My First BSJ

I finished my first Baby Surprise Jacket last night. What a feat! Elizabeth Zimmerman is a true genius, and how she ever came up with this amazing little gem of a pattern will forever mystify most of us. It is a project not only in knitting, but in origami.

Tackling this iconic project with a "just wing-it" attitude was my first move. I didn't need the jacket to be a specific size, so I chose some yarn from my stash (Patons SWS in Natural Pink, #70415) which I felt would accentuate the unique pattern and dove right in--casting on with size US9 needles and knitting the garter-stitch with abandon. Sure there were plenty of head-scratching, what the hell just happened moments, countless recounting of stitches and frogging, but ultimately I was very pleased with my results. Here are a few links which proved inspirational and turned out to be VERY helpful to me in those dark "what the hell?" moments:

• http://boiknittech.blogspot.com/2008/01/baby-surprise-jacket-spreadsheet.html
• http://doulicia.blogspot.com/2007/04/baby-surprise-jacket-and-notes.html
• http://www.knitting-and.com/wiki/Baby_Surprise_Jacket

The sweater came off the needles quite a bit larger than I had imagined. My finished project is about a size 4T, which turns out to be perfect for my niece's upcoming birthday. I think the self-striping yarn works beautifully to highlight the sweater's lines. Finding the sleeves a little short for a size 4T sweater, I grabbed a crochet hook and added some length, along with a few eyelets and a ruffled cuff. All and all I'm quite happy with this sweater and can't wait to see it on my lovely little model.

Koko Kimono

A few years ago I knit my first sweater, this pretty little kimono from Jil Eaton's book Minnies Quick Knits for Babies and Toddlers. I did a lot of frogging (rip it, rip it) and re-knitting, but I was really happy with the way it turned out in end. It was made as a birthday present for my niece, and the yarn I used was Berroco Glace in champagne pink. I recently found out that a friend of mine is pregnant, and I knew I wanted to break out this pattern again. I decided that the same yarn in cool red would be a nice unisex color (as my friend is one who refuses to take advantage of technology in favor of surprise). I have completed the back of the sweater, and now wish that I had kept my notes from the first time around. The pattern calls for an edge of four rows of garter stitch, which is what I did on the back. When starting on the front left piece it again calls for the four rows of garter and then to begin in stockinette working to the last two stitchs and working those in garter. This leaves you with the garter edging on the bottom and righthand side of that piece, effectively making it the right side of the cardigan instead of the left as the pattern intends. Now because the left and right sides on this cardigan are not identical, this would change the side that ties. On my first sweater, I made the mistake of just adding an extra row of garter to get the piece back on track. Of course when I went to sew the back and front pieces together, there was a slight difference in the edging of the front and back. Only I noticed, but still, I noticed. This time around I'm debating as to whether I should just leave the ties on the opposite side of the sweater or disregard the pattern and work the garter edge at the beginning of the row, which may throw off my decrease rows later in the pattern. I dislike decreasing on the purl side, but I may have to just live with it. Any suggestions?

Happy 60th Birthday, Mom!

I wanted to make something special for my mom's birthday this year, so I knit this throw with Elsbeth Lavold Silky Cashmere in color 001 Smoky. I found this yarn for a steal at Webs online store (http://www.yarn.com/). The color is a beautiful taupe and has an excellent drape and sheen. I spent some time trying to figure out the best stitch for the project. I wanted a stitch that would make this luxury yarn (only 45 yards to a skein) go further, give me a nice lacey appearance and be reversible. I found the Turkish stitch on about.com (http://knitting.about.com/od/stitchglossary/g/turkish_stitch.htm). By the way, the Turkish stitch is worked over a multiple of three stitches not "an even number of stitches" as the link describes. After some swatching, I decided it would be perfect for this throw. It couldn't have been an easier stitch, and the project knit up quickly on size 13 needles. I have some yarn left over, so someone on my holiday list just might find themselves with a cashmere hat in their stocking.

Another Anouk

Well, it's been a while since my last post . . . I have since finished a few projects, started quite a few more that remain works in progress and dreamed of even more that will someday grace my needles. Here is a photo of the Anouk jumper that I finished in December for my youngest niece. I love the way these turned out, and they made great Christmas presents for the girls! One of these days I'll get pictures of the girls wearing them. I have enough yarn left to come up with some kind of little matching purse or clutch for each girl, so there's another project or two to add to my list.

Yummy Noro Yarn

Ok, I love Noro Silk Garden Lite! Oh the joy of a striping yarn in such a fantastic fiber with such long long stretches of color. Each color appears only once in the whole skein, so I was able to make a large project and still have it stripe nicely. And it is very soft and nice to knit with, although there were sometimes little twigs and such in the yarn. They are easy to pick out though. I chose color 2011, which was greys blacks browns olives lime green orange and red. Very interesting to knit with! The project I chose was the Lady of the Forest shawl designed by Ilga Leja. This pattern was such a pleasure to work with as it was very precise and absolutely flawless. I get so fed up with patterns that are riddled with mistakes or excluded instructions. This one was very clearly written and easy to follow. The challenge was joining yarn as I always tried to join the colors exactly so the joins would not show. This meant I used parts of 12 skeins but I think if I had not been so careful about it I would have probably been able to knit this with 10. What was nice was that the package of yarn I bought was all from the same dye lot (never again will I talk myself into that mistake) and appeared to be broken off one from the other, so it was mostly a matter of finding the next ball that naturally followed. The result is that the two sides match and it all is seamless. It was fun to knit and I want to knit something else large with Noro! I decided to make a frog closure for it using Nicky Epstein's Knitting Beyond the Edge book which Kevin gave me for Christmas. Nice to use a knitting book that has been sitting on the shelf! haven't attached the frog yet, so here's a picture of its parts while I blocked them. The straight one I'll coil to make a loop for the one with the "button."

The only change I made to the pattern was to knit it in Stockinette stitch instead of Garter as I thought it would show off the color changes in the yarn better, which it does, but it also made the front quite long. I like it that way though. You can see that two of the orange stripes on the back appear to be close together. That is because the first skein I use had been wound backwards (as far as color order) by Noro! Was strange. But I like the way it came out.

Ethan's Vests

I haven't posted these, so here they are. Both made with Rowan Cashsoft DK. I used the vest pattern from Lucinda Guy's And So To Bed and the Moon comes from there as well. The skull and crossbones I drew on graph paper and knitted from that. That was fun! These are better for Ethan than a full sweater as his core stays warm but I don't have to deal with bulky sweater sleeves when layering him to go anywhere.