Sheepie Sweater

I knit this sweater for my baby last Spring - I had it all finished except the button plackets before he was born, and I finished the plackets and sewed the buttons on sometime in June.  (It was pretty much the only knitting I did between when the baby was born and the end of the Fall semester.)

I used Melissa Kemmerer's Sheepish Little Sweater Light pattern and Cascade Heritage sock yarn that my mom had leftover after knitting me a pair of sheepie socks for my birthday.  The only major change I made to the pattern was to add a button placket along one of the raglan lines - I got the idea from some sweaters that the Yarn Harlot had knitted for her nephew many years ago, and I'm really glad I did because otherwise the neckhole would have been way too small to get over the baby's head. I think I did make some modifications to the pattern having to do with gauge and size, but I can't remember what they were at this point.  I think I tried to aim for finished measurements in the 12 month size, and that worked out pretty well.  The sweater has fitted him this fall and winter, although the sleeves are still too long.

I'm really proud of this sweater, and I had planned to enter it in the state fair at the end of the summer, but in my sleep-deprived haze I missed the drop-off day for fair entries.  I was really disappointed, but I'll have to knit something else equally awesome to enter next year instead.

Changing pad liners

When my husband and I were putting together our baby registry, one thing we added (and then received) was a set of changing pad liners, with the idea that when the baby pees during a diaper change, you only have to wash the liner and not the whole changing pad cover. It's a great idea, but we found that the commercial liners didn't wash well at all.

I replaced them with a set of 5 homemade liners.  They have PUL backing (the same material that cloth diaper covers/exteriors are made from) and a cotton flannel face.  I cut the two layers into 12.5"x26" rectangles (this makes them a little bigger than the commercial ones, which is nice), and then traced around a small plate to round the corners.  I used wonder clips to clip the two layers together, right sides out, and serged around the edge. 

I made two sets of 5 liners: one set for us, and another set for some friends who have a baby the same age.  The white PUL that JoAnn sells is 64" wide, so a yard and a half of it was enough for both sets.  The ones pictured here are made with flannel I had in my stash, and I bought some more flannel to complete our set. 

These were quick and easy, and we use them a ton!  I'm getting ready to make two more sets for two families in our friend-circles who are expecting babies this month.  I think 1.5 yards of extra-wide PUL and 2.75 yards of 44" wide flannel is the right amount to buy to make two sets of 5 changing pad liners.