Easiest, most useful knitted baby item...

[MrsBadger]

... is the hooded blanket / sleeping sack thing my grandmother has just given me for dd.
Pic here though she hasn't got the hood on.

Not sure where she got the pattern but it'd be dead easy to copy - just a long oblong of stocking stitch seamed up the sides and folded into a hood, no shaping or anything - in fact I could probably post it just from looking at the finished thing if anyone is interested...

That is gorgeous! and so is your dd...I am going to knit something for a friends baby due in March and this looks great. How many stitches would you need to cast on do you think?

That looks lovely and your dd is adorable!

Coffee mad, to work out the number of stitches to cast on, knit a square in the wool that you want to use (about 8" x8") measure how many stitches you have per inch and then times that by how wide you want it.
Mrs B, that is divine, along with your dd of course.

I thought this thread was going to be a question, and I was thinking "has to be a blanket". But that is blanket PLUS - it's lovely and so is baby.

(Grandma reckons 80st on size 10 needles with dk - finished width should be about 34cm)