Baby Clothing Sizes

Motherhood is absolutely the most exhausting thing I have ever done. So with normal, everyday choices, I really need things to be simple. I’ve just spent an hour convincing a giggly 6 month old (in between yawns and suspiciously tired looking eye rubs) that she really needed to sleep.

Hope that really helps the point hit home.

What I need to be easily able to identify is, as now, when she has a growth spurt that all her long sleeve tops will not fit her any more.  This is actually not the case – because they are all different sizes. It was worth for 0-3 months in terms of differentiation, but I don’t currently have access to the data.

Let me give this some perspective. Babies clothing is usually found as: Newborn (we never fit in those), 0-3 months (we grew out of these really quickly), 3-6 months (way to many things with labels still on), 6-9 months (the stuff we’re just starting to box up), 9-12 month (what should have been winter stuff but will now need to be worn over the summer) 12-18 months and so on.

Within this are variations on what weight limit the shops classify as the average weights your babies will be. To give you some idea here is some data from my 6-9 month collection in my washing pile earlier:

Tesco F&F: 20ib (Height: 74cm)

Mini Mode: No weight (Height: 68-70cm)

JoJo Maman Bebe: 6-12 month. No height or weight measurements. (but its from a dungaree style dress so it will fit for a lot longer)

Disney baby and George (ASDA): 21ib (68-74cm)

Disney baby (Tesco): 20ib (Height 74cm)

Mantaray at Debenhams: 21ibs (Height 74cm)

Next: 21ibs (No height)

Pep&Co: 21ibs (No Height)

Mothercare: 20ibs (No height)

Which is a complete pain as you can end up with a couple of weeks growth use between one shirt and another. Which means you have to filter through your washing as they grow out of things.

Lily is at a point where she loves to wiggle. Trying on every shirt individually is just not usually an option. So I need to be able to do bulk removals of clothing into the loft. Currently I have to leave the pile growing in a box for 2-3 weeks while she grows out of the bigger stuff and starts to be able to fit into the smaller stuff of the next size up.

Why can’t shops just start to mirror up on their sizes?

I ask – why can’t shops use the weight limit as their sizing for babies? This would make my life so much easier. At least it would also be clear then when I purchased the clothing how long she might be in them for.

I’m not really asking for that much – am I?

What are your thoughts? Have you ever been annoyed at children’s clothing?

Love to you all and happy knitting

MrsKirstyHoll

x

F.O Baby hat Aran Yarn

So I was pleased as punch when I found this pattern in a Julia’s house charity shop about a month ago – a complete bargin at 50p! I’ve had a huge ball of this lovely white aran yarn in my stash for years with no idea what to do with it. So this also became a stash project to – so total win on this one!

It was a really nice knit – and I also learnt the LT stitch which cause a really cool twist that runs up the hat. The only problem was the decrease at the end which involved knitting in pattern. Had to get some help from the lovely ladies in the knitting circle!

The pom pom was my first make with the maker I brought from the knitting and stitching show (see the multipom frame in the picture below). It was by far the fastest pom pom I have ever made. The concept of a scrap yarn pompom rug for Lilly’s room is looking more likely (but definitely not until after we stop eating things!) as I don’ think it will take a horrendous amount of time to make the required pom poms.

So the hat is about size 6-9 months (Lily has a large head). Although it does fit Lily, this one is going to be donated. The next project out of this yarn will be the matching cardigon. I love the cross over front – the other patterns I picked up on the day had a similar design.

That’s all for the minute. Will try and find some time to update you on my current wips! I have been knitting and attempting the crochet…

Love to you all and happy knitting

MrsKirstyHoll

x

F.O Premmi baby blanket

So after about a month of on and off knitting the lavender blanket is done. It’s not perfect, but hopefully it’ll keep some else’s little fighter nice and toasty  

The ripple knit pattern was a new one for me. Definitely something I’d like to try in a shawl or something with some colour changes!

So this F.O is going to be donated on Monday. I’m off to get started on my next project!

Love to you all and happy knitting 

MrsKirstyHoll

X

Lily Shopping... Opps I did it again!

Does Lily need more clothes? No. But she has more anyway.

Mummy and Daddy went shopping again... To be fair we only go to Dronfield about once a year, so it was our first time taking advantage of their baby shops!

Our first stop was the adorable Tiny Tots Boutique (Dronfield). The owner was super lovely and super helpful. We brought Lily some beautiful outfits - although we were sensible and did buy bigger stuff. So she'll look adorable while she's learning to walk! I'm not going to say exactly how much we spent... but I will admit that by the time she's big enough to run through puddles I will not be spending this much!

6-12 months

The light weight organic cotton will make this ideal for the summer

12 Months+

I was about to pay... then I saw this dress and I couldn't leave without it!

This was half price.... So it would have been rude to leave it behind....

This dress is absolutely adorable. Enough said.

In an effort to then be slightly sensible in our financial decisions we then hit the local charity shops. These are up in the local civic centre and include a Banardos Children's shop (highly recommend!).

Mummy's purchase...

Hoping to use this super chunky yarn to knit a miny blanket for Lily - using my super huge needles. So technically a Lily buy really...

Lily shopping

Lily's first moneybox

£2.49!! Size 12 - 18 months. Also a super colour

£3.49. This red dress is also 12-18 months and is seriously cute.

John Lewis dress are about £20 new. So for £2 this is an absolute bargin. Size 3-6 months - so Lily will pretty much fit this now.

At £2.50 with the original label still on it, I couldn't leave this behind. I have a leather jacket with almost the same design... so when Lily fits this next year we'll match!

I love Quentin Blake. 25p!

£2.00. We have the Gruffulo equivalent of this book already. Love the sounds and story combo. Also really colourful - so ideal for kids!

£2.99. The joys of co-sleeping? This is now hanging over my bed...

So that's a summary of our purchases for the weekend! Thankfully I don't get much time for shopping at the moment so I don't end up buying to much... Also back at work in April so I can then have less time and more money (for yarn food and bills and other stuff).

Anyhow... I'm off to see if my daughter has any space left in her wardrobe...

Love to you all

MrsKirstyHoll

x

Charity Shops finds for Lily

So on Tuesday (as part of my new get fit routine), I pushed Lily up the our local shop parade. Mainly with the aim of a Coffee once I reached my destination – a much required prize after the huge hill I needed to walk up to get there!

Julia’s house has recently opened up a charity shop on the parade up there. It looks fantastic and has a great range of clothes up there. I’ve already got myself a dress and Lily has had plenty from there when it opened the other week. But I was particularly pleased with my haul on Tuesday. So I thought I would share it with you all – as I am a seriously big believer in charity shops for baby clothes. It’s a really great way of cheaply buying practically new clothes for hardly any money.

3-6 Months

This dress will look adorable with a long sleeved baby grow underneath!

These dungarees are made from some really nice thick denim. I was so surprised with the price and I’m hoping she’ll get some decent wear from them as they look huge!!

6-9 months

For a £1 this dress was an absolute bargin! I think it’s adorable and will look super cute with a set of white leggings.

Both of our parents have dogs. So this was a T-shirt I couldn’t resist – especially as it still has the original price tag on it. It’s amazing how many baby clothes still have the original price tags on.

9-12 months

Both my husband and I love dinosaurs. So this was not going to be left behind. It will be autumn by the time Lily fits this. Which will be ideal and so she’ll hopefully get some decent use from it 

On the other hand, here is a super cute picture of Lily in a Darth Vader onesie that we got from Mothercare . The annoying thing is that I paid about £10 and I doubt she’ll get more than a month’s wear out of it!

But she did look awesome at our under one’s group on Wednesday!

Not got much knitting done this week. I’m pretty sure we have gremlins in our house that produce washing. I swear I have spent every moment Lily has been asleep either washing up of doing laundry! It’s seriously starting to drive me nuts!!!

FYI – I really hate housework, but if I don’t then my house looks like its been hit by a (baby sized) bomb!

I’m off to the knitting and stitching show on Sunday. So keep an eye on my Instagram for updates from that and I’ll post my review of the show (with pictures of yarny goodness) early next week.

Hopefully I’ll get some knitting done on the train ride up to London!

Mummy brain signing off

MrsKirstyHoll

x

F.O - Baby Blanket

As promised - I have managed to finish the weave effect Baby Blanket. This pattern was from the Love Knitting for Baby magazine Dec Issue. 

I really did enjoy knitting this pattern - designed by the blogged Laura Strutt. It was really easy to follow and had enough aspects of the pattern that you could really personalise it. The design was also really quick to knit up when you get into the rhythm. 

In addition, I also feel a lot more comfortable with picking up stitches than I was before I started. It's really helped me understand how this technique can affect the structure of a garment. 

Those of you with a keen eye may notice that the border does not match the colours used in the body of the blanket. That would be because I didn't have enough wool left of the 2 balls of each colour for the border. I could have done with having 3 of each. So I found a ball of wool in John Lewis that I could order in next day collection. I was in such a rush to order the yarn (I really wanted to get the blanket finished) that I ended up ordering the slightly off red instead of the red. 

Although, I'm actually really pleased with the overall effect and to make the colour look less like a mistake, I knitting the border with 5 rows rather than the advised 3. Personally, I think it gives the colour more of a pop.

Lily tested the blanket out this morning. We went on a walk while the sun was out. Although it was a bit chilly (hence the pick ASDA hat).

What have you lovely lot finished recently? 

I'm off to focus on getting the patchwork finished (and giving Lily lots of cuddles)!

Mummy brain signing off

MrsKirstyHoll

x

7 Week Update

So Lily is now 7 weeks old today. It's been a weird 7 weeks to be honest. A strange point between wakefulness and sleeping. Even being awake hasn't been fully awake. 

Learning how to be a new mum has definitely been one of the best as well as one of the hardest things I have ever done. But it's so rewarding - especially now Lily is starting to smile. Both my husband and I have have been given a huge grin at least once this week. Her little personality is starting to eek through and it's so much fun watching it happen. 

The scary thing is that I only have a month left before I have to go back to work. I was honestly not expecting the time to go this quickly  - which was probably a bit naive to be honest. But due to necessity I need to go back to work, which will reduce any sparish time I have considerably.

So I need to get some serious speed knitting done over the next few weeks to get my WIPS finished. I'm also looking forward to watching Lily get more and more alert. There is a couple of local sensory groups  I want to start taking her to in about a month. She's completely in love with lights and shiny things at the moment and starting to stay awake for longer and longer periods.

Lily is also now managing to stay awake for most of the under one's group we go to on a Wednesday morning. This week was the first time she's started to pay attention to some of the other babies. I'm hoping she'll eventually figure out crawling by paying attention and copying the other babies. She's currently one of the youngest in the group so I'm hoping she'll get a lot out of it. 

I won't do a WIPS update this week. I've been focusing on Lily's blanket this week to try and get it finished. Only about 2.5 colour rows and the border need doing  - then it's all done! Lily is with her grandparents this afternoon. So once I've finished this speedy update then I will get on with some speedy knitting (along with a cheeky G&T! - while the mice/baby is away....)....

Love to you all, Mummy brain signing off

MrsKirstyHoll

x

Progress on my to-do list

Thought you guys would like an update on my progress went with that to-do list:

• Edit and update a spreadsheet for a mate (I am a bit of a fan on Excel - so feel free to ping me any questions if you have any) - done!
• Make a start on my Daily Greatness Journal - new year, new me (and mini me) - managed to make a decent amount of progress through the planning stages 
• Start reading through the collection of blogging books I've brought to help grow this blog - not got very far with this one. Started the book from Problogger by Darren Rowse and Chris Garret. So far feels like a really easy read and it looks like its going to be really informative.
• Take down my Christmas decs - otherwise bubs will turn up and it just won't happen! - Christmas tree down and all of the decs packed away. Currently in boxes on the stairs ready to go into the loft!
• Catch up on clothes washing - again when bubs appears there will be a lot! - all done and hung up :) 
• Tidy up my lounge - it looks like it's been attacked after a week of both of us being in the house. - looking significantly better then it did this morning! 
• Knitting - Complete the last Diagonal Stripe Square. - completed! So that's another pattern down :) really enjoyed knitting this one actually! 
• Knitting - work 2 colour rows of the baby blanket - worked one so far. So making some progress on this :) 

• Schedule/draft blog articles - with the theory that with bubs I am not going to have a lot of time! - so not really made any progress on this. Going to get started this evening once I've posted this one.

There was also a massive energy crash which saw me half dozing on the sofa for a couple of hours. My hips have also started hurting again. So I think the plan is to jump into another hot bath later on in the hope my muscles feel less achy!

I also managed to capture this really cool bit of footage of bubs having a good of wiggle around. Head over to my Instagram @mrskirstyholl if you want to take a look!

Happy new year all

Baby brain signing off

MrsKirstyHoll

X

WIP Progress Report

Hay to all my lovely followers!

So this week has actually been super productive on the knitting front. I’ve had lots of lovely friends and family come to visit me this week and so I’ve managed to get a lot of knitting done!

This week we are totaling 6 squares (so catching up on my 2 square shortfall from last week) and 2 colour rows of the blanket.

The reason for my massive square catch up is I had a batch of 5 moss stitch squares to complete. Over the course of the week I have become – if I do say so myself – a pretty speedy moss stitch knitter. The first square took me about 6 hours to knit, while the 5th one took about half the time. I still think the stitch is seriously boring to do for any length of time, but the final affect is nice.

So I only have 21 squares to knit (according to my spreadsheet which was definitely a Godsend to the speedy completion of this project). Which means we are definitely on the final countdown to this first stage of my knitting journey. After we’ve sewn that together I can find something else to knit… (AKA start my aim of finishing 12 socks this year)

I’m hoping to get some serious blanket rows knitting done this afternoon and during this week. It’s really starting to gain some length now! It’s becoming a seriously awesome blanket and I am looking forward to seeing the final finished piece. Of course, I am especially looking forward to seeing Lily actually using the final finished piece!

Lily, on the other hand, is growing every day – can you believe she’s 6 weeks today? She’s now weighing in at a healthy 12ib (about 5.4kg). The health visitor came on Friday and was really pleased with her development. Lily can now hold her head up and almost has enough strength to sit up – we also have an ’emerging smile’ (so not just wind and this was witnessed by the Health Visitor). She’s also starting to pay attention to rattles and turning her head to see the direction of the sound. So it shouldn’t be long until she starts properly reacting to her toys (she has a lot).

Yarn Addict Signing off – I have a lot to get done this afternoon!

MrsKirstyHoll

x