Knitting: Soakers and Scarflette for Baby

It is absolutely freezing outside here! To be accurate, it's below freezing. So one might wonder what I am suggesting with this bare-legged attire for baby. I need to state right upfront that these darling soakers and baby-sized Scarflette are intended only for brief photoshoot fun, afterwhich any baby ought to be fully dressed and promptly cuddled! It really is a rather pleasant temperature inside my house so I don't think little Tess was uncomfortable, but I am one of those moms that believes in covering babies from wrist to toes, in something soft, even in warm weather. I am not one of those moms that likes to dress the tiniest baby in the most outrageous of outfits for phototaking, or stick them inside unusual props...so the Scarflette styling is a bit out there for me. Please note that I wouldn't have my little baby (or anyone else's) nap or be left unattended wearing this little Scarflette. While it is not easily pulled tight, it is best worn for a few minutes of "isn't that cute" and then taken off and put away.

Now that I'm finished with the caveats, Tess does look pretty cute in her Scarflette:

I think she looks so much like her older sister, Audrey, in these photos (maybe it's the serious expression) it's uncanny! Except for the blue eyes of course. They are quite crystal right now and rarely blinked.

I have had the book, Vintage Baby Knits, for over a year now but it wasn't until I saw these little soakers knit up by French Press Knits that I had to dive in! There are lots of cute patterns in this book and I learned so much about "soakers." I didn't realize they were traditionally knit out of wool and worn over cloth diapers to, of course, "soak up" the wetness while keeping baby warm and dry. We are not using cloth diapers so they are for us more of a novelty than necessity. I love the look of bare baby legs sticking out of these, when it's appropriately warm of course.

 

I used Bernat "Bamboo" yarn in the Wicker color. This color is one of my favorites. I actually have two suits from my working days in this color, and it looks a bit like the color of yarn I just used for the lacy sweater for Audrey.   I had to modify the Milo Soakers pattern a bit as the yarn is a bigger gauge.

The Scarflette knitting pattern is available in my Etsy shop, along with the patterns for child and adult sizes. (Remember, this Scarflette is just for supervised fun, not practical wear! :-))