Knitting Gene?

As discussed in an older post (Heavy Knitters)
I spoke about how I seriously don't possess the knitting gene (seems everyone else in my extended family knits but me). I tried making squares, but they turned into parallelograms. I turned to crocheting, the jury is still out on that one.

All this to say that my mom is the best, I spoke to her about wanting to make her a pair of wool longies. Described briefly what they were and next day, my mom calls and says, "I made a pair of pants for Kate". These took her 4 hours. 4 HOURS!!?? WHY did my sister get the luck? Why can't I make a simple straight stitch??? I can't even purl knit. Oh well, At least they're willing to make things for me...

FYI - I'd share a pattern for these, but my mom just "winged it". I do have a pattern in my back pocket for a similar pair and will type it up for you the minute I get a chance. In the meantime, back to Kate.

Wool Soakers and Longies

I visited a good friend of mine on Tuesday who surprised me with a REALLY cute pair of purple cashmere longies she had made for Kate out of a recycled sweater. I went out and bought 2 other sweaters a few weeks ago, and was waiting for a serger before trying my hand in this... ends up it's a LOT easier than I thought!

So why was I paying upwards of $30 a pair in-stores???

Martha's World offers a quick and simple pattern to create your own longies... and make a matching T-Shirt with the leftovers. Check her out! Her blog is quite informative. It's now part of my daily read. Please note, her site does not mention felting your wool first. Personally, I run my sweaters through a hot wash and toss them into the dryer to make them into itty bitty sweaters. http://marthasworld76.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-to-make-wool-soaker-from-recycled.html

I will be posting all of them as soon as I have them all finished. Who knows,.. if I get good enough, maybe I'll start selling them on my site too! (PLUG HERE: http://www.etsy.com/shop/bibmababy)

I'm trying my hand at these ridiculously cute wool soakers later when I can salvage about an hour of my day - who knew a baby was so time consuming? Stay tuned for pics! This woman offers a free pattern here.
http://katrinassqs.blogspot.com/2010/09/just-soaker.html
Older post: http://katrinassqs.blogspot.com/2007/10/instructions-for-sewing-soaker.html



More Links:
http://doityourselfec.blogspot.com/search/label/Wool-in-two%20training%20pants

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Make your own Wool Wash!

I use this recipe to clean all my wool diaper covers.

1. Add a pea size of Lanolin to a cup of HOT water.
2. Let it melt.
3. Add a few drops of baby shampoo.
4. Stir!
   

and there's your lanolizing soap!

To wash:

1. Put about a teaspoon of your concoction into a tub of water.
2. Swish the water to ensure even distribution of lanolin wash.
3. Turn all your wool items inside out - careful colours may run!
4. Soak for about an hour.
5. Remove your wool and roll into a towel to remove moisture.
6. Reshape and lay flat to dry. Hanging can distort the shape of your wool.