
My husband Colin crochets. Swoon! In the months leading up to the birth of our second child, Colin crocheted for hours on end, day upon day, spinning a wee wardrobe in perfect stitches, and letting the thread’s pull ease our growing nervousness about becoming DOUBLE parents.

Our sweet and chunky baby is now four months old, and we finally have our feet under us enough to do the fashion photo shoot of all Colin’s crocheted creations: Two hats, one dress, a blanket, a pair of booties, and my guy’s magnum opus, a huge purple star-shaped bunting that took FIVE skeins of yarn and roughly four billion hours to complete.



For those of you out there wishing to crochet away your stresses, too, here are Colin’s top tips for success. (I crochet, too, so these suggestions are from me as well!)
First, choose an ombre yarn: a yarn that changes color every few inches, as shown in every item here. Ombres automatically add pizzaz to your project without the stresses of changing skeins. Also, select machine-washable yarn if you have any desire to use the finished item with the spit-up-factories we call “babies.” (Affiliate link: Click here to see an example of washable ombre yarn on Amazon.)

Second, you don’t need to spend money on a crochet pattern (though the affiliate link to this animal hat pattern book makes me grin) since the internet is jolly with instructions on how to craft most anything.
I have a hazy memory from the first few hours of going into labor with Joya: Colin showing me pictures of different hat styles on his computer and asking which I preferred. I believe I answered, “I’M IN LABOR! PICK IT YOURSELF!!!” Here’s a photo of the hat my beloved ended up creating. Wow!

Third, opt for ergonomic, padded crochet hooks. Crocheting can be tiring on the “fingies” (as our toddler calls them), and heaven knows you’ll need to conserve finger strength for endless diaper changes!
In all seriousness, though, these special hooks are worth it and will make your crochet journey happier. (Use this affiliate link to see nice deals on ergonomic hooks. I wish we’d bought our hooks there because we paid a whole lot more than that!)

Fourth, let’s be real: You may crochet the best dress or booties (or in this case, star bunting) in the world, and it’s possible it will never get worn. In fact, the more beautiful and time-intensive a crafted item is, the less likely a harried parent usually is to put his or her baby into it!
But that’s fine. Just embrace the truth that it’s the creation of the item and the presenting of it that holds the magic.

Our baby may have spent exactly three minutes in the star bunting before she outgrew it, but the hours it took for Colin to loop it all together were blessings of peace. Plus, the guffaws we’ll continue to have, looking at that photo of star bunting Joya will buoy us through many years to come!

So what about you? Do you enjoy crocheting or another craft? What’s your take on creating items for babies and toddlers to wear? Do share!
See my 20 other baby articles here.
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The author, Lillie Marshall, is a 6-foot-tall National Board Certified Teacher of English, fitness fan, and mother of two who has been a public school educator since 2003. She launched Around the World “L” Travel and Life Blog in 2009, and over 4.2 million readers have now visited this site. Lillie also runs TeachingTraveling.com and DrawingsOf.com. Subscribe to her monthly newsletter, and follow @WorldLillie on social media!
Harry
Sunday 7th of August 2016
Wow. This has got me thinking and also provided me with ideas what I consider doing for my children in the near future. I can't imagine crocheting an entire attire. I will enroll for lectures soon.
Lillie
Sunday 7th of August 2016
Hehe -- you can just find a YouTube video to show you how!
riley
Sunday 17th of July 2016
Ohhh my God! Those are really adorable as your baby. Your a lucky one and you deserve that. I couldn't help but notice that cute head band cause I got some for my daughter and they just looks the same. Anyway I would love to have some of those outfits for my daughter as well.
Dave
Wednesday 6th of July 2016
So cool! The public demands more adorable Joya bunting pics :)
Lillie
Friday 8th of July 2016
The bunting!!!! I took a bunch more photos of it, but didn't want to be too redundant. Maybe it will make a surprise cameo in a later article?
Patricia Ritz
Tuesday 5th of July 2016
Colin, I'm so impressed! I had to really convince the boys to attend my free crochet class after school when I was teaching elementary school art. The girls were no problem (they saw me crocheting booties whenever a teacher was having a baby). I told them that my very manly father could sew and crochet and that what did they think fishermen did when they were out at sea and their nets ripped? Crochet on, my friend, your work is inspiring! (ps - join Ravelry; they have lots of free patterns) https://www.ravelry.com/account/login
Lillie
Tuesday 5th of July 2016
Love this, Patricia! Thanks!