Sunday, September 28, 2008

Crochet-Along: FinishingThe Baby Cozy

Hi all. I meant to post this earlier in the day, but it took me forever to sew on my little circles. Here's my finished cozy being modeled by my life-like newborn baby model. Up until now, I have made all of my cozies in three colors, but I made this one a little different. Not knowing if I'll be the aunt of a niece or a nephew forced me to change things up a bit. I know there are lots of colors that are less gender specific, but I was having a hard time finding three colors I liked together. I settled on these two and I was planning on making one color the body and making both the flaps the lighter shade. As I started crocheting, I got the idea to add the stripes and dots to make it a little more playful. What do you think?



Well I guess you're getting excited about finishing your Baby Cozy. The only thing left is to make a cute little tie for the side. You can really do this a number of ways. I think it would be pretty to find a nice silk ribbon and sew it on. On my prototype cozy, I joined the body colored yarn to the end of the top flap, chained to the length I wanted and then worked sl sts back down the chain and joined it with a sl st to the same space I started in. Then I carefully knotted the yarn on the underside of the flap. I attached the same kind of chain to the side of the body where the tie would naturally meet. You can see this one in the picture here to the right.

I like this look, but when I made my next cozy, I decided I wanted to make the tie more understated. With this in mind, I have started making plied yarn ties. I use my spinning wheel, but you can create a plied effect with your hands. Cut about a 30" piece of yarn. Pinch one end between your fingers to hold it in place while you twist the yarn counter clockwise. The Patons yarn we are using for this project has a clockwise twist so at first you will see it untwist and then it will start to ply in the opposite
direction. Keep twisting it until, when you release the tension, it wants to back spin or twist up on itself. At that point, holding your piece of yarn carefully so it doesn't unwind, thread it through the end of the left flap. I like to go up from the underside, skip about three sts and then go back down. Still holding the ends of the thread, make sure the flap is in the center and then bring the ends together. Holding the ends together, get the ply started by turning them counter clockwise. You will see that the tension in the twist will make the yarn want to ply together. Then I just tie a neat little knot in the end and trim the tips to make them even. You would repeat this to make the other tie attached to the body. I think writing this makes it sound more complicated than it is. Once you try it, you see how easy it is.

Well I guess that's it! I can't believe it! We are done! What am I going to do with myself now that I'm not thinking about this cozy? I know a lot of you are still working on yours. I'd love to see some of your baby cozies when you are finished. If you'd like to share, send a picture to j.pedersengiles@gmail.com. Let me know if I can post them on this blog to share with everyone. You could also leave a comment with a link to your flickr pictures or something like that. Anyway, I play show and tell all the time, so now it can be your turn!

Remember, I'm here everyday and I love to hear from people. Please feel free to share comments or ask questions. If you have feedback on this crochet-along, I'd like to hear that too. I plan to do more in the future and I want to make them as fun and easy to follow as I can!

See you soon.


The Baby Cozy ~ Part I
The Baby Cozy ~ Part II
The Baby Cozy ~ Part III
The Baby Cozy ~ Part IV
The Baby Cozy ~ Part V
The Baby Cozy ~ Part VI

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello! I realize this is a rather old posting. However, I just finished my cozy and it looks amazing! Thanks so much!

Jenn said...

Hi, You're very welcome! Thanks for your comment! I'm so glad you're happy with your cozy! :D

Anonymous said...

I just found out that I am going to be an aunt again. I am so excited to find this pattern. It looks simple enough for someone (like me) who hasn't picked up a hook in a while. Thanks for sharing. I hope mine turns out as cute as yours!

Anonymous said...

I am loving this pattern!! I can't wait to see how it will come out. Thank you so much for posting this pattern.

Desert LuCiA said...

Wow! Found your baby cozy from a link on Ravelry and just finished it. It's so cute and perfect for my friend's baby shower tomorrow! Thanks for such detailed instructions - it made this easy and it turned out great. Made a quick little hat to go with it, too!