PreemiesUK...

This little quartet was posted recently to PreemiesUK.  Sometimes I hear about people who struggle to find homes for their preemie items.  Well, I love this group because it has a very active website that is regularly updated with photos of donations received and news of deliveries to premature baby units all over the UK.  I knitted the angel pockets with them in mind.  I added the blanket and hat to the parcel at the last minute.  I was saving them for family and friends' future babies. But, although they are newborn baby size, I decided they would be outgrown very soon.

I still remember happily knitting a little jumper when I was pregnant with my daughter many years ago.  She wore it ONCE before she outgrew it. That is one reason I now prefer to knit things with a longer shelf life.  Blankets and hats meet that criteria.  

I couldn't bear to part with the little jumper. So, it is now in the loft which might or might not be a complete waste depending on whether or not Daughter has a baby of her own one day.  No pressure then!

Not much to show for three weeks......

I don't have much to show for the past three weeks.  This is my crazy busy time of year.  Even though I cut some activities out of my schedule, the rest just seem to have expanded to fill the void.

The angel pocket in the photo is a smaller version of the one I blogged about at the beginning of June.  It used up another oddment of blue yarn and some of the white yarn that I bought recently. The pattern is here.  I used 36g instead of the 30g stated in the pattern. So anyone thinking of knitting this pattern should be aware that it might use more yarn than expected.

I am knitting the scarf with two balls of 4 ply yarn held together. Both these yarns were donated to me some time ago.  It is a one row pattern and very easy.  I never made a note of the link, so I can't pass that on here. But there are lots of one row patterns available on the Internet and I can recommend them as great for when mindless knitting is all that can be managed.

Angel pocket...

When summer arrives, I tend to feel more inclined to use up my 4 ply yarn.  It is a dwindling supply mainly made up of odd balls.  It barely fills a carrier bag.  But, as it goes a long way, it takes me a long time to even make a dent in it.  I'm very aware that most of the things I knit or crochet are the opposite of delicate.  The word "clunky" comes to mind.  So, I occasionally relish the opportunity to make something more refined.

I decided to knit an angel pocket and found what I thought was the perfect size ball of pale blue yarn.   Anyone who has knitted one of these angel pockets will know that you first knit a diamond shape. Then you pick up the stitches along two sides and knit a triangle shape to form the pocket.  When I finished the pale blue diamond, I knew that I would not have enough yarn to knit the triangle.  I have other blue yarn but the shades didn't look good together.  

As I couldn't match the blue, I decided to use white instead.  But I used up all my 4 ply white yarn last year.  So, I had to go out and buy a ball.  I can't remember the last time I bought yarn, but it definitely wasn't in the past twelve months. I like the way the white looks with the blue though, so it was all a happy accident.

The pattern I used was this one from Ray of Hope.  I knitted the third size which, according to the pattern, should have used 40g of yarn.  I don't know why but I actually used 60g.  I have made a note on my pattern as I will knit this again.  When I have enough for a small parcel it will go off to one of the Preemie charities. 

Meanwhile, my 4 ply collection has grown by an almost complete 100g ball of white yarn.  Hey ho.

More preemie items....

I'm still on a mission to use up my 4 ply yarn and decided to knit these two preemie knitting patterns.

On the right is the Angel's Pocket.  This pattern includes instructions for 4 different sizes and 3 different ply yarns.  I was able to knit the 9" size with just 25g of 4 ply yarn.  It is a simple project.

On the left is the "Sleeping Bag With Hood" which can be found on the Cuddles UK  patterns page.  This weighs just 27g.  It is a top down knit and very easy as there are no arm holes.  So, after the increases, it is just a case of 8 inches of stocking stitch. The hood is picked up and added later.  It is another simple project.

These will be going off to a preemie charity eventually.  I have knitted many angel pockets in the past and have managed not to think too much about the sadness behind them.  The sleeping bag, on the other hand, is tugging at my heart strings and I don't know if I will knit more of these.

A tiny baby sleeping sack....and a mystery project

I am used to knitting preemie items, but the size of this sleeping sack surprised me. The pattern gave no indication of the size, so I was quite surprised when the finished item weighed only 20g and barely made a dent in my ball of 4 ply yarn.  

Some knitters find it upsetting to make these small items, but I find it strangely uplifting.  I suppose I am happy to be making something useful that is hard to find in the shops.

I found the pattern here.  It is the "sleeping sack" pattern at the very end of the list.  It was fairly easy to knit and involved minimal sewing.  It also let me use up some of the many buttons that I have saved over the years.  I will definitely knit more of these.

I find it amazing that I could, in theory, knit 5 of these from one ball of yarn. I probably paid about £1 for this yarn.  So one sleeping sack costs 20p to make.  What else can you buy for 20p these days?

......and now here is a sneak preview of something that I will be working on for several weeks/months.  I am combining these 2 coned yarns to make a mystery project and I'm already loving how it is turning out.  The pink really is that bright and I'm relying on it to cheer me up during the grey winter months ahead.  Watch this space!

Preemie hats and an old memory........

Free time is at a premium at the moment and I felt the need to make things that I could finish quickly.  I have also been in denial for too long that I have a large bag of 4 ply yarn.  Most of it has wended its way to me hidden among bargain lots of other more user-friendly yarn.  I have decided to make serious efforts to use it up.  So I sorted out the pastels and knitted some preemie baby hats.  

I always remember an elderly lady who stopped me in the street when I was pushing my daughter in her pram.  She told me her granddaughter had no clothes small enough to fit her premature baby and she wondered if I knew where to buy them.  We were outside a major babywear shop at the time and even their smallest baby clothes were too big.  This elderly lady was quite upset and was prepared to trudge the streets until she had found some tiny baby clothes.  This was in the days before Internet shopping and she had no other realistic option.  I hope she was successful.  

Sadly, I wasn't much help on that occasion; but the memory has stayed etched in my mind.  One ball of yarn and a few hours work can produce preemie hats and clothes more valuable than the sum of the effort and materials that went into them.

In no particular order, here are the patterns I used:

Tiny Knitted Preemie Hat by Bee Rowert

Hat for Premature Babies and Bonnet for Premature Babies from Andycrafts

Three Hats from Cuddles

PS: the bobble hat and scarf that I gave my daughter for Christmas were a great success.  She wore them all day indoors!!

My latest preemie items...

I'm amazed at what I was able to knit from one largish ball of wool.  Here's a simple baby blanket measuring  approximately 20" square with matching preemie gowns and bonnets.  The wool was white with little flecks of pink, blue, lilac and yellow.  I combined it with some very fine pink yarn that I am trying to use up.  The white wool is now finished, but I still have miles of the fine pink yarn on a cone!

Continuing a trend, both yarns came from a bargain buy.  Yet again, someone's unloved yarn has been put to good use.  I often wonder what the original purchaser intended to make with the wool and how they would feel if they saw the finished items.

I added little bows to the dresses and small ribbon ties to the bonnets.  The dresses are only slightly bigger than the average adult hand, so they are probably angel size.  I like to think that they will be worn by 2 little princesses one day.  It will be a sad day, but hopefully made slightly easier by treating the babies with respect and dignity.

The patterns for the gowns and bonnets came from the Heavenly Angels In Need website.

Preemie knitting.....

I went through a phase of knitting for preemie babies and angels a while ago.  I count myself very lucky that I have no personal experience of premature birth or losing a baby.  But I enjoy (if that's the right word) knitting for these babies.  Apart from being a worthwhile cause, these items can be knitted in as little as one hour and are a great way to use up scraps of yarn.

This collection has been ready to post for some time.  I used to send my preemie items to a London based organisation.  But the lady who valiantly tries to run it on her own is having a rest at the moment.  I belong to the Loving Hands group and could send them there.  But I am always aware that sending parcels all the way to Scotland involves a lot of road miles and so I only do that as a last resort.  

This morning I came across the Preemies UK website.  This organisation is based in Droitwich and is much closer to where I live.  It seems to be a thriving group and they are currently in need of blankets and other preemie items.   That was music to my ears.  I packed a parcel and trekked out into our unseasonal snowy weather to post it.

The little lilac cardigan was knitted from the following  pattern and I can recommend it because it is knitted in one piece with very little sewing required.  

Angel and preemie hats.....

Here's a little collection of angel and preemie hats for my Upon Butterfly Wings group http://www.uponbutterflywings.blogspot.co.uk/

Before I returned to serious knitting a year ago I had never heard the terms preemie and angels as they applied to babies.  Now I know they mean poor babies who are born too early and possibly do not survive. I love to knit for these babies.  While some knitters find it a very sad thing to do, I strangely find it uplifting.  

I had lots of small amounts of dk and 4 ply to use up.  The smallest thing I can bring myself to knit is one of these hats.  I'm not really a stuffed toy or catnip mouse type of person.  Any scraps still left over have gone into a little bag and will eventually be joined together into a big ball of random wool.  But that's another blog post.