Overall I’m liking the approach that they give with loads of instructions alongside the pattern pieces – I’ve found the standard pattern pieces and stuff all information to be completely inscrutable in the past.

When I’ve made soakers I’ve used pure wool although acrylic is okay for very young babies where they don’t wet as much as a toddler. Alpaca is supposed to be better than wool as you don’t need to lanolise it and it doesn’t felt but I’ve never used it (and it’s out of my price range) so I can’t recomend anything.

First find a pattern, there are loads out there, pick one you like the look of and that you can do easily – your babe won’t care if it looks fancy just so long as it fits. it will tell you on teh pattern what yarn and needle sizes to use. If it’s a US pattern you will need to look at a conversion chart like this one
http://www.angelyarns.com/yarn/charts.php As a general rule, ticker yarns make for faster knitting but bulkier garments, for a newborn I’d go for a finer yarn, maybe a double layered (knit two the same and join them at the waist and legs) one in 2 or 4 ply. Texere yarns sell 2 ply pure wool veyr cheaply.

i’m expecting my first baby in march (eep!) and am thinking about having a go at knitting a soaker and/or longie to use as a nappy wrap …

but i’m a complete newbie to knitting (though i do know how to knit and purl), and am utterly confused about the different types of yarns/wools.

recently i contacted some people here in the UK who sell peruvian alpaca wool, but it seems to come in different types and i’m clueless.

can you give me any pointers about what sort of yarn (the more specific the better) i should use for soakers/longies? i’ve run across terms like DK (double knit?), sock yarn, chunky, and various numbered ply to describe yarn.

and do i need particular knitting needles?

any pointers would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

leesun
x

Oh – and my Ravelry id is KrisWW.