Hand knitted baby items - would you use on baby?

[stripeyshutters]

My nephew's partner is going to be having a baby. Do people still use hand knitted items or is it just too old fashioned now? I mean things like attached images.

Cardies, hats and blankets we did. We were lucky enough to have some lovely little clothes made by MIL. I also knitted some and have continued to do so as she ages, now she's 10 making a cardigan takes a lot longer. We did use wools that allowed for washing at normal temperatures and didn't need any special treatments though. Brand of choice was Stylecraft Special DK wool because it is acrylic but not squeaky and weird textured.

Oh I see.
I absolutely treasure the hand knitted cardigans and sweaters my late Mum made for my sons. They will be handed down to their own children if they have them.

Cardigan and blanket yes if they are pretty and not naff.
All I would say though is personally everything had to go in the washing machine. I was NOT going to be handwashing things....

So mean - she spent time and poured love into these 'horrors'. Shame on you.

My sisters would knot any babies of mine, lovely stuff with hand spun wool. So yes I would. Might have to persuade her to change the colours she uses though, as I like bright, she likes earthy colours.

Knit!

Our boiler packed up when DS was 3 months old. It was 11 degrees in his bedroom that winter. He wore every hat, cardigan and mitten someone made for him, to keep him warm whilst we froze for 8 weeks.

We had loads of home knits - cardies and hats and little booties. Lovely! Not sure about the knitted sleeping bag... looks impractical.

Oh and a friend made the kids little knitted ponchos!

The cardigans are lovely but you might want to be aware that at least one of the major pattern companies withdrew hooded sleeping bag patterns from sale last year due to safety concerns.

Best to ask the parents-to-be before casting on.

You probsbly already know but please use machine washable yarn (and ideally tumble dryable) for baby knits. My heart always sinks when people use cashmere or pure wool for baby knits - they need to be hand washed to avoid shrinking and which new parent has time for that?

I did and do use hand-knitted jumpers and cardigans, including some passed on to us by friends whose babies have outgrown them. A PP mentioned sweatshirts being more popular for babies now, but to be honest, a sensibly designed knitted jumper with a nice big neckhole is way easier to get onto a baby with a massive head like my one than a sweatshirt that's been washed and tumble-dried a few too many times.

We were gifted hand-knitted cardigans and blankets which we really appreciated. Some issues to be aware of though are the buttons on cardigans - they're a potential chocking hazard, they can come off fairly easily. And pins that were left in the garments!

The cardigans look lovely. I loved the handmaid cardigans and blankets people knitted and crocheted for our two (one under 10 and one toddler). They need to be machine washable.

The sleeping bag wouldn't meet safe sleep space standards so I wouldn't want it. We used the flat blankets people knitted for the car and pram.

I received some hand knitted blankets and cardigans for my DD when she was born, 3 years ago, and I loved them!

I loved the hand knitted cardigans my mum made 20 years ago for my DC. They were good for the newborn stage where they were sometimes in babygros all day but needed an extra layer. Also very useful was the small blanket she made which I used over the car seat when attached to the pram frame or supermarket trolley. Most blankets I could by were too big.

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Yes! The alpaca wool cardigan hat and booties I had made for my first born were my most treasured and used newborn items.

worn again by my second.

wish I hadn’t stored them carelessly after, as the moths got them.
but whilst they were being used frequently, they were lovely .

What i didnt use was things with lots of tiny buttons.

didn’t matter what the fabric was like, how cute it was, I couldn’t face the mini buttons

The great gran (102) also knitted for the kids until they were 4/5yrs, excellent gaudy colours that I couldn’t help but love because they were knitted by someone who was a century old!

Thank you for all your thoughts. Very helpful.

Aside from the great grans knits I preferred real wools. Not acrylic .

Absolutely. Each of my children had hand knitted and crocheted items and these are the things I’ve kept over the years. The store bought stuff goes the way of all things. On eBay, charity or bin.

Ignore Ravelry 'baby-melting' acrylic yarn horror - babies shouldn't be near naked flames anyway.....you have to choose a soft acrylic for babies because it needs to deal with being thrown in the washing machine repeatedly at a non-specific temperature by someone who has had three hours sleep. There will be no wool-wash, handwashing or blocking going on.

Cardigans and jumpers definitely. Personally I am complete fusspot when it comes to blankets and very specific with colours and design so I would avoid those. I knitted a few jumpers using 100% cotton yarn which was very soft and washed well.