Not Cheaper by the Dozen

People who lack the DIY gene will look at something hand-made and shrug, “You can buy a whole big bag of those Wal-Mart for two bucks,” or, particularly if you’re making things for children, “Why would you spend so much time making something that’s just going to get messed up?”

I’m here in defense of the hand-knit bib. Yes, you can buy bibs by the dozen at Big Box stores, and yes, they do get messed up in all of two seconds, but here’s why I make them.

As I wrote about in my previous post about knitting, I was too sleep-deprived, post-partum, to knit anything that required following a complicated pattern. I was blessed with an exceptionally poor sleeper, and once he hit his sleep regressions, I was too tired to follow any pattern at all. Enter the Baby Bib O’ Love pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting. It’s so simple, it isn’t even a pattern, really. Take whatever cheapo cotton worsted yarn you have in your stash. Cast on some stitches. Knit (don’t even bother to purl). Put on some straps and attach a button. Baby bib!

The pattern is open to endless variation, and soon I found myself with this:

You can find one satisfied customer here:

You, the non-knitter may protest, "But they’re just going to get messed up!" Um, yeah, that’s the point. These bibs are meant to be used. These bibs, in fact, work better than anything I’ve ever bought in a store. My store-bought bibs retained stains and ripped in the washing machine; my handknits faded a little, but well over a year later, they are still going strong. Plus, if you have an exceptionally drooly child like I do, these bibs absorbed everything while the store-bought ones got soaked through.

They also make impressive gifts if you have friends who appreciate hand-crafted items. They don’t need to know that the yarn cost less than a buck and you whipped one out while watching So You Think You Dance. You can personalize them like this:

Or you can do like my friend Michelle and adapt dishcloth patterns for embossed bib designs. How cute is this car bib? Wouldn’t you like to drool on them yourself?

 

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