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A dear friend of mine is having another baby (!!) and I've been planning to knit her a gift since I found out, but kept delaying and delaying as I didn't have the right pattern but now I'm under a time crunch. Babies don't wait for knitwear.

I know she loves clean and simple colour and natural fibres, so of course I start to learn towards the Onion No. 4 Organic Wool + Nettles. The issue is of course, baby is due to arrive in the middle of Summer. The Nettles give extra strength to the yarn, but are a natural fibre unlike acrylic, perfect for items you think will get some wear and tear. And while the thought of touching a nettle plant makes most people cringe, the yarn is super soft and smooth, has the same feel of high quality Merino wool.

I've seen a lot of cute petite shorts for babies around the internet but never found just the right pattern, something with a lower rise over the legs, drawstring around the waist, and of course, bum/nappy space. I was able to quickly draft a pattern that will fit a newborn by cinching the drawstring, and with lots of room to kick those legs, but then transitions into some more fitted short shorts for a toddler. I was able to get these onto my giant but nappy free almost 2 year old, so I would run this size from NB - 24 months.

For the colours I ventured into my garden which is absolutely teaming with spring flowers, a few selections and I have my colour scheme sorted - I just hope she likes purple.

Although it's recommended to hand wash this yarn, I spaced out TWICE and it survived. Firstly, I spilt super hot coffee on it, then washed it under water AND kept knitting with it - no felting. Then while steam blocking I just blanked and directly ironed it with a hot iron and steam.... Still ok. If I owned this item, I'd machine wash it on wool/gentle cycle without too much concern, I'm not going to recommend you do that just in case but I would.