Never ending surprise.

This is my latest Baby Surprise Jacket -- Bamboo Baby Surprise. I am guessing that my math was off. The arms ended up really skinny. This picture was taken before I finished the second arm and before I sewed up the shoulders. The arms look even thinner now.

So how to fix it? My thought is to remove the seams from the shoulders and pick up and knit about 8 or even 10 garter ridges across the entire length of the wingspan. I will most likely use the faded denim color to do the ridge, but I am also weighing using the navy.

Aren't the buttons really cute? I thought they are perfect for a little boy's sweater. I had been planning on purchasing some brown wooden ones, but finding these was a welcome "surprise"! (Pun intended!)

Happy Knitting!

Girly Girl Finished, Now on to Next Surprise

My Girly Girl Tunic is upstairs on my spare bed blocked and drying. I used my lace blocking wires (Blockit) to block it out. It worked really well and I was able to use a minimum of pins and had it blocked in less than 5 minutes. Nice! I wasn't sure how I was going to block something that is knitted in the round, but the blocking wires worked well. That was an investment well spent.

Now that Girly Girl is essentially finished, I cast on another Baby Surprise Jacket only this time, I want to make one that will fit a baby between 12 and 18 months, so I am going to use Elizabeth Zimmerman's [K] method to get the size. I knit a swatch on US size 9 needles with Hobby Lobby's Bamboo Spun which is a boucle-like yarn made with 77% Bamboo and 23% Polyamide. My gauge came out with 4.5 stitches to the inch. I used the size chart from the Craft Yarn Council to determine the measurements I needed.

I cast on the number of stitches I calculated and am working on the first few rows right now. I will post again  when I have enough to photograph.

Happy Knitting!

What's up with me? Knitting without internet.

I am trying another option with Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket. Through Ravelry, I found an old blog written by Panda Man's where he has converted the infamous BSJ to a Stocking Stitch pattern. The pattern has taken into account the additional length in the stocking stitch in opposition to garter stitch. For the most part, the pattern is only 66% of the original pattern of the BSJ.

I have not blogged in two weeks due to an internet outage. I started and completed another dog sweater for my sister's dog, Lindy Lu. She is an Italian Greyhound mix which is really skinny and spends even warm summers shivering from the cold.


This was done with the left over yarn from s pair of gauntlets that I made to wear at work last winter. It is made with Debbie Bliss's
Washable Ewe which is a 100% washable worsted weight wool. The color is 'icing'. Yum!


I finally got the internet back up today, so I am trying to catch up with a lot.

Happy Knitting!

Coat of Many Colors -- BSJ

My Coat of Many Colors is all but finished. I have only to finish seaming the shoulders. I had sewed up one of the shoulders, but ripped it out as I thought that the neck line was too small -- I don't want to strangle a baby with my gift. I am not sure if it only looks small because it has been so long since I have seen a really tiny one.

Boy did I learn a lot with this pattern. I also had a lot of fun with the colors and just the amazing artistry that Elizabeth Zimmermann has in this design. This was the first pattern that required button holes for me. I did the simple yarn over button hole that is written into the pattern and it was just big enough for the button. This was also my first try at doing an i-cord bind off. I love the look -- it is time consuming but so worth it!

I have seen many pictures of Baby Surprise Jackets and I am so taken with the techniques that can be used to make each one look so different. Differences in yarn, differences in trim, in solids or stripes done with yarn changes (as I have done) or with self striping yarn. I saw one with yarn over eyelets. I have seen them with as few as one button to as many as six buttons. I have seen them made with hoods or collars.

I can't wait to get started on the next one -- but let me get this one done first!

Elizabeth Zimmermann's work is genius

I have several baby gifts needed in the next few months. Way more for whom I can possibly get quilts done. So I decided that I would try to make little sweaters. I saw a couple of Baby Surprise Jackets on line at Knitting Paradise and was intrigued. Every single one looked different but each one was beautiful -- a work of art. So I looked up the pattern and purchased it.

Elizabeth Zimmermann designed the pattern and first printed it in a newsletter in 1968. It is a work of art. Knitted "flat", it is one piece folded almost origami style to form a jacket. The pattern as originally written was loosely explained in conversation style; however it has been re-written and is easy to follow.

I started the above BSJ last evening and have gotten almost half of the knitting done already. I call this my Coat of Many Colors. It is made using left-over Lion Brand Microspun yarn in several colors. I am so very excited to see it completed -- however, not so excited about weaving in all the ends. I think that I may try some long self striping yarn for BSJ #2.