Surprise!

I stopped knitting for a few years after getting married and moving to New Jersey. I couldn't find a project that I could finish. I mentioned to a friend that I was pregnant and she mailed a copy of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Newsletter and leaflet #21 which contained the Baby Surprise Jacket pattern. What I liked about the pattern was that an advanced beginner could do it, minimal finishing techniques were needed, the garter stitch pattern was used throughout, and there was no "breaking off or joining-in of yarn" as Zimmerman decribes.

Once I found out I was having a girl, I purchased 2 skeins of Koigu's Painter's Palette Premium Merino (KPPPM) fingering yarn in a pretty azalia color at Purl Soho in New York City. I love this yarn because it is easy to work with and machine-washable. I got the correct gauge of 5 stitches to an 1" using size 0 needles. The pattern wasn't as easy to follow as I had hoped. I had to unravel the sweater several times and start over. I finally realized that counting rows is very important when you make the jacket. I wound up creating a cheat sheet to help keep track of the number of stitches in each row.

Anyone who has completed the Baby Surprise Jacket knows that after you bind off your stitches you are left with a "funny-looking object" as Zimmerman puts it. Nevertheless, it's surprising how the "object" results in such a cute, little jacket for a baby once you use Zimmerman's drawing as a guide.

This is the finished project:

I enjoyed making the jacket so much I made 3 more.

I was also surprised to notice that the jacket turned out in different sizes depending on the yarn used. For example, the Koigu's KPPPM resulted in a smaller size that fit Lydia when she was 3 to 6 months old and the Koigu's Kersti Merino Crepe yarn, which is a heavier merino wool yarn, resulted in a larger sweater that fit Lydia when she was about 10 months old.  

Below are examples of the jacket using the Kersti Merino Crepe yarn:

Comments

[Jenny]

wow! Your work is amazing! Great job!