Saturday, September 21, 2013

Baby Pod

Now that I have dyed fiber and spun the yarn for the baby pod, it is time to start knitting!  The Peak-a-boo Pod knitting pattern can be found in the book Welcoming Home Baby the Handcrafted Way.  

The two hand dyed handspun yarns I'm using for this project.  The first chunky attempt (green, right) and the very bulky blue Chirphead yarn.  

Gauge Swatches

The Peek-a-Boo Pod calls for size 19 needles, but the largest I could get for my harmony interchangables is 17 (12.0 mm).  Since my needles are a bit smaller, I wanted to check my gauge with both of the yarns.


Chunky Baby Bod Yarn - 7 sts/ 4", 5 rows/2" over stockinette.  Pretty close to what the pattern calls for, so I call that a win!


First Chunky Attempt Yarn - 9 sts/4", 6 rows/2".  This is very loose and would easily stretch to larger dimensions, perfect for making it fit a baby!


Peek-a-boo Pod Construction Notes
  • I did not have any stitch markers that were large enough to go over size 17 needles, so I put a removable marker on the last stitch of the first round.  
  • I cast on 45 sts with the First Chunky Attempt Yarn and knit 5 rounds (opposed to the 4 indicated in the pattern.)  I know that as this stretches to accomodate the baby I'd lose some of the depth to the pod, so this should counteract the slightly smaller gauge.  
  • First row with Chunky Baby Pod Yarn - *K7, K2tog* across (40 sts)  
  • After 4 rows of Chunky Baby Pod Yarn, 75 g remain.  This means that I will likely consume all of this yarn before getting to the decreases, but I think that will be okay.  I can just switch back to the other yarn for the bottom of the pod.  (Where it won't really be visible.)  
  • 15.5 rows were completed with the Chunky Baby Pod Yarn.  I then switched back to the First Chunky Attempt Yarn.  I continued counting rounds as they were written in the pattern until I had completed 19 rounds since the switch (25 rounds total INC row on needles) and the piece measured 8" from the cast on edge.
  • After 16 sts left, K2tog around before pulling yarn through remaining stitches.  


Final Dimensions of the baby pod are 10" deep x 12" wide.  It is VERY stretchy, so I believe that it would easily accomodate my newborn baby boy.  I decided not to weave a ribbon through the pod at this time.  I don't think the issue will be the pod being too loose on my baby, if anything it could be a wee bit tight.  


In the end I used 100% of the 28 yards of my chunky chirphead yarn, and 50 g  (30.2 yards) consumed of "first chunky attempt" yarn.  As you can see from the side in the picture below, the yarn that I created specifically for this project is showed off really well on the sides, and this is exactly what I wanted.  I cannot wait to share a picture of this project with my baby instead of a stuffed animal!  


If all goes well, the baby will be born in about a month!  Wish us luck.