Baby bottoms

Before James was born I got a bit obsessed with knitting baby trousers. Being a cloth nappy enthusiast and a keen knitter I liked the idea of using wooly trousers in place of a plastic nappy cover. A bit of internet research revealed that lots of people do actually use this old school form of nappying and apparently it really works.

So, I knitted:

1) a pair of rather furry Hootie Pants using a ball of Rowan British Sheep Breeds DK (I think it is Blue Faced Leicester, but I couldn’t say for certain) and a bit of Rowan Kid Classic that I had in my stash

2) a pair of purple (purple is unisex, right? Opinion seems to be divided…) Kanoko Pants from a skein of Cascade 220 Heathers

3) a crazily coloured Pepita romper, knitted in Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino

James wore them all. The Hootie Pants made him super cuddly (think baby Ewok), but also super hot (he was born in August), so he didn’t wear them much. The Kanoko Pants were lovely too, but would only fit over a disposable nappy, making them completely impractical as a soaker. The Pepita romper was my absolute favourite thing for James to wear, until he outgrew it at around 6 months. I am so sad that I have no photos of him in it.

Although James wore all his knitted trousers, I was never brave enough to use any of them as nappy covers. I just didn’t believe that it could possibly work.

It is now clear to me that I was wrong to doubt the magical water resistant properties of wool. At about the same time as James outgrew all his wooly trousers Ed and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. Towards the end of the meal the waiter knocked over my wine. A full glass of red sploshed over me and, to my horror, my newly completed Shalom cardigan. I rushed, panicking, to the bathroom, but the wine did not penetrate the wool (Cascade ECO+) at all. I just wiped it off with a cloth. My sweater wasn’t stained; in fact, it wasn’t even wet. On that day I realised the error of my ways.

One of my cloth nappy using friends has just had her second baby. She asked me for a knitted diaper soaker. I was happy to oblige. After my red wine on cardigan experience, I decided to stick with the Cascade, opting for the rather less chunky Cascade 220 to knit a Frantic Mama Knitted Soaker. It knitted up really quickly, I lanolised it and gave it to my friend. I just hope she is braver than me and actually uses it.