Blossom Boppers

I have been knitting and felting flowers for a few years now. I have made them into a number of lovely hair accessories, but I hadn't found a a way to make a nice baby toy out of them until this summer. Some of my best ideas come from my customer's suggestions. I had a customer order a baby sweater and request that I invest a toy that could be called a Poppybopper. She was ordering the items for her sister, who she had always called "Poppy-bopper" for reasons forgotten to memory. I imagined a number of different items, until I came up with a teether/rattle made in the shape of a flower and twisty stem with a leaf on the end. (I had always wanted to incorporate a teething ring in a toy!)  After quite a bit of experimental knitting, here is what I made for her:

The flower jingles softly.

I loved it, but decided to make some "daisy" style ones in a range of colors, as well as rosebud (which has been trickier).  I LOVE them.  I ordered some very nice hardwood teething rings from an Etsy seller and I finish them with a beeswax polish. I love knitting these and look forward to selling more of them next month at my Adventsmarkt at Domaine Dahlem here in Berlin.

Longies for Mose

We have had a cold and dreary week here in Berlin, but I have been keeping warm knitting "longies" for my little friend Mose.  He was here with his parents for three weeks and broke all our hearts by heading back to Massachusetts. To keep him feeling close, I have been making him cold weather gear. Longies are long-underwear for babies, with built in feet. Using a pattern by Zimmerman I made one pair, then, I adapted it immediately for the second pair. Made from wool sock yarn, they are machine washable (and dry-able!).  Babies can wear them under regular clothes or as their trousers.

Knitting baby pants has been my "naughty" knitting as I am prepping again for the Berlin Christmas Markets in December. I have plenty of Feltaroo knitting to do to keep me busy from morning to night! More on German baby rattles another day....

This Year's Bestseller: Mushroom Baby Rattle

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The  Classic German "Flying Mushroom".  I enclose a cat toy to make the perfect baby rattle. Knitted in one piece of 100% wool, then felted, it is super safe and all natural.

Baby Gifts

Here I am, in heaven.

I have just returned home from a most amazing vacation. I didn't visit an exotic locale. Instead, I had the amazing privilege of spending three weeks with a dear friend as she awaited and welcomed her first child. It was so hard to leave! Her son was one of four babies born this winter/spring that have been my excuse to knit tiny sweaters, hats, sclaf sacken, and even pants! I failed to take pictures of most of the gifts I made, but here are a few:

Cotton Hoodie in moss stitch

Cotton Pants to match

A "sleep sack" (modeled above) and a baby Gansey

Baby Surprise Jacket, ala Elizabeth Zimmerman

New Name & Baby Knits

My blog hasn't been about our travels and adventures for more than a year now, so I decided it was time for a name change :).  Aidan has been suggesting a new section of my Etsy shop, Feltaroo -- one named "Kanga Knits" where I could sell my hand knit items that aren't felted.  I still feel my knits are more personal somehow, though, and I'm not quite ready to sell them.  Still, the name has been spoken around the house here for months and I realized it is the PERFECT name for the blog, where I share my explorations, trials, tribulations and learning adventures in knitting. I also love the symmetry of one child naming the shop and the other the blog.  They are amazing people, our children.

Since the New Year (and the end of the Holiday insanity/German Christmas Markets), I have been taking it easy with the felting - just filling orders.  But I have been knitting as much as ever. Inspired by friends who are having babies, I have been enjoying knitting all different types of baby sweaters.  I have also begun sweaters for Doug, Aidan and myself and completed one for Maggie.  Poor Aidan, I tried to knit his left-handed, but my tension is so very uneven still while knitting continental that I had to tink the whole thing and start over.  (I persisted for quite a while, telling myself that blocking would even it out.  Luckily, my knitting group talked me out of that.)  Doug's is a very elaborate Aran knit in dk yarn, so it is taking a while.  When I began, I thought I would have it in time for his birthday, but that is simply impossible.  Now, I am thinking Hannukah.