Coo-coo baby doll

I love making my little guy toys. I enjoy sewing and crocheting them. I really got into crocheting amigurumi while I was pregnant with him last summer. I designed this doll when he was about 3 months old. He was starting to hold on to things but most of the stuffed animals we had were too big for him to really enjoy. I wanted a toy that was soft, had some high-contrast colors, was easy for little baby hands to hold, and something that was the right size to chew on. This fun little rattle doll was crocheted with acrylic yarn so that it can be washed and dried.

The hands and feet of my little doll were just the right size for my little guy to chew. At nearly 9 months old he still loves to drool all over them.

I added some polka dots in the colors of the arms and legs to the body for some added contrast and texture. Since I sewed the dots on after the body was constructed they are slightly raised.

I originally named him Cuckoo Bananapants because he was just a crazy-looking little doll I thought my son might enjoy. He loves to grab Coo-coo by the hair and bang him around.

Here's a rainbow version I designed for a friend's baby shower. He was a big hit. Each of them are stuffed with poly-fill and the body contains a rattle noisemaker for some added baby fun.

We love Coo-coo and I hope you do too. It's so satisfying and heart-warming to watch your baby playing with the things you make for him with love. What have you made your baby that he loves?

I'm excited to share this little guy on the Tea Rose Home Link Party. See you there.

Crinkle tag blankie

Tag blankies are the easiest thing to make. Really. They're also pretty cheap. I wanted mine to be colorful to attract my little guy's attention so I used this colorful cotton batik. I only needed a little so I bought two fat quarters of it for $0.99 each. I also picked up a couple spools of ribbon so I'd have enough for other projects (like this).

To make it even more fun I added a double layer of metallic tissue paper inside for some crinkle. I use this stuff in all sorts of different projects (like this, and this); my little guy can't get enough crinkles.

Now that he's almost nine months old my little guy likes to stomp on his blankie and wiggle his feet around on it to make it crinkle.

If you're looking for a cheap, fast baby toy for your own little one or to use as a gift I'll hope you'll whip one of these out.

Knit teddy bears

What's more classic than a couple of hand-knit teddy bears? I feel like every child needs one, or two. These bears were the first project I ever knitted that wasn't just made up of straight knitted lines (i.e., a scarf). That's the wonderful things about the internet; you can find tons of videos to help you learn the stitches you aren't familiar with.

The pattern is free from Berroco yarn and can be found here. The yarn suggested is dry clean only, so needless to say, I didn't use it for a baby project. Can you imagine having to dry clean your baby's toys? I don't think so. I used an acrylic yarn so that I can toss them in the washer and dryer whenever I need to. They have both been successfully washed and dried several times.

I kind of like the affect created by the yarn with the lighter color being on the head. The larger bear is about 14" tall and the smaller one is about 8". I used a smaller gauge yarn and appropriately sized needles for the smaller bear but I still followed the pattern exactly the same.

I embroidered all the features on my bears so they are completely baby safe.

Cute bear muzzle

Adorable round bear bottom

 

 

 

I hope you'll try your hand at making a child you love a little bear of his own. I am by no means a skilled knitter and I have managed to make a few of these bears. They make wonderful baby shower gifts for someone special.

Fabric scrap octo-ball

Ok, so I don't really know what to call this rattle toy. I figured octo-ball would work as well as anything. I made it using the scraps from my baby crinkle grab ball. After I cut out all the ball pieces from my fat quarters I ended up with diamond shaped scraps. I wish I would have taken pictures of them, but I didn't know I would be blogging about my little toy then.

I sewed my four pieces together and stuffed it as much as I could. I stuck a rattle noisemaker in the middle. I don't know about other babies, but my little guy loves rattles.

After stuffing it as much as I could I just whip-stitched the little opening I had left closed.

This is a nice change from a regular ball. It's still nice and soft for baby to play with and easy to grab at the corners. How have you used your fabric scraps in interesting ways?

Baby Crinkle Grab Ball

A couple of months ago I made my little guy this grab ball. He was already becoming interested in balls but he was still having a hard time picking them up. I searched around the interwebs for a pattern and came upon this free pattern and directions to sew a fabric baby grab ball. After I printed out the pattern I decided that even the smaller size pieces were way too big so I scaled it down even more.

I don't know if all babies love playing with things that are big, but my little guy sure does. He loved that he could wiggle around a giant ball; at this point it was practically the size of his torso.

I'm not a huge fan of traditional baby prints. I wanted a toy that he would still play with even when he's much older. I didn't have enough colorful scraps that I wanted to use for a baby project so we made a quick trip to the fabric store for some fat quarters. He picked up the batik fabric; I know he liked it because he drooled all over it before the poor store employee had to scan it at the checkout.

This project was quick and easy; my favorite kind of project. I did make a few changes though. I decided to add a rattle to one of the sections so it would be a little more fun for him to shake around. I also added some crinkly material to a few of the sections. I have been using metallic tissue paper from the party supply store. You can see my materials here. I just cut pieces of the tissue using my same pattern piece and then stacked them together with the fabric before sewing the sections together. The sections with the tissue are super crinkly and they washed and dried just like normal in my machine. Because the tissue is sewed in place it didn't get bunched up in the wash. A few months later, my little guy still loves to crinkle his ball and shake it around like crazy. He's even starting to be interested in pushing it around the floor while he scootches around. If you need a quick toy, I hope you'll consider a grab ball for your little one too.

Amigurumi

I discovered the world of amigurumi last summer when I was pregnant with my little guy. Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. Typically they have big heads and small(er) bodies. They are adorable. I was looking for something to make for my then impending baby and these seemed like just the right thing. They are super simple (I had only crocheted straight things, like scarves, before attempting my first amigurumi. You only need to know how to crochet a single chain to get started.) and very quick to complete; the perfect project for this procrastinating crafter. They're also pretty darn cheap to make which is fabulous because babies and all their gear are ridiculously expensive. I have been able to find tons of free patterns online (bless the internet) but I have a few favorite books too.

Vanna's Choice easy crochet critters is full of adorable amigurumi animals to make. I love this lion.

Ana Paula Rimoli's book Amigurumi Two! is fabulous. I love her patterns as well as the cute little introductions she has for each of them.

(I have not been paid or asked to recommend these books; I just love them that much.)

Here's my lion (from the Vanna book; the elephant above is also from this book). He's so adorable. In the last month or so my little guy has become very interested in stuffed animals. The lion is a big hit. The bunny is from a pattern called best bunny that I downloaded from the Lion Brand Yarn website. (You can get the pattern here.) I adore this pattern. I have made several of these in all different colors as baby gifts. 

Here's the one I made for my nephew at Christmas. I had to take a quick picture before I stuffed it in the box.

 The octopus was my first crocheted toy. I still love him. My little guy loves him because there are so many baby-sized legs to grab hold of. He likes to shake this guy all over the place. I made a smaller version with a jingle bell inside. (Well, a jingle bell inside of a plastic egg, inside of the octopus; the stuffing muted the jingling so I had to give it a space to roll around in.)

I made this cute little bird (and a few others) for my son and nephew as Easter presents. I put a little rattle inside so they could shake them around. This little bird is small so it crocheted up super quickly. This is good for when you've decided to make way to many toys for your niece and nephew in the four days preceding your visit to see them. I found this pattern on Ravelry.com. (If you belong to Ravelry I have an account as Sordidsox.) It comes from the blog Bitter Sweet.

All you really need to make some amigurumi for your own little one is some yarn, a few crochet hooks, and some stuffing. I like to add a little extra to mine to make them even more fun for my little guy. I bought a bunch of rattles from National Artcraft.com. since I couldn't find any in my local craft stores. I also bought some squeakers on Amazon that are actually replacement squeakers for dog toys. I found the little musical button at Hobby Lobby. It plays Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I still haven't decided what I want to put it in. The purple stuff is metallic tissue paper that I found at a party supply store. It works great for adding that crinkly sound babies seem to love. It even washes and dries well inside the toys and keeps on crinklin'.

 

It is so gratifying to see my little guy playing with all the creatures I made for him while he was growing in my belly and kicking me in the ribs.