myself. The padding is a 5 cm foam mattress, which I halved like a pancake (horizontally) with a knife. The fabric is Ikea's dark gray-olive green heavy cotton. The cushions are attached at the back and under the seats with Velcro, it works surprisingly well. And best of all, the cushions fit the colors of our kitchen!

Quilted Cotton Shirts

Here are the promised new releases, two shirts for hot weather. For me, yellow is a perfect color for boys. The material is cool and thin cotton, and long sleeves protect from the sun. I especially like that white cotton; it got wrinkled in washing, and is actually even better that way! I used a bit of my old quilting techniques to make the borders. I almost lost my nerves a few times while making them, and ripped about a hundred times. Phew. On the other hand I could use many small pieces from my fabric box, one fabric being an old summer cottage curtain. The pattern comes once again from Ottobre, but I modified it slightly. The sleeves are a bit trumpet shaped. Now out to enjoy the weather!

Bamboo Beanie

My good friend's baby boy needed a bigger beanie hat when the previous one got too small in March. So this is just a teeny project while I'm sewing some really cute clothes for my boys... More about that later. The hat is knit from Novita Bambu yarn that is super soft and can take up to 60 degree wash! It's a perfect yarn for the small ones. The first hat was lime green, while this one is chocolate brown - both are really lovely shades.

Hats & Scarves

More knit baby fashion! Again, these I made last autumn and winter. Hats have been made with a simple hat pattern from a striped yarn. The scarf pattern I made on my own. The catch is that both ends of the scarves have loops, so you can pull the other end through it. These will hopefully still be used next winter, because I used them only once or twice during this "warm" winter.

Tiny Cardigan

I began to knit a baby cardigan many years ago, but it was not completed until last fall. Typical for my style, I made the stitches too tight, and so the cardigan turned out to fit only a really tiny baby. In a way it was convenient since last autumn we had two tiny babies. Small babies that grew very fast, and soon the cardigan was too tight.
 
The pattern comes from a Dutch knitting magazine, and those buttons are really on the back! It is an error I'd no longer make.

Blossom Bloomers

Made some bloomers when the inspiration hit - their material is an old T-shirt of mine. Cannot say how such a retro Finnwear flower pattern suits boys, but I think they turned out much more fun than the previous shirt. Perhaps more will follow...

Buggy Bag

This shopping bag was made because of our - hmm, let's say - challenging baby buggy. We have an otherwise pretty excellent German twin buggy for the boys, but the shopping basket is incredibly difficult to reach. The footrests and the basket are separated by a 15 to 20 centimeter gap, which makes it difficult to squeeze anything in.

I decided to make a narrow shopping bag, and as a basis I used one-and-half-liter milk carton, or roughly the biggest purchase these buggies can carry. Other components and dimensions are my own "design". I probably learned to make a simple bag already in school, thanks to my excellent crafts teachers! The fabric is a heavy Ikea cotton.

Hippo Rompers

These rompers I made during my pregnancy, and there are two of them for two reasons! The rompers were used in the boys' baptism party as well.


They are made of Kangastukku.com's white micro fleece, and the lining is a lovely green Ikea hippo fabric. The pattern is once again from Ottobre (3/2001), and I must say that this pattern was easy to execute and worked well. Because the rompers got a bit tight around the waist (especially with cloth nappies) too fast, I probably should have done some sort of button system at the waist to give more space.