25 Weeks Pregnant

Baby has open nostrils now (they had coverings!) and can hear very well. I feel finger movements! Baby can control his or her reflexes better and better as the days go by.
We have done baby-related things everyday this week so far and it's getting more real that we'll have a baby soon... and sometimes I even believe that the baby is inside me now. I still have lots of denial, but it's fading. I mean, it's hard not to acknowlege an increasingly heavy and jabby-elbowed mass laying on your guts all night while you are sleeping. If you have cats you know exactly what I mean.

In the last week I have gone from the bizarre pregnancy sleep patterns which once plagued me to sleeping from 10:30ish PM to 5:30 or 6:30 AM. I usually only get up once to pee, maybe twice. I feel a lot more rested on the days I get to sleep until 6:30 or later than I have for a long time.
I am STILL puking.
Seriously.
Yesterday and today sucked for it, too. But it usually doesn't happen again for the rest of the day. Usually.
So I've had morning sickness this entire time and only now, when it "should be" gone, is it the intensity and frequency it should have been when we were back having fun with Zofran. Weeeeird.
I also finished yet another crochet hoodie for the baby.

Shawn and I are changing in lots of ways. We think about the baby a lot, and discuss how easy it is getting to give the bird to the nay-sayers we encounter when we are questioned about our choices. We're getting called stupid, receiving eye rolls and being laughed at when we are asked about cloth diapering, unmedicated birth and not finding out the sex of the baby quite often now. The only thing I can think of is that we're gaining a thick skin with which to defend our baby with before s/he is here and that it will be in place once s/he is born. Then we will be ready to stand up against anything for him or her.

Free Sloper Pattern by HiLLjO - Baby Hoodie with Zip

Baby Hoodie Blocked Pattern by HiLLjO

If you would like to purchase the full pattern with written crochet instructions for each piece, please visit my etsy store! Thank you.
Otherwise, feel free to use the pattern below to make your own fabric, fleece, knit or crochet hoodie of your choice! Enjoy!

For Crochet: Gauge – G6 Hook with Worsted Weight Yarn or other hook necessary to maintain Gauge

4dc/in.

3 rows dc/in.

Measurements needed for custom garment sizing:

Head Circumference and Height

Belly/Chest Circumference

Neck to Back Length

Average measurements for 6-9 month olds (courtesy of Bev Qualheim)

Head: 16 in. around; 7 ½ in. tall

Chest/Belly: 17 to 19 in. around

Back Length: about 9 in.

Sleeves for babies under 1 year old usually measure 9 to 10 in. long. Fist Circumference is about 5 ½ in.

To get measurements for all blocked pieces shown below (except adult sleeve), calculate the following:

Width of Front pieces: Divide chest/belly measurement by 4 (ex. 6-9 mo. size Front pieces are 4 ½ in.).

Width of Back piece: Divide chest/belly measurement in half (ex. 6-9 mo. size Back piece is 9 in. wide).

Length of Hood:  equal to height of head multiplied by 2, plus 2 in. (ex. 6-9 mo. size Hood is 16 in. long).

Width of Hood:  equal to ¾ the measurement of the head’s circumference, divided in half (ex. 6-9 mo. size Hood is 6” wide).

Width of Sleeve on “Arm Pit” side: equal to length of Front/Back pieces (ex. 6-9 mo. size Sleeve is 9 in. wide on “arm pit” side).

Length of Sleeve along seam: For babies 6 mo. to 1 year, this is 9 to 10 in. on average.

Width of Sleeve for Wrist Opening: 5 ½ in. across on average.

Blocked Pieces – General Shapes (not to scale)

To assemble you will need:

Both Front pieces, 1 Back piece, 2 Sleeves and 1 Hood piece
Yarn needle
Matching Yarn
Scissors
Separating- or Coil-style zipper which matches the length of your Front opening

Front/Back Pieces

Arrange Front and Back pieces as shown in diagram.

 Align and pin zipper in the center of the two front pieces. Make sure zipper tape is on the “inside” of the Front pieces and pin through the front. Sew each side of zipper tape to each Front side of hoodie with needle and thread. Remove pins.

With RS facing, line up shoulder corners B & C on Front and Back, sew B to B and C to C along seam lines with yarn needle and yarn. Weave in ends and set aside. 

Sleeves 

Fold Sleeve piece in half (D to D; E to E) and sew along length from E to D with yarn and yarn needle. Weave in ends and leave long tail of yarn. Turn inside out to show RS.

Repeat for other Sleeve.

  

To attach sleeves, first place markers in each Sleeve piece at top shoulder and bottom “arm pit” as shown.

Place markers on Front/Back piece at top shoulders. Match each Sleeve’s shoulders with the Front/Back piece shoulders. Place markers in Front/Back piece where “arm pit” markers line up (about halfway down length of Front/Back piece).

Arrange pieces as follows: 

Lay Front piece RS up. Lay Sleeves with RS out with shoulder and “arm pit” markers lining up to outside seam with wrists facing in toward zipper. Lay Back piece WS up on top. Pile should appear as below (Sleeves shown as though Back piece were “see-through” in dashed lines):

Sew each Sleeve to Front/Back piece making sure to only go through the sleeve and Front OR Back layer so as not to sew the sleeve shut.

Hood

Fold the Back piece in half to find top-center stitch and place marker as shown.

Take hood piece and with right sides facing, fold A to A and sew along seam with yarn needle and yarn. Turn out so RS faces out and seam is hidden inside hood.

Weave in ends and leave a long tail of yarn. Set aside.

With RS of both Hood and Back pieces facing, line this marker up with the center seam sewn down back of hood. Evenly sew hood to back piece (and down onto Front piece’s shoulder areas) with yarn needle and yarn.



Please do not use all or portions of this pattern in any other pubication without linking to this site and giving me credit for my work. Please see the full license deed for this pattern before distributing/sharing. Thank you!

Green Crochet Zip Baby Hoodie by HiLLjO

I'm at it again.

This is the first zipper I've ever installed and it looks and works fabulously. I'm very proud!
The design came to me in one of my dreams where baby was a chunky-cheeked little blonde baby girl. I held her up and she smiled big at me (later I realized the baby looks like me when I smile big) with big, green eyes and she was wearing this hoodie. I doubted I'd ever find this hoodie so I made it.
FREE BLOCKED PATTERN IS HERE!!!
See all the crochet baby projects here!

Bobble Dots!

Yesterday I mentioned that the 2nd hoodie I have made for us to save is sized 8 months. I am making it with pink + gray ombre yarn and texturing it with little bobble polka dots.

I love how the variegated yarn kind of makes diagonal "stripes" across the pieces.

Mmm so cute!!! Even if we don't get lucky at baby lottery for another 2 months this would look great on a little gal in February, too. :o)

See what I did there?Yeh. Doin' well.

Better.

Sorry for the cryptic bit of sad yesterday... had a bad babycrack day.

Anyway, the more and more we crunch numbers the more we see how much easier saving money and buying baby things will be after August.

In smaller and yet smaller sizes I keep making more baby hoodies for us to save. 9-months might be too big to use in December if we got pregnant this month. I might even have the baby on my birthday if this cycle works out. So now I'm working on an 8-month sized hoodie. It's pink-to-gray ombre stripes with little "bobble" polka dots. I don't have a picture yet, but it's textured like this:

via

And colored like this:


via

The hood is almost done; I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.
In the meantime, Shawn is trying to figure out where we are going on vacation very soon, and I am not sharing after the Chicago-Surprise he pulled on me. He will have to just WAIT. :o)

1, 2, 3... A, B, C

I am a machine!

Since becoming obsessed with my latest pattern creation 11 days ago, I have whipped out a total of 3 baby hoodies. I have been playing with resizing my original pattern which was sized 9 months.

The peach crochet baby hoodie below is for sale! It is sized for a newborn; very tiny. 

The purple hoodie is for a couple at work and it is sized for a newborn up to 11 pounds.

If you would like a baby or even adult sized one, email me or visit my etsy store!

The free version of the pattern is here if you'd like to go it on your own.

Crochet Baby Hoodie by HiLLjO

Last week I started (and finished) a crochet baby hoodie for our future firstborn. I was trying to hold out until I was actually pregnant to make it, but I could no longer resist that yarn!!!

The pocket opens in the top to stash a bottle, face wipe, or biter biscuit.

Yes, yes I did buy an entire hank of additional yarn to make just this pocket...

If you LOVE this hoodie, it is based off my FREE crochet baby hoodie pattern!If you would like one made for a friend, family member, or even yourself email me!

I even make them in grownup-people sizes!

 :o)