What Do You Do with Outgrown Baby Knits?
I had not realised how many things I knitted for my daughter when she was a baby, until I started to sort through the attic 3 years later.
'You can tell by the knitwear collection that she is your first and only child!' a friend laughed when I showed her.
'How can you tell?'
'There are sizes for nearly every month of babyhood here! After my first, I realised how quickly they outgrow stuff and would only knit the larger sizes, letting them fill in.'
Well, fair enough! I did knit a ridiculous number of garments in newborn to 4 months sizes, that were outgrown on a monthly basis. But then time did not flow in the regular way for me during the baby stage; it swelled and expanded, with every week feeling like a new era. In the thick of it, it genuinely seemed reasonable to knit tiny cardigans, trousers, and hats that would only be worn for several weeks.
And now I had bags of it. With only older children in the extended family and no more of mine forthcoming, there was no one to hand anything down to. And after giving things away to friends and neighbours, I was still left with a small collection of sentimental pieces that I wanted to keep. But storing it all in an attic, to retrieve and look at once in a blue moon felt unsatisfying.
In particular, it made me sad to find the epic Christening gown I’d made for my daughter, crumpled up in a dark corner of a cardboard box. Considering I am not actually Christian myself and had to do copious research to even understand how to make this sort of thing, not to mention the number of hours spent on that very long lace skirt… it felt downright unfair for the gown to be only worn once and then never to be seen again.
I think it was my husband who (jokingly, I thought) suggested framing it. But the idea struck a cord, and eventually I decided to do exactly that. The result looks so nice and so 'right,' it has really given me food for thought.
Why did the idea of framing something I made, initially seem ridiculous? Why don’t we knitters consider framing our unworn hand-knits more often, so that we - and others - can appreciate the aesthetics and skill of the artful things we create?
Unraveling that question is a task for another time. But in the meanwhile, I am having two other baby pieces framed - a couple of stranded colourwork jumpers I made for my daughter around 2-4 months. The colourful pieces will look lovely in our light-filled kitchen, and it will be nice to go about my day surrounded by reminders of the magical era they symbolise.
As for the rest of the baby knits I have kept… They now have a new life as clothes for my daughter’s dolls and stuffed animals. She enjoys playing with them, and I enjoy seeing them in use again more than I would enjoy keeping them in storage.
Who would have thought Peppa Pig is so utterly 'knitworthy'? What a wonderful, bizarre world we create as makers!
