One of my most darling angel mamas ever, Kassie, has set about making dozens of these sets in the month since her angel was born, a way to heal her heart. To say that I was in awe is an understatement! She and her sister totally outdid themselves!
Here are the four sizes, largest to smallest, the smallest being for 18-20 weekers with heads about the size of a small plum. The largest are about the size of a grapefruit. The elastic they're set on is very stretchy and soft. I had a large spool donated a couple years ago and we're still chipping away at it. She hand made each of the flowers on the headbands, and no two are alike. I love them!! So creative, so feminine. She also made two bracelets for the babies, so that one can be buried and one can be kept. A very thoughtful idea. The angels are handmade charms from variations of wing beads and other beads.
Each set comes with a tag telling the recipient that they are made in Chloe's memory. I have a few of my diaper and kimono making volunteers that have been adding these tags and I think they're a fantastic idea. It makes the gift so much more personal.
She also made me several sets of boy ribbon and bracelets, each different. I use the ribbons to set in the baby boy's hand, with the mom's arm nearby so that you can see the matching charms. Then the family has the option to either keep the ribbon or else bury it with their baby.
Another amazing volunteer, Dakoti, brought me a HUGE sack full of knitted treasures. Kimonos, diaper shirts, hats and headbands. The kimono on the left is following the original pattern, which we have deamed to be too wide for these skinny little babes. She narrowed it a bit for the two on the right, and they're just right. Stacy has made similar adjustments in her crocheted ones. These just need buttons and then they are good to go! After evaluating both kimonos and diaper shirt sets, we've decided to focus more on kimonos with a separate diaper because they are so much more flexible in sizing. The diaper shirts only fit a specific torso length, and are therefore harder to match to an appropriately sized baby.
Most of these were made by Dakoti, but I added a couple small ones that were made by someone else. The small ones are appropriate for 18-22 weekers because they are very stretchy. Knit hats tend to flex far more than crocheted ones. The largest solid blue hat with a tail is crocheted, the other two are knit and can flex to nearly double, making them accommodating for a wide range of head sizes. The little girl headband and hat on the bottom are darling as well. Christine just alerted me to a a different type of
knitting loom that accommodates thin sock yarn, has lots of closely spaced pegs, and is adjustable. It looks like it has the potential to be super duper awesome for stretchy hats with the advantage that it's easy enough to use to teach kids how to do it!
Stacy's been busy as usual, and this is a new pattern she tried for a pouch. I use pouches rarely, but there are some babies that are truly too fragile to dress, and that's when these come in handy. I like that it opens all the way up with the button flap. We determined that it's a little on the wide side at roughly 3 1/4" x 6".
These are just a few of the outfits Stacy sent me. The tiniest one on the end is suitable for 16-18 weeks gestation. Suuuuper tiny, but oh so treasured by those families. The next size is 20 weeker, the cute dress with adjustable headband would go for 22-24 weeks, as well as the dark blue set with blanket. Stacy's amazing. She's been making so many sets, and also putting a lot of effort in to
figuring out patterns.
I have started a
Facebook group where ideas can be exchanged more readily. Please join us! Send a request to join and we'll approve you ASAP. The group is set to "closed" so that we can post information about meeting locations, but we welcome any and all who want to participate.
