Ep 008: Knitting While Pregnant

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Can you guess the 5 most common stages of pregnant knitting? Listen to today’s episode to learn why knowing what stage you’re currently in can help ease your pregnancy and benefit your knitting. Let’s go!

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Question: are you or have you been a pregnant yarn mama?

Then you’re probably aware that your knitting life looks a little different than it did pre-bump.

You might not even notice some of these changes yourself, and others are glaringly obvious “because of the baby” new habits.

What if I told you that, now being on my 4^th pregnancy, I’ve identified the 5 most common stages of knitting while pregnant?

Do you think you can guess them all?

And more importantly, how can knowing what stage you’re in help ease your pregnancy and benefit your knitting?

Knitting while pregnant

Now, over the past 6 years of doing this growing humans thing, I’ve had a lot of symptoms- some similar and some totally different, even though I’ve had 3 girls so far.

So while each pregnancy has looked a little different, there is one thing that has always stayed the same, and that’s my yarn habits. From knitting to crocheting, even thinking about yarn and seeking out Pinspiration.

It’s followed the same timeline every single time.

I’ve heard the same thing from my mama llama knitting and crochet friends. Just like how the app and book The Wonder Weeks tracks baby’s fussiness while learning a new skill, these 5 stages of knitting while pregnant will have you saying “now I get it!” as you see your knitting habits closely following where you’re at in pregnancy.

Why we need to know the stages of knitting while pregnant

Like with most things in life, hard things are a lot easier to get through when you know that what’s happening is normal, and there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, right?

That’s why we end up on Wikipedia at midnight Googling “why am I craving ice while pregnant”. Which, by the way means you’re lacking iron- I know because I had it with my 2^nd pregnancy.

When we’re going through something that’s new, weird, or just kinda stinks, we want to know that someone else has lived through it. That gives us hope, and tells us it’s hard but manageable, and then we learn what we can do to make it easier for us.

So when we can clearly see ourselves in one of these stages, it helps us know:

• We’re not alone. You’re not the only one scouring the yarn aisle of JoAnn’s for nursery color inspiration for 2 hours. Having a sense of community and knowing that you’re part of a pack of fierce mama llamas can get you through the most exhausting morning sickness and the worst leg cramps. Do those things still stink? Absolutely. But sometimes just knowing you’re not alone can help distract you from those crappy feelings of sickness, anxiety, tiredness, and fear that come during in these 9 months.
• Knowing the 5 stages also helps you see how far along this journey you are and how close you are to meeting your new baby. Pregnancy can seem to last forever, especially once you hit months 8 and 9. So when you’ve hit peak knitting fatigue, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel which will inspire you to get through one more tough day.

Encouragement through the slump

In the first trimester of this pregnancy, I went off grid.

Honestly, I disappeared for like 3 or 4 months, no warning (because fatigue and motion sickness doesn’t usually give a warning). I spent a few days feeling really guilty.

There were no new updates for Instagram, nothing new on YouTube, and I felt awful, like I was letting you down for not being there.

And then one day I hopped on Instagram to watch a couple of stories and came across a pregnancy announcement from one of my crochet friends.

She was so vulnerable about how she basically disappeared for a few months while getting though that first trimester. It was honestly that little push I needed to know it’s ok if I miss a season of posting on social media because I need to take care of myself.

It also helped me get a grasp on reality and say, “okay, I’m probably going to feel crappy for this entire month. And probably the next month, but I’m just going to take it day by day.

But that next month? I’m going to feel so much better and be able to enjoy food again and take long walks in the yarn shop.”

Seeing her just on the other side of this struggle, thriving, was enough encouragement to get me out of my slump.

The 5 Stages of Knitting While Pregnant

Alright, so now that we know the importance of knowing these 5 stages, I’m going to lay them all out for you.

If you’re looking for more specifically on knitting and crocheting with pregnancy brain, jump over to episode 6 of the Mama Llama Knitting Podcast where I deep dive into how to beat the mom fog so your knitting doesn’t suffer as much.

Okay, here are the stages of knitting while pregnant:

1. You go off grid.

The first stage of pregnancy is a rocky one. There probably aren’t a lot of people that know you’re pregnant yet, and you’re feeling miserable.

All you want to do is feel better, sleep, eat but you can’t, and so naturally that’s the only thing on your mind but you can’t tell everyone yet!

For me, that’s the reason that I always told my parents and close family right away when I was pregnant. I knew I’d need their support to handle those first few tough months.

When we’re not feeling great and some days are easier than others, this is the stage of cancelling plans.

You stop posting on social media, in fact you stop going on social media because it makes you sick or you’re just reminded of all the happy non-nauseous things people are knitting and doing.

You’ve distanced yourself from scrolling for yarn and project inspiration, and you’re not going into yarn shops again yet, which is okay because you pretty much have no drive to ever knit again. Like, how can one have energy to stay up past 8:30 to knit ever again?

I honestly thought this with my first pregnancy. Like, “well, that was a fun hobby before having kids, but I’m never doing that again am I?”

Spoiler alert- you are!

It’s a temporary season that in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t last very long before you move into stage number 2, which is my favorite stage.

2. Inspiration strikes

Did you get the 20-ish weeks ultrasound and find out little bean’s gender? Even if you’re waiting to be surprised like we were with our 3^rd baby, life after about week 18 is going to be a whirlwind for your creative juices, and you’re going to flex that Pinterest muscle.

Soon you’re going to spend all evening (yes, past 8:30) scouring the internet for baby blankets, gender reveal ideas, nursery and baby shower themes, newborn baby pics and props.

The amount of times I typed in “forest green and white nursery” into Pinterest, hoping a new idea would pop up each day was alarming.

This is my favorite stage because you haven’t settled on anything yet, really. You don’t have to have a name or nursery colors or sibling photos set in stone, all you’re doing is the dreaming and the planning, which is my bread and butter.

3. Make all the things

Once you’ve hit stage 3, you pretty much got the dreaming out of your system, though. You’re ready to actually pick some colors, maybe a theme.

Suddenly you wake up one morning and realize you’re over halfway there! And that’s so exciting and relieving.

So let’s say you know the gender, you have a vision for a nursery and baby shower, and you’re ready to knit and crochet all the things. You’ll find yourself starting multiple pairs of baby booties (do babies keep these things on? You don’t care because they’re so darn adorable and you feel yourself bonding with your baby through each finished pair.

At this point in my 3^rd pregnancy I had already finished 2 or 3 baby blankets- all in forest green because we were waiting til the end to know the gender.

You have energy, you have inspiration, you’re imagining life with your baby once she’s out and can use cute hats and blankets. You feel like superwoman, and you are!

I went on a knitting retreat with my mom, sister, and Aunt during this time while I was pregnant with my first.

I ran out of yarn for the blanket I was knitting her, but I did pack other yarn and other projects that weren’t baby related. That didn’t matter.

When we inevitably ended up checking out the local yarn shop near where we were staying, I picked up enough yarn to start a whole new baby blanket. This baby didn’t need 4 handknit blankets for stroller rides and tummy time, but I had baby on my brain and a drive to create something for her.

4. Fatigue

All good things eventually come to an end, and that’s where we meet stage #4: fatigue. This is right around the time you enter the 3^rd trimester.

You’re tired again. You’ve gotten big and uncomfortable, and you have to pee all the time, so naturally you’re not sitting still very long, and if you are, you’re probably trying to sleep, not knit.

But let’s look at it this way: instead of getting down about not having energy to finish another round on baby socks, take a look through the inventory of baby things you made just a few weeks ago.

Even if you made only one thing: that one handknit or crochet gift you’re going to give to your baby is made with love, and has a story attached to it. My girls love hearing about which blankets I knit while I was expecting them.

5. Nesting

As you get closer to delivery, within a month or two, you’re going to experience the need to nest so strongly.

It might feel like an out of body experience.

Logically, you should be exhausted.

But you find yourself up at 2 am making banana bread like my mom, or casting on another- yes, another, blanket for baby #3, 3 weeks before baby was due (spoiler- she was born a week later and that blanket is still waiting on my needles) like I did.

So while you’re not going to have the same energy you did in months 4 and 5, you’re going on some crazy hormonal reserve energy that can’t be calmed,. Most knitters and crocheters find themselves pushing to finish a big baby project or try to squeeze in a new one to finish before baby gets here.

A little tip: let the nesting take you where it’s going to go, but try squeezing in small last minute projects, like a Christmas stocking for baby, or a newborn bonnet for photos.

Your need to “do” is going to be fulfilled a lot better with small and quick projects that you can actually check off, instead of getting halfway through something too time consuming that close to your due date.

I really hope this chat gets you through another week of the mom to be life.

Sometimes identifying where you’re at in the grand scheme of things, and knowing that it’s all going to be okay and worth it helps when the going gets tough.

Pregnancy is better with friends, and knitting is better with friends, so let’s check in and encourage each other no matter which stage you’re in. Remember, it’s nice having another mama llama in your tribe!