The Nappy Covers (and matching hats)

One of the most recent projects I finished, and my first paid project, was a collection of photo props for a local photographer (Paul Barsby, Tunbridge Wells). I'll do a post for each of the items, my favourite of which were these adorable little nappy covers.

For the white one, I purchased the pattern from ezcareknits on etsy but I accidentally bought the wrong size. I bought size 0-3 months, when I actually needed newborn. I could have just purchased the newborn size from etsy but in order to save money, I adapted the pattern myself, to make it a little smaller. Because the white pattern includes the little duck motif (worked using garter stitch on a stocking stitch background), I didn't want to have to shrink this down so I left it out altogether and just made the smaller ones plain. I bought the buttons from my local Hobbycraft store and for the wool I just used a standard double knit. The pink one was super soft, but the white and navy were quite itchy and woolly. If you were going to make these for your baby to wear day to day then I would obviously recommend using a luxury soft yarn, such as Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK, but as they were just photo props and the babies will only be wearing them for a few minutes, it doesn't really matter.

The photographer also wanted matching long-tailed pixie style hats. I couldn't find a suitable pattern for these so I made one up. I was pretty happy with how they turned out, though for a small newborn they were a teeny bit big. Now this wouldn't have been a problem when my son Beau was born, because he weighted 9lb 7oz and had a huge head (which the midwife who stitched me up afterwards not so politely told me had done a huge amount of damage too, but that's a whole other story!) but for the tiny little 6lb girl who was the first baby to model one of these hats for the photographer, it did look a little baggy on her precious dainty head. A simple way to get around this if you know you need a smaller one would be to drop down a size in knitting needles. Anyway, here is the pattern for the hats

Please feel free to use this pattern, but if you're going to share it, please have the courtesy to credit and link back to my blog (www.my-nameispurl.blogspot.co.uk)

Long Pixie Hat Knitting Pattern Newborn

Straight knitting needles: Size 7 US (4.5mm) and size 9 US (5.5mm) knitting needles

Darning Needle for finishing

Row counter (optional)

Sewing needle

Abbreviations:

CO -Cast On

BO -Bind Off

K2tog -Knit together

Sts -Stitches

RS -Right Side

WS -Wrong Side

This pattern is broken out into sections making it simple to follow.

Starting -Cast on 70 with size 7 (4.5mm)

Ribbed Section: Rows 1-8

Rows 1: *K2, P2* Repeat across row

Row 2: *K2, P2* Repeat Across row

Rows 3-8: Repeat rows 1 & 2

Continuing: Change to Size 9 (5.5mm) US Knitting Needles

Row 1: Knit across

Row 2: Purl across

Row 3-14: Repeat rows 1 & 2

Row 15: *K2Tog, K5* Repeat to end of row (60 stitches)

Row 16: Purl across

Row 17: *K2Tog, K4* Repeat to end of row (50 stitches)

Row 18: Purl across

Row 19: *K2Tog, K3* Repeat to end of row (40 stitches)

Row 20: *P2, P2Tog* Repeat to end of row (30 stitches)

Row 21: *K2Tog, K1* Repeat to end of row (20 stitches)

Row 22: P2Tog across row (10 stitches)

Begin Tail Section:

Row 1: Knit across

Row 2: Purl across

Rows 3-40 Repeat rows 1 & 2

Decrease Tail Section:

Row 1: K2Tog, K1, K2Tog, K1, K2Tog, K2Tog (6 Stitches)

Row 2: Purl Across

Row 3: Knit across

Row 4: Purl across

Rows 5-54: Repeat rows 1 and 2

Decrease & Complete Tail Section:

Row 1: K2Tog across row (3 stitches)

Row 2: Purl across

Row 3: K2Tog, K

Row 4: Bind off

Make a pompom approx 6cm diameter and attach firmly to the end of the tail. 

I added contrasting stripes to mine but you can do it however you choose. For the stripes, after the rib section was finished, I did 2 rows of main colour, then began my stripe pattern of 2 rows contrast colour, 6 rows main colour.

Here is how they look as a set, pretty damn cute I think

Zingy the EDF Flame (Or The Squoof)

One of the first things I knitted (and completed, I must add) was this cute as hell little knitted mascot "Zingy" from the EDF adverts.

 Random, you might think?? And you would be right, apart from the fact that my niece Ivy really seriously looks like this thing!! She has the biggest eyes I've ever seen on a baby (to the point where we call her Eyes-Vy), she is super pale like her mum (my sister) and she sometimes gets that exact little curl of hair on top of her head. I can't find a photo to show off the curl but here she is looking super cute as always

As well as Eyes-Vy, her main nickname is The Squoof, because frankly she's just so darned squoofy. Despite not really meaning anything at all, it just sums her up in one (slightly bizarre) word. If you continue to check in with this blog (and I continue to update it of course) you will soon realise that in our house we are a bit bonkers. We all have various ridiculous nicknames, few of which make any sense. We have little songs which we all know but would never dare sing them to an outsider, we would all be sectioned! The house favourite is called "What do we do when we love somebody's face (we kiss their face)"

Soooo, anyway. Back to the knitting. I got the pattern for free on a forum, I can't find the original thread to link up to so I'll include the whole pattern at the end. As far as wool goes, I just went to my local C&H Fabrics and bought the cheapest wool I could find in the right colour, which is a light pastel peach colour. I don't have the paper band for it any more so can't even tell you what I got, but it doesn't really matter. As long as it's DK (double knitting) you could use just about anything you like. This was the first thing I knitted in the round and I have to say it went pretty well. I used this video on YouTube to learn the magic loop method which you need for this project, unless you knit it on DPN's (Double Pointed Needles), which I don't really want to attempt just yet.

In all honesty, this pattern wasn't quite right, shape-wise. The actual EDF Zingy is more fat and squat, like this

But I didn't want to pay for a pattern and this is what I ended up with. It would be super easy to fix, by simply increasing more in the top and bottom sections, and decreasing less stitches at the "waist" section. Personally I didn't have another shot at it because it was only for a bit of fun. I have seen these sell on eBay for £10 or £15 and obviously if you were going to sell it, you would need to make it a bit more accurate.

Anyway, here is the pattern, happy knitting knitters x

Knitted Zingy the EDF Flame

50g ball Wendy Peter Pan Double Knit Shade 3004
1 X long circular needle or set dble pointed knitting needles, size 3.75mm
Scrap white felt
Scrap black felt
Cast on 9sts leaving a ‘tail’ of yarn. Join into a round either using magic loop method or dble pointed needles.
R1 Inc in every st.(18sts)
R2 Knit
R3 Inc in every st (36sts)
R4 to R21, Knit.
R22 K2tog all along row (18sts)
R23 Knit
R24 Knit 1, K2tog, all along row. (12sts)
R25 Knit
R26 *K1, kfb; repeat from * (18sts)
R27 Knit
R28 *K2,kfb; repeat from * (24sts)
R29 Knit
R30 *K3,kfb; repeat from * (30sts)
R31 Knit
R32 *K4,kfb;repeat from * (36sts)
R33 Knit
R34 *K8 ,kfb;repeat from * (40sts)
R35 – 38 Knit
R39 *K8 ,k 2tog;repeat from * (36sts)
R40 Knit
R41 *K4, k 2tog;repeat from * (30sts)
R42 Knit
R43 *K3, k 2tog;repeat from * (24sts)
R44 Knit
R45 *K2, k 2tog;repeat from * (18sts)
R46 Knit
At this point stuff the base and head of flame .
R47 *K1, k 2tog; repeat from * (12sts)
R48 Knit
R49 *K2tog; repeat from * (6sts)
R50 Knit
R51 Knit
R52 K1,K2tog,K1,K2tog (4sts)
R53 Knit
R54 K2tog and fasten off. Thread this end in.
Stuff the base a little more if needed, and then run cast on tail yarn through cast on sts and pull up tight. Thread ends in.
From white felt cut 2 X 7/8 inch circles, just touching.An easy way to do this is to find a button the correct size and trace around it, making the circles just touching.Then it can be cut out in one piece.
From black felt cut 2 X 3/8 inch circles, and a ¼ inch oval.
Centre black circles in white circles and stitch down with tiny sts. Sew this to centre front of flame. Sew black oval to just under where circles touch.

Sew the button onto the bottom, to help it stand up.