The other stash

That's right. NOT the yarn stash (which is slowly dwindling, as I haven't allowed myself to buy new yarn since *gulp* December!).

The diaper stash. This is what's been consuming most of my time and energy! I'm a horrible person, and the reason I wanted to use cloth diapers is that I wanted to try making them. (For that matter, that's also why we have cloth napkins, and had my husband not gone out and bought grocery bags, we'd have handmade ones of those, too.)

I've been at it for months, finding, washing, and ironing fabric, sifting through patterns, cutting, sewing...and last week, I finally finished!

Presenting, my diaper stash!



These are all pocket-style diapers, made of just two layers. The outside layer is flannel, and the inside is either suedecloth or old t-shirt. I used two different patterns, and made 24 Mama Bird's diapers (size Medium) and 12 RRPs (one-size).

They're stuffed with these, which are layers of terry or microfiber towels sewn inside a flannel casing.



Having pocket diapers is probably going to be a pain, but since the stuffers are sewn like that, I can easily lay them inside the diaper for faster changes, rather than stuffing them in the pockets. Also, this means that when Gnarly gets too big for these diapers, I only need to make the shells -- the stuffers are already done! Plus, we're using prefolds for the newborn period, and those make great stuffers, as well.

Of course, these need covers, so I sewed some (from the Chloe Toes pattern):



...and I knit some (Curly Purlies, Fern and Faerie, and a Warm Heart Woolies wrap):



I also made some cloth wipes (because I might as well use cloth wipes, plus I had scraps):



And a diaper stacker for the diapers to live in:



I recycled as much as I could, cutting up old t-shirts, flannel sheets and pajamas, and towels. I used flannel remnants from other sewing projects, too, and tried to use up the scraps for stuffers or wipes.

Watch her not fit any one of these. Just watch.

Pardon our dust

If you've scrolled through my blog recently, you probably found a whole bunch of broken picture links. This is because, in a fit of misdirected nesting, I moved all my photos around in Photobucket. One of these days, I'll get around to fixing them.

Anyway, apparently being pregnant does not agree with either knitting or blogging for me. I haven't knit as much as I normally do (you know, my frantic several-pieces-a-week pace), but, more unfortunately, I just haven't cared to blog about the stuff I have made, either. So here is a feeble attempt to rectify that, because, by golly, I HAVE been knitting some, and the world needs to know!

This is the first sweater I knit for my daughter. I know, it's totally not girly. I started it before knowing whether Gnarly would be a boy or girl. Plus, for handmade stuff, I'd rather stick to more gender-neutral things, since I'd really like to pass them down to my next kids.



Anyway, the pattern is from Continuous Cables, which I cover badly. Such beautiful motifs! Oh, I just swoon. The yarn is, of course, Paton's. I actually whittled that stash down pretty well with my baby knitting, as I'll show soon.

This was a nice and quick knit, since most of it is just reverse stockinette. I omitted the bobbled border, because, well, I didn't like it.

It'll be a while before this fits her -- I think it's a 12-month size. I figure it'll be fine her first winter, though, when worn over clothes.

By the way, I'm 33 weeks today. So hard to believe that in as little as 5 weeks (and hopefully not less!) I'll have a gorgeous little model for my knits!