Lollipop Longies

I have been wanting some of this yarn for ever. It's called Lollipop from The Tin Shed. So bright and cheery, it's going to be nice to put these on BabyM during gray winter months. I absolutely love how the colours turned out on the legs.





One of my Ravelry friends had done a project with ruffles like this and was kind enough to share her recipe with me. They took AGES! There is 3 rounds of kfb in them so by the end there was some ridiculously huge number of RSI inducing stitches in them. But I love the final result.



I used this pattern which I found on Ravelry (of course). (Sorry if you are not a Raveler that link is not going to work, its only available as a PDF download). In the past I've mainly knitted longies on flats either the Tiny Birds pattern or a modified version of the pants in the Cleckheaton 948 book or the Doodlepants pattern if I was brave and using circulars. There are lots of longies patterns popping up on Ravelry now so I am trying some new ones out.

I'm trying to do some different things this year and one of my goals was to stop being scared of patterns written in the round so that was partly why I chose this pattern as it is a circular pattern (with short rows even!).
And lookie...kitchener!!! I use these instructions if I forget what to do





This is the first time I have used a 'recipe' type pattern where you calculate the sizing, placement of short rows etc based on your yarn and gauge. There was maths even!! My poor post baby brain had a good workout.

I thought that this type of pattern would be a good choice since BabyM is only 6m but very big (over 10kg) and is wearing clothes her sister wore at 12m. The problem is, is that while she is big most of the toddler clothing is a tad long, even though we need the extra room for her cloth nappies (hello!!...... clothing manufacturers...not everyone uses plastic nappies for pete's sake. How about some baby clothing with a decent rise and a bit of stretch!)

I thought using a pattern like this I could get a perfect fit. I'm aiming to knit a few more pairs of pants for M for winter because I am so sick of squishing her into pants or getting the not very elegant builders crack thing happening because the clothes can't accommodate her cloth nappy.

I used about 2m short of 200g for these so they really are a size large and they fit N2 as well so a probably toddler size rather than big baby size. I did a K2P2 waistband with the intention of doing an Icord tie waist. But when it came to trying them on the rise was huge so I sewed the waistband over and put some elastic in it. (I don't know what happened there, I double checked all the measurements and the worksheet). I think it was a good work around but its not as tidy as I would like.


They are big but I am happy with that because they should last her until she is TT. Yes I am all about quick results and less work. "Make them big and they will grown into them" seems to be the theme with me. Or like the pinwheel, make 1 thing they both fit instead of 2. Let's not call that laziness rather kiwi ingenuity heh.

Longies now, shorties next summer!! How versatile :)

Here they are on M6mth



And N2




If anyone has some great tricks for making toddler co-operate with photo shoots please feel free to leave your suggestions here!






I"ll use these longies for outer wear and also as a cover over night nappies. At night M wears either an Ecobubs wool pocket or a Designerbums fitted pocket. Both of these nappies are NZ Made. The Designerbums one is probably my favourite at the moment for nights, its super absorbent and works so well. It is also a special nappy because the nappy was designed and sold as fundraiser for Aria MacDonald. Aria needs to have life saving surgery in the US as she has a condition that means she cannot digest food. She is a gorgeous wee girl whose story has touched many people's hearts and so it is nice to know our purchase has helped Aria's cause. Aria has a website here if you would like to read more about this special girl and her condition.

While I was getting the link to the longies pattern I came across this link. It has a page of well written information about wool and all it's wonderful properties. I particularly like this sentence "The threefold combination of water-repellence, breathability and moisture absorbency make wool the unparalled choice when it comes to diaper covers". The article explains how wool can absorb and transmit moisture at the same time which is something I've never really been able to articulate very well, especially to DH who wonders why I keep putting the baby in wool even in summer.


Ahhh wool. How I love thee.