No, there isn’t another baby coming here. (The thought makes me want to faint!) I’ve knit another Baby Surprise Jacket, the classic pattern by knitting genius Elizabeth Zimmermann.
Here it is off the needles:
A big blob of a thing
And after a fold and seaming the shoulders, here is the finished jacket:
A sweet little baby sweater
Amazing, isn’t it? The style might not be to everyone’s taste, but the pattern is such genius. I honestly think that every knitter should make at least one, just to experience the crazy things you can do with knitting.
The yarn is Araucania Ulmo Multi in the enchantingly named colourway 709. It took about 320 yards, and I figure it is about a 6-9 month size, possibly bigger. I did the increases as yo,k1,yo just to be different. And the buttons are “Counting Sheep” from Dress It Up.
Buttons, garter stitch, and yarn over holes.
The pattern itself is available in several places. You can order the ABC Surprise Jacket (adult, baby, child) pattern directly from Schoolhouse Press for US$12+shipping (in my opinion this is the best version of the pattern since it has line by line directions rather than the “pithy” directions in the other sources). The pattern for just the baby version can be found in the books Opinionated Knitter and The Knitter’s Almanac, among other places.
Now that I’ve knit the Baby Surprise Jacket twice, I’m not sure I would knit it again. It is really cool to turn a knitted blob into a little sweater, but the miles of garter stitch are just plain boring! 😉
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February 22, 2016 at 15:52
Rae
How adorable! And those little sheep are the cherries on top! LOL!
Ok, my first thought was after reading the title was that I couldn’t wait to type “Congratulations” here in the comment box. LOL!
I’ve always thought knitting was such a cool thing to do — it looks like it can be so relaxing. I’ve never learned but I think this is something I’d like to learn how to do in the near future.