Friday 21 September 2012

All of a sudden...babies

Not me. People. People suddenly seem to be pregnant all around me and so I am looking to craft suitable gifts. It made me pause and wonder how many of these lovingly crafted items are actually useful to mother and child (and perhaps even the father).

With so many things available for small amounts from places like Matalan or IKEA is it even worth making anything from scratch or is embellishment a better plan?
baby bibs
Bibs for example. Make or buy and embellish? Personally I am a big plan of the ones with "These idiots put my cape on backwards" written on them. I assume you need them to be absorbant so is quilting cotton really the best stuff to use? The matalan ones seem to be vaguely towelly.

I always think you can't go wrong with a blanket.
Tweed Baby Blanket
Has to be machine washable though of course, but then you hit the minefield of colour.

What about toys?
Baby toy Elephant
I wouldn't want to put knitting in my mouth but then babies do a lot of things I wouldn't do now I'm a bit more aware. But how do the parents feel about it? Is a sewn toy better?
Hilja's friend
Then of course you've got to be 100% sure nothing going to fall off or come undone.

I do suspect onesies are always useful.
Tie Onesie
But even then if you don;t know the gender it could be a bit tricky - and some parents are still rather particular about gender identity.
Cora's embroidered onesie
Pretty much everyone likes cupcakes though right?

What would you all suggest?

5 comments:

Hilary said...

I've knit a lot of the bunny blanket buddies for babies recently, knit one for DD's friends wee girl, DD told me she sleeps with it each night. Each one only takes an evening to make too.

Pigwotflies said...

Hats and cardigans. I have knitted a lot of baby cardigans. Make them 6 months size not newborn or they'll only fit for a week if you're lucky. I have bad luck with sizing hats right so I've given up on them but if your baby noggin sizing estimation skills are good, hats are quick and useful.

knittingsal said...

Cardigans, and bibs are great, you can never have to many bibs, ones that fasten with velcro around the side of the neck, rather than the back are a good idea

nightcrickett said...

Booties never stay on a baby, so I do Ann Budd's Better Than Booties baby socks. In a fun, gender neutral color they do for any baby. You can even do more than one set since they are so fast to make, newborn and a little bigger.

Also, silly hats. Every baby needs a silly hat to keep it warm.

Louise Riley said...

i think blankets are always a winner, you end up having such treasured experiences with them involved, always useful and they are something i have kept and still use, for various teddy bears picnics in the garden and stuff. cardies also ever useful, nova loved the cardies mum made her so much they doubled as small blankies! i would avoid bibs, there simply is no perfect bib and unless you can solve that quandry then i wouldn't bother. those flat toys i think are more for adults than kids, they simply can't really be cuddled or animated and just collect dust. those are my thought anyway! xx