One last post on wool shorts.

This will be my last wool shorts post. I might make more next summer. I already had a stack of wool pants, shorts, and soakers that I made a long time ago. I must confess I only have one fitted diaper in my diaper stash at the moment. All my diapers are pockets. I do love making wool shorts but I don't have a use for them right now. I need to make some fitted diapers up so I can use them. Anyway, my point is I have to stop making them if my DH sees another pair of shorts around he is going to start asking questions about why the house is filling up with koolaid colored shorts we aren't using. LOL! I need to move on to a craft that my family can use. I am kind of sad because I don't think I will find another craft this fun.

Above is a picture that shows what I created with my kool-aid dyed fisherman's wool. They look kind of fun all together.The short in the picture above is one I made up the same way I did the orange, green, and off white shorts. I just skipped every other or every third stitch (not sure I didn't write it down) to bring in the top. I like look with the front tie so if I do ever use this pair of shorts I might add in the tie just for looks. My DD is very thin she might need the tie to help keep them up.This pair I did in half double crochet. Same pattern just less rows. I made it to the same length as the others.
This one took the longest but was the most FUN to make. I finished it up last night. I used all my last bits of yarn in a random order. I used a half double crochet stitch and make it the same as all the others. Above is the front view. Below is the back view. I added some green fringe trim and a peace sign. I think it looks better in person than in the picture. I think it looks FUN.... I haven't showed it to my DH yet. I have a feeling he won't like it at all. It isn't his style.

Maybe in a month or so when the temp. drops a little more DH will ask me to make up some more wool pants. If my DD would grow a little faster I would have an excuse to keep making stuff. KWIM?

Demi's Dampaways size and style adjustments

This is how to adjust for a NB. Fold top down to the inside and weave tie in and out both layers.


For leg adjustment give the leg a small tuck. Sew it along fold. The yarn can be taken out to adjust the leg size as baby grows.
The 2 pictures below show the legs can be adjusted from tiny to large.




This is another way to adjust for a smaller child. Just fold down to the front of shorts.

This is for a larger child. It is a shoestring tie on the sides. This way can give a much smaller front and still leave lots of room for a thick diaper in the back. Sorry about the color of the string. It is also done a little sloppy. It looks great when the ties match and I take my time.

Another shoe type tie. Looks much better when I take my time. I tried to do it in orange but it didn't show well in the picture.

This is a gathered tuck (don't know what to call it). I tied it on the back side of shorts. It gives the bubble shape on the back and keeps my DD from undoing the tie. It looks like a butterfly to me.

The one above with orange ties is a double side tie.

The one below is a front tie. The tie doesn't go around the back it is only in the front.

They all are the same pair of shorts. I have some more I will try to add if I get time. I am sorry that some of the ties look sloppy and some have strings that don't match. I am very picky about stuff like that most of the time. This project took longer than I thought it would so I cut corners to speed it up. I hope you can get the idea. If not email me and I can give better instructions.

The one below is NOT the same shorts above but it was made with the same pattern. I felted this one. It still fits my almost 15 month old DD. I should tell you she is very small for her age. She just hit 18 pounds. She is in the bottom 5th percentile for her age. It is getting a little low in the rise. If I felt another for her I would add another 5 row stripe first. She is very thin if she was a chunky baby like my son was I would have to add a lot of stitches to make it wider.

Demi's Dampaways Wool Shorts Pattern

This is a very simple shorts pattern. Although, it will take more yarn than other soaker patterns. It will fit size NB all the way up to 4T. This one is made with all single crochet (SC) so you can do this even if it is your first crochet project. Single crochet should work well for a night cover even on a heavy wetter. People who knit or crochet a lot might be disappointed with this pattern as it isn't quite as nice as many of the beautiful soakers I have seen pictures of. Green, off white, and orange were used because of their neutrality. They are good colors for a boy or girl.

Demi's Dampaways
SC wool shorts.

Using wool yarn and crochet hook (I).
Starting with green Chain 68 stitches

Single crochet 4 more rows (giving you a total of 5 rows).
Change color to off white and single crochet 5 rows.
Change color to orange single crochet 5 rows.
Change color to green and single crochet 5 rows.
Change color to white and single crochet 5 rows.

With orange yarn chain 5. Count in 10 stitches from edge of off white and single crochet 20 stitches. Chain 5 more stitches.
Make 4 more rows of orange. Tie off yarn.

With orange yarn chain 5. Count in 10 stitches (same as other side) from edge of off white and single crochet 20 stitches. Chain 5 more.
Make 4 more rows of orange. Tie off yarn.

Fold the sides to the center. It will begin to look like shorts now. Sew up orange to form leg holes.

With orange once again start 30 stitches in and single crochet the off white stitches in the center. This time stitch 10 rows. It should now look like this.

Sew up crotch from back of leg hole to front on both sides.

Line up front and sew off white to orange.

Using the yarn ends sew together in the center.

Take a long chain in your color choice and weave in and out to form drawstring.

I hope this is easy to understand. You can email me if you have any questions. I will post pictures tomorrow to show how it works as a one size fits all.

koolaid yarn again.

This is how I did the yarn. This is fisherman's wool yarn. It is about 80-100 wraps around thumb and elbow.

Yarn was tied (not tight) then put some warm water in sink with a squirt of Dawn.

I mixed koolaid in a dish of warm water. The wet yarn was put in the dish and stuck in the microwave for 2 minutes. The dish sat for 5-10 minutes and then heated in the microwave for another 2 minutes. 1/4 cup of vinegar and a little salt was added. This was the first time I ever added salt or vinegar. I read it doesn't hurt anything so I did it. The dish sat on the counter for several hours to cool. After a rinse (the rinse water was about the same temp. the water in the dish was) The yarn was hung to dry.

I did the same for lemon lime koolaid(my favorite), Ice blue raspberry lemonade, and grape. The ice blue raspberry lemonade didn't turn out the color I wanted. I put about 10 drops of blue food color in a dish with 1/2 cup vinegar to try to get the color I wanted.
This is how they turned out. The darker blue is the one made with food coloring. I ended up adding some red food coloring into the grape koolaid dish. It was more blue than purple so 2 drops of red gave it more of a purple color. The food coloring was added after the first 2 minutes in the microwave.

I picked out the lemon lime, orange, and some yarn with no color to make my shorts. My first shorts (ones in my first or second post on this blog) I made with the same 3 colors and some cherry koolaid yarn.

Sneaking in time to make soaker shorts.

I am back! My DD is doing OK with her teeth right now. My son is in the school routine. I am going to sneak in some Mommy craft time. I will be using Kool-aid to color my yarn later today or early tomorrow morning. I am using Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool. I will be using this to make my wool soaker shorts. You can use ANY kind of wool yarn you like. This is my opinion on yarn (I know lots of people will not agree)..... I use Fishermen's wool to make clothing for my DD and I did it even when she was a little baby. It isn't as soft as some wools. BUT! I don't find it hard and very scratchy after I add lanolin. I would love to say that I am the kind of Mom who puts only the softest stuff near my babies skin but honestly I can't. I have to admit that LOTS of my DD's clothes are hard and scratchy (fishermen's wool is SOFT next to them). I have several dresses that have that netting to fluff them out. That stuff can scuff up my skin! Yet I still put them on her for holidays or church. My DD likes her dresses and will pick them out to put on and even scream when I take them off! She must not care if her clothes are soft. I don't have a dryer so some of her clothes are a little stiff. We do have a water softener system so her clothes don't get like sandpaper but they still get stiff. I read that Fishermen's wool takes dye well and is easy to find in a store. My DH picks it up for me at Joann's on his way home from work. It isn't expensive. I don't have to take the children out on a long car ride to get it. OH! THE BIG REASON why I use it is because..... I CAN'T KNIT OR CROCHET! I can't read a pattern. I only know a few stitches and I make it up as I go along. If I spent a lot of money on something I would be afraid of making a mistake. I can make several soakers out of it. You can use whatever you like! Like I said I would love to say I only put the softest on my baby but I can't. I will post it all step by step how I dye and make my soaker shorts. I have never wrote down a pattern before so this one might look a little different than the one I have a picture of posted. I don't ever end up with 2 that look exactly the same. I have never taken pictures or wrote down directions as I went along because I was always afraid they wouldn't turn out. They always end up fitting and working OK.... Yes, they always have of room for improvement because I don't know how to crochet very well. Maybe someone who know "how" would like to improve it. I will be making my next post later tonight or tomorrow morning.

This is what I am spinning. I found that I can spin wearing baby on my back and walking in circles around the house. I am able to help my son with his school work all at the same time. I am trying to spin thicker. I spin very thin yarn all the time. I got to see some ladies that knit the other day and they mentioned my yarn was thin. I need to remember that this is for a baby soaker. I need to keep it thicker. I think this is still a little thin but it won't be that bad once I ply it (I hope). I think if I took the time to learn how to knit I would be able to keep the yarn thickness in my head when I spin.

This weekend.

My son went to a party this weekend. It was a Star Wars Party. The Father of the birthday boy made a pinata it was Darth Vader. It was perfect! It looked like it came from a specialty Star Wars shop. I wish I had talent like that! I should have asked to take a picture. It looked like a expensive mask. I never would have guessed that it could be a homemade pinata! I hope to get better at my crafts. I never think I will gain talent like that but I will keep trying. Maybe when my children are older and have children I will be able to make something NICE?

Prefolds!

I got my Unbleached Indian prefolds. I got them from Vicky Forba's CO-OP comfycreations http://groups.yahoo.com/group/comfycreations/ . They are so SOFT! They are so NICE! The picture doesn't show how nice they are. I will wash them a few times and I might run them to the Laundromat to quilt them up (still don't have a dryer). I got them to stuff my pocket diapers with but they look large. I don't know what size they are. I forgot what size I ordered. I might need to use them as prefolds. I might set a few aside to dye later. I think I have enough die to tie-dye a batch. I will have to check and see.

Fiber festival

My DH took me to our local fiber festival yesterday. I wanted to come home with some rabbits, alpacas, and some sheep but DH wasn't ready for that yet. I did get to bring home some fiber.

This is a Romney Lamb in the grease. I guess I could name my bag and call it my pet lamb. I won't have to ever feed it. I am sure my children would be happy to make some animal sounds for me. It came from Pine Ridge Sheep.

I got 2 silk bells. A "real" drop spindle

This is my favorite!!!!! 1lb 3 oz of hand dyed merino wool roving! I could picture my DD in wool shorts, pants, sweater and TONS of other things. I LOVE THIS STUFF!! The silk, spindle and purple merino all came from Brush Creek wool works.

A few people had Angora rabbits. I wish I would have asked DH to go get business cards and info while I looked for wool to spin. Everyone with rabbits had bunches of people talking to them. I did get a card from Aboundingful Farm Fibers. The card says they have english, french & Satin Angora rabbits. I think we will look into this soon as we get some free time. I think a few rabbits would be perfect for us. We have a small farm but not many animals. We have a large dog and 3 chickens. My son has been trying to hug the chickens. LOL! I think it is time to get a new pet. I need to start looking up info on rabbits.