Saturday, March 7, 2009

mmmm. yarn.

Knitcrit: (fondling recent purchase in the unseasonably warm March New York sunshine) I love the colors of yarn I picked for my new project.


















Todd: I love the way you look at yarn. It's like Homer Simpson looking at a cheeseburger.


I've started a little something for my own baby to take the edge off the other projects - It's going to be a newborn baby hat somewhat like the one I knit for a friend's baby a while ago. I'm thinking white with light green stripe near the brim and then green stem and yellow flower on top. If it's a boy, hell, it's my boy, and yellow is a manly color.

The original hat pattern is in a worsted held double, so I did some math to take the gauge way down to fine cotton (7 st/inch) - hopefully it will all work out when I get to the decreases at the top. For proportions I consulted The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd, but I was not convinced that her proportions were right - this just could be wishful, fearful thinking by someone for whom discussions of baby head circumference have recently taken on a whole new meaning, but isn't 16 1/2 inches kind of big for a newborn's head? Right now what I've got on the needles will be about 14 1/2 inches (unstretched) and that seems much more in keeping with what I've found online about newborn head size. I'd hate to be wrong on this for many reasons, but if I am, better to find out sooner rather than later. How big are newborn heads?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I also have this problem. I guess it depends. Mine was 19 inches around, but they also thought I had macrocephaly. I did not, just a gigantic head. Some people say to take the average of your head and your husbands head at birth and that will give you a fairly good estimate. I don't think it works that way, but it's a possibility. Besides, if it's too big, then he/she can wear it later!
Ann Norling has AWESOME patterns for baby hats an they have fit every time I've made one for someone. I think the diameter unstretched is about 8 inches across, if even that. Probably closer to six, but babies have disproportionately big heads for their bodies. I'm going to be making baby hats for the next week or so. Let's consult and see what works. :)

tara said...

that's a great title, I can hear homer saying it.
my nephews had great big heads (runs in my bro-in-law's family) & so they had extra ultrasounds... but willem's head was so small that we had to buy hats at the hospital to find ones that would stay on!
i keep forgetting to measure the one hat he was given because it's a nice size for newborns. i'll try to get back to you with that one.
about the sleep: all i have to say is if you bf: pump a bottle so that you can sleep for 3-4 hours at a stretch at night. we didn't do this until week 3 or 4 but once we did, EVERYTHING improved.