Swatchless

So many of my friends and colleagues are having babies these days!  I have been enjoying knitting teensy tiny baby things and mailing them off to various locations.  One of my favourite patterns is the Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ) {Ravelink} by Elizabeth Zimmerman.  The pattern (originally published in 1968) can be found in Zimmerman’s books “The Opinionated Knitter” and “Knitting Workshop” or can be ordered separately from School House Press, and it will be mailed to you.

The sweater seen below was made for a dear friend in Japan who became a father over the summer to baby Kouki.  It is knit with blue-green sock yarn (Lana Grossa Mega Boots Stretch) that has a gradual colour change, punctuated with black stripes of Kroy.

Baby Surprise Jacket

The sweater is cast on around the cuffs and across the back, and knit with mitered corners until you reach the button band and bottom edge of the sweater.  It is knit in one piece and has only one seam to sew up (I HATE sewing up seams and weaving in ends!).  There are infinite possibilities of stripes and colours, and it is a great way to use up scraps from your stash.

Baby Surprise Jacket

Different sizes are achieved by using different needles and wool combinations.  Zimmerman’s philosophy is that babies come in all sizes, so what you knit is sure to fit someone’s child.  I knit by that philosophy most of the time!

The first time I knit this sweater was for baby Rachel.  I was a bit nervous.  The pattern is written in a very conversational style…with warnings that what you are creating will not look like a sweater, but to stick with it until the end when all will be revealed.  When I cast off, I had this oddly shaped creation–my first Baby Surprise Jacket, knit from stash yarn of varying compostition.

Finished the knitting.....is this really a sweater?

I followed the folding instructions as drawn out on the pattern page, and it is remarkable to see how this can become a sweater.  I passed it around to my family members and friends, and had fun watching them struggle to figure out what it was supposed to be.

now it's a sweater!

I made several more BSJs with stash yarn, and I’m impressed at how different each sweater looks!  It is fun to plan out crazy colour combinations.

BSJ for baby Paxton

Baby Surprise Jacket from Stash Yarn

I wanted to try this pattern with self patterning yarn to see how well the stripes would show with the garter stitch, and the variation in row length.  The following two sweaters are the results of that experimentation.  I think it turned out very nicely, and had far fewer ends to weave in!

baby surprise jackets

So, if you are looking for an interesting knitting project that will let you showcase your colour sense, and creativity give this one a try!  People will definitely ask you what you’re making.

After all of the Hallowe’en fun, did you remember to change your clock?  I certainly enjoyed the extra hour of sleep (who am I kidding…the extra hour of knitting) I had last night.  Yesterday, our family dressed up to give the trick-or-treaters a scare.

the hands and faces glow in the dark

Some children yelled for their parents, others refused to take candy from those bony fingers, and others stood there telling me “I’m not scared”, “You’re not creepy”, “You’re not real”.  They can’t handle the suspense and our silence as we give them candy.  Others were masked and robed and sitting outside completely still, or operating the fog machine and strobe light.

jack-o-lantern

We went trick-or-treating at my grandmother’s house.  She has lost track of how many pumpkins she’s carved in her 94 years.  I brought my recent knitting to show her.  She was excited by some of the things that are on my needles.  She told me that she’s a swatchless knitter also because she has no time to waste anymore.

I have no time to waste either!  I cast on several projects this fall for colleagues and friends who have new babies in the family.  The babies are getting bigger by the day, and I’ve been ignoring the projects, knitting mittens instead.  Here is one project that I finished.  The pattern is Phazelia’s baby socks {Ravelink}.  It’s based on a Turkish sock pattern.  They are a very satisfying knit.  The pattern is easy to follow, and explains well how to construct the sock.  It comes with 3 different stitch pattern options, and a blank grid to design your own.  The sole of the foot can incorporate the baby’s name, or birth year too.  I think that they will make lovely Christmas tree ornaments when the baby outgrows them.

Turkish Baby Socks

And….for all those enjoying the extra hour from the time change, be inspired by these lovely tams (KnitPicks kit), which can have the clock face knit in colourwork numbers, or in cabled roman numerals.  You can even knit your own clock face!  I am not a tam wearer, and I don’t really need a knitted clock face, but I am inspired by the cable roman numerals.  Who knows where I can incorporate that into a project later on.

clock tams