Our time in Portugal has provided me with plenty of time to knit. Since I was able to locate a maternity hospital it has allowed me to experiment with patterns for little ones. The photo above is a test swatch. Before I did the test swatch, one of my sisters asked me why the pattern was called an “owlie sack.” I replied I had no idea and we began to guess maybe it was because when a child becomes “owlie,” mothers can slip them into this sack and they feel bundled and safe. Made sense to us! Then I knit the test swatch. Oh, duh!
Here are two versions of the sleep sack with a knit hat for tiny ears.
This pattern required four skeins but I had one skein left. I used the recommended needle size of 4.5 mm or US size 7. I decided I did not like the roll down stockinette stitch the pattern called for and changed it up for a “no curl” two-row version listed below.
CO an odd number of stitches. I decided on 135 stitches for the sleep sack. You can find the pattern on ravelry for free, simply search “owlie sleep sack”.
How to knit the “no curl” version:
- 1º row: P2, *wyif sl1pw, P1*. Repeat from * to *, to last st, ending with P1.
- 2º row (RS): K1, *wyif sl1pw, wyib K1*. Repeat from * to * to the end of the row.
Pattern photo with curly stockinette stitch from Ravelry
You may notice I chose a dot stitch pattern for the body to add a bit more interest. Here are the few lines to make that possible.
How to knit the Dot stitch
CO multiples of 4 plus 3; i.e.: 4 * 3 = 12 + 3 = 15 stitches.
- 1º row (RS): K1, *P1, K3*. Repeat from * to *, until last 2 st, P1, K1
- 2º and 4º rows: P across
- 3º row: *K3, P1*. Repeat from * to *, until last 3 st, K3.
These four rows create the pattern. Repeat them until the desired length is reached. When finished, BO purlwise after a row 1 or 3.
More detailed instructions can be found at sowoolly.net Love this website!
Version 2 of the Owlie Sleep Sack. I ran out of yarn for the hat so did a simple headband instead. Notice this version I decided to add in owl eyes and a “tree branch” in blue for beneath his “feet.”
My next project was so fun because of the colors and the super soft yarn. You will see two different versions of the blanket and the leftover yarn went into the hat and booties below. I can seldom stick to a pattern and find a creativity outlet in playing with the patterns. The hat and booties come from a few patterns.
The pattern for the blanket is thanks to candylou.com. It is called “Let’s Play Hopscotch”, an easy and fun pattern. Here is the same yarn but in a pattern called honeycomb stitch from lifestyle.howstuffworks.com.
This next “baby set” is a free pattern from LionBrand called “Lullaby Layette. I chose to not do the sweater, instead I added in a couple of knitted mittens in the same “eyelet” pattern. The photo below is from a girlfriend of mine who had a baby recently and sent me what it looked like in the bassinet. I understand it fit her newborn perfectly.
Thanks to Helen, a lovely knitting teacher of Crawcraft Beasties whom I met at The Constant Knitter in Dublin, Ireland my seaming stitches are getting better. Thanks Helen, you are an amazing teacher!
Leftover yarn from my sweater in last post.
Leftover yarn from my ‘basket weave’ blanket from last post as well.
Thanks for reading.
Deb: This is Jamie Mair (Jamie Simpson now). I forwarded this blog to Luke, who still speaks so highly of you. He’s a rising sophomore at UW-Madison this year. Studying film and videography. I’m so glad Darii shared this blog with me!
Hi Deb. I am so impressed with your knitting skills. These are absolutely beautiful! Didn’t know you were so artsy. Loved reading about your travels and think of you often. Hope to see you when you come our way. You have given me a glimpse of just how beautiful the world out there is. Thank you. Linda Bestler