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....