Monday, April 23, 2007

Surprise!

After much too long, I finally have something other than a sock to show you! This is my first attempt at the well-known baby surprise jacket (BSJ) by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I had no idea how this piece would come together as I knit it, so I followed the instructions with blind faith that it would all work out. Turns out, it did! And it was a lot of fun.

In case you've never seen the magic of the baby surprise, I thought I'd show it to you in several phases:



Isn't that cool? It's like an origami trick, only the result is more long-lasting. This one will be for my niece, who's expecting in August. I'd like to make another for a neighbor, but her baby is due in a couple of weeks and I'm not sure the sweater would be large enough for him by the time it's cool enough again to wear it. If I were ambitious enough to do the math, I'm sure it could be super-sized pretty easily.

If you're wondering, the yarn I used is Lorna's Laces superwash wool in the Ravenswood colorway. I adore the yarn and will probably order more in a different colorway for my next baby project. This little sweater took only a little more than a skein from start to finish! I'm thinking of adding a matching pair of booties to the sweater before gifting it to the mom-to-be. Hooray for baby knits!

12 comments:

Theresa said...

Cool photo series!

Carole Knits said...

It's adorable and I love the photo montage.

clothesknit said...

Lovely! That is for one very lucky baby -- and I loved the photo show...very neat!

PlazaJen said...

That is awesome! I am going to have to make one now, too. :)

Elizabeth said...

Wonderful. And thanks for showing us how it morphs like that. I've never made one myself, and people never show the back view. This gives me a bit more of an idea of how it all goes together.

La Cabeza Grande said...

That's pretty terrific work with the jacket AND the origami action!

I'm a fan of LL too. Which weight did you use?

Anonymous said...

wow, not that is cool!

a friend to knit with said...

Beautiful baby surprise jacket! I love the way you showed the sequence. That is one lucky baby!

goodkarma said...

I love seeing how the BSJ comes together, yes, just like origami. Cool slideshow, too!

Anonymous said...

So cute! And the photos are so great, and helpful to those who are working on their first bsj...thanks!

Dana S. Whitney said...

I love the baby surprise jacket. I've done a couple. Hmm. I have a neice that's expecting, and my daughter's college roommate. Maybe that would get me unstuck from the log cabin afghan!

ChelleC said...

I love it! And thanks for posting the little bootie pattern that goes so well with it.