You may remember that I challenged myself to knit a hat whilst in labour… And I kind of did. And by kind of, I mean that I did do some knitting whilst in hospital – it just wasn’t a hat and it definitely wasn’t whilst I was in the delivery room, only whilst I was on the antenatal ward. Seeing as I had a half finished cardigan on the go, I decided to just carry on with that instead of starting a new hat, especially as I already had a knitted hat I thought would fit a baby but I didn’t have a big enough cardigan.

It might not LOOK like hospital, but I did manage to capture a photo of my knitting on the hospital bed.

It might not LOOK like hospital, but I did manage to capture a photo of my knitting on the hospital bed.

Working on it whilst waiting for the induction to hot up gave me a sense of peace – I felt that even though I obviously wasn’t able to prepare for Pickle’s arrival without medical help physically, I was still being productive and at least was in control of something. 

Knitting whilst holding a sleeping baby

I even managed to master knitting whilst holding a sleeping Pickle!

I used the pattern my Mum bought me when I first went on maternity leave (Stylecraft 8295) – she gifted me a lovely little knitting set with all I needed to get started to help pass the time before baby’s arrival. Having never really knitted before, I couldn’t believe how quickly I got the hang of it and during those first few weeks of leave, I was hardly ever without a pair of knitting needles in hand! I took my knitting everywhere with me.


I used blue wool that I bought on sale from Aldi of all places! At the time, I didn’t know Pickle would be a boy – I just liked the colour and thought it’d look nice regardless of gender. I did get a few odd looks in the hospital when I had to keep correcting the midwives who assumed we were having a boy after seeing my work in progress!

knitted baby cardigan
The pattern has a rollover neckline and although I wasn’t sure how well it would fit when finished as it looked quite ‘boxy’, I needn’t have worried – when I was finally able to dress Pickle in it – it fitted perfectly! If a tad on the small side. Those buttons ONLY just do up. And I’m hardly going to get much wear of it if the weather continues to be warm and mild.

baby knitted cardigan

All of that effort and he’ll probably only wear it a handful of times. I’ll proudly keep it forever though!

I’ll have to make sure the next garment is knitted a few sizes bigger! Especially as it’s probably going to take me a MUCH longer time to knit the next one… whenever will I have the free time?!