free knitted newborn beehive hat pattern

I made this hat for my daughter while I was in hospital after her birth, using her head as a guide. She is on the smallish side - weighing just under 3kg. It is a very quick and easy knit - great as a last minute project.

materials
small amount DK/8 ply yarn
US size 4 (3.5mm) straight needles
stitch holder
darning needle

hat front
CO 34 stitches
row 1: P
row 2: K
row 3: P
rows 4-9: repeat rows 1-3 two more times
row 10: P
row 11: K
repeat rows 10-11 until you have 27 rows of straight stitch
cut yarn and transfer to a stitch holder

hat back
as per front

finishing
With right sides together, use three needle bind-off technique to attach the hat front and back at the top.
Sew sides together.
Place atop the head of the nearest new baby!

introductions

So there I was, posting a blog about absurdity on Tuesday when I was already in pre-labour. Contractions were worth noticing by 6pm that night and baby Agnes Reid was born at 9.37pm. I didn't use any drugs but did question my decision a couple of times there ;)

So without further ado, I would like to introduce Miss Agnes Reid, born at 38 weeks gestation and weighing in at 2.9kg or 6 pound 6 ounces.

We're all pretty happy to have her home :)

absurdity

As with any pregnancy, I have been offered a lot of unprompted advice lately. Some of it less reliable than others. Take these pearls of wisdom, for example:
* Don't blow up balloons because the baby will run out of oxygen.
* Don't lift your arms above your head because the baby could get strangled by the umbilical cord
* To get the baby to move head down, either do handstands in the swimming pool or ask your partner to shine a torch and talk to the base of your belly.



Meanwhile, Olive found and adopted a rubber chicken that she takes for walks in the pusher, feeds and puts to bed.

the logic behind the egg obsession

You may be wondering why I bothered to knit 6 eggs. Here's why ...

We have chickens.


They range freely in the back yard and lay their eggs in the garden. Which was working well until the very hot weather, when we couldn't find any of the eggs and assumed that they were off the lay. Until one day a couple of weeks later when we heard a chicken crooning deep inside an overgrown garden bed.

So I sent Olive off investigating ...




and she found ...

EGGS!

Understandably, Olive gets a little excited about eggs nowadays.

knitted fruit and vegetables

In preparation for Olive's birthday (it's not until the 12th of April but the plan is to induce her little sister around the 31st of May, so I'm guessing I won't have much time closer to the date), I have been busily knitting. She always plays with the plastic play food at playgroup and childcare but I couldn't bring myself to buy any of that plastic crap so I have been making knitted versions instead. The best thing is, with thanks to Ravelry, I was able to find all of the patterns for free.

So, with an excited little drum roll, here are the results!



Pear, apple and lemon patterns were from Peachcake Knits. And the orange was made by adjusting the apple pattern.

The banana was made using Allison Judge's Baby Fruit & Veggie Rattle patterns. The shape is great but it is remarkably small compared with Australian bananas.

The three strawberries are from PezDiva. So very, very quick to make!



Corn and mushroom patterns are by Kimberly Chapman.

The carrot, cucumber and eggplant were all made using Allison Judge's Baby Fruit & Veggie Rattle patterns. I love the cucumber and eggplant but the carrot is in definite need of a bit more tapering.

Pumpkin pattern is available as a Ravelry download by Jan Lewis.

The cute (but giant!) pea pod is courtesy of Hannah Kaminsky. Although I did lengthen the pod by an extra 10 rows so that I could fit in an extra pea.

The teeny tiny summer squash is by Gerwerken. Don't miss the correction, too.

The avocado is just a dark green pear as above but wihout the stem and leaf.

And lastly, the tomato was my own pattern.


Perhaps I am a little crazy for having knitted so many of these, but I am sane by comparison with the contributors to the fabulously funny Why would you knit that? My pick for the craziest knit is the placenta, but I have to admit that I find the knitted dissected lab rat and frog strangely beautiful ...

free knitted egg pattern

This pattern was originally based on curlypurly's colourful egg but I had trouble understanding the instructions so I made my own then adjusted them, adjusted, and adjusted until finally by my sixth egg I had something that I'm happy with.

Materials
Yarn: I used 8 ply (DK). Only a very small amount is required.
Needles: 4.0mm (US size 6) dpn's
Stuffing
Darning needle

Gauge: Doesn't matter, just make it tight

Abbreviations
CO = cast on
K = knit
K2tog = knit 2 together
Kfb = knit into front and back of next stitch
st = stitches

Instructions
CO 6
Tuck tail upwards so that it will be hidden inside the egg.
round 1: [K1, Kfb] to end of round (9 st)
round 2: [K2, Kfb] (12 st)
round 3: [K1, Kfb] (18 st)
round 4: [K1, Kfb] (27 st)
round 5: K
round 6: [K8, Kfb] (30 st)
rounds 7-12: K 6 rounds
round 13: [K8, K2tog] (27 st)
round 14: [K7, K2tog] (24 st)
round 15: [K6, K2tog] (21 st)
round 16: [K5, K2tog] (18 st)
round 17: K
round 18: [K4, K2tog] (15 st)
round 19: K
stuff
round 21: [K3, K2tog] (12 st)
round 22: K (12 st)
round 23: [K2tog] (6st)
Cut off and run thread through stitches, pulling tightly. Hide tail inside egg.

free knitted tomato pattern

Yay!! My first ever knitting pattern!

Materials
Yarn: I used 8 ply (DK) in red and green. Only a very small amount is required.
Needles: 4.0mm (US size 6) dpn's & crochet hook
Stuffing
Darning needle

Gauge: Doesn't matter, just make it tight

Abbreviations
CO = cast on
dpn = double pointed needle
k = knit
k2tog = knit 2 together
kfb = knit into front and back of next stitch
st = stitches

Instructions
CO 6 stitches onto a single dpn
round 1: without turning (as if making an i-cord), kfb every st onto 3 needles (12 st)
Tuck tail into centre.
round 2: k
round 3: k1, kfb (18 st)
round 4: k
round 5: k2, kfb (24 st)
round 6: k
round 7: k3, kfb (30 st)
round 8: k
round 9: k5, kfb (35 st)
rounds 10-16: k 7 rounds
round 17: k5, k2tog (30 st)
round 18: k
round 20: k3, k2tog (24 st)
round 21: k
round 22: k2, k2tog (18 st)
round 23: k
Stuff.
round 24: k1, k2tog (12 st)
round 25: k1 in green, k1 in red
Cut and tie off red yarn and tuck into centre.
round 26: k2tog in green (6 st)
Cut off green yarn, leaving long tail.
Using darning needle, thread tail through remaining stitches and tie off.
Thread yarn through centre of tomato to base and back again to give an indentation at the top. Knot again.
Crochet a chain of about 5 stitches to make a stalk.
Using darning needle, thread yarn back down stalk and into tomoto. Cut off.
You're done!