Knitting for Babies

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I’ve been doing a lot of knitting for babies lately so I thought I’d share a few WIPs with you.  With the amount of baby knitting I’ve got on my needles right now, you’d think I’m expecting a little one myself!! But I swear, it’s just for gifts. (Don’t worry mom, I would have told you first! 🤣)

First, we’ve got baby girl Nguyen who inspired two pink projects…

Purl Soho Colorblock Jute Stitch Baby Blanket

If you look back at my work, I knit most things in a solid color, but ever since I made that striped Bounce baby blanket last year, I’ve been inspired to play with more multi-colored projects, so I thought this colorblock blanket by Purl Soho would be cool to try.  I loved the yarn they used in the pattern sample but it was way out of my price range so I subbed in Knit Picks Mighty Stitch Worsted in Bubblegum and Oyster.  I pretty much always knit baby blankets with their Comfy yarn line because it’s SO soft and easy to care for, but I was really committed to this particular shade of pink and the Bubblegum colorway in Mighty Stitch line was the closest match. I’ve got to say, I’m very pleased with the Mighty Stitch! It’s also super soft and easy care and it has a more traditional wool texture than the cotton blend in Comfy.

I started knitting this back in November but I got about a quarter way through it and I messed up my shoulder and couldn’t knit for a few weeks. It’s my personal theory that a weekend of marathon-knitting on this project is what caused the injury, but I suppose it could have been caused by a number of things. Anyway, by the time I was able to knit again, there was no way I’d be able to finish the blanket before the baby came so I banged out a pair of adorable pink booties instead. Now this blanket is a bit of a UFO, I’ll probably wait for another baby girl to show up in the queue before I get motivated to finish it.  But, let’s get back to those booties!

Blue Steps Baby Booties

These half-brioche stitch baby booties are a go-to pattern for me. Blue Steps is a free pattern available here, but I’ve always used the re-re-written version from this Raveler. (I no longer remember why? lol!)

I love knitting these in self-striping yarn, but I was going to for a super girly feel, so I grabbed this leftover Stroll Glimmer from my sock yarn scraps collection.  I’m so in love with the magical fairy vibe!!

But, wait… did someone mention knitting these out of self-striping yarn??  Yes! Here’s a rainbow bootie from the set I’m making for Baby Stokes:

I love using Felici for these booties because the standard Felici stripe width is perfect for these. Knit Picks rotates the available colors seasonally, but they often throw a Rainbow in the lineup, so I recommend stocking up on it when you see it! You can typically get two pairs of these out of a ball. In my gauge, the sole of the bootie takes just a little bit more than the yardage in a single stripe so you either have to join two stripes together or use a solid. In this case, I just grabbed some Stroll in Dandelion.  There is a slight trick to placing up the stripes to avoid dashes at the front that I detail in this post. In this pair I am experimenting with doing the front section in stockinette instead of garter so I don’t have to worry about that.

Catalina Eddy Baby Blanket

Next, we’ve got Baby Martinez’s blanket and this has been a STRUGGLE!!  Because I liked the Mighty Stitch so much, I bought a bag of this pretty seafoam green color in the bulky weight and I desperately wanted to knit this baby blanket from that yarn. I tried two patterns and got about 5-8 inches into each one before frogging and starting over. Finally I landed on Catalina Eddy by Lauren Rad. Finally, I found a pattern that was vibing with the yarn, but in my heart it just didn’t feel like a good fit for the mom-to-be’s style so I decided to switch horses.  I didn’t frog this one, I may come back to it at some point for another baby?

Easy Knit Baby Blanket

I posted a desperate plea for baby blanket pattern recommendations in a knitting group on Facebook and someone recommended this pattern to me – it’s called the Easy Knit Baby Blanket by Jessica Gore. This is a pretty cool pattern because it’s the same instruction for every row – both front and back sides.  I’ll write a more extensive review of this pattern when I’m finished.  I had all of these blues in my Comfy stash leftover from other baby blankets.  I didn’t have quite enough in my stash to knit a whole blanket, so I also picked up a few extras… probably way too many! But I didn’t want to risk running out.

And there you have it! The full baby knitting lineup! Enjoy.