FO - Crochet BSJ

Well, strictly speaking it's not actually a baby surprise jacket, it's the All-in-One Crochet Cardigan pattern from Stitch Stud. By hey, it's basically a rather clever crochet version of the pattern without the catchy name. I used the US version and translated it myself as I was too impatient to wait for the UK one to come out but you can get both from his website if you click the pattern link. Hey ho.

Right the project details, I used Sirdar Baby Bonus DK and whilst it looks completely yellow on the picture is actually strands of yellow and white plied together. I know it's acrylic yarn but I go back to the Sirdar Bonus again and again as it's so practical and incredibly good value. The pattern used almost a complete ball of yarn. One of these days I will actually remember to measure the size of the finished pattern but from memory it was probably for about a 3 month size baby.

For some reason, I decided to use the 4mm bamboo hook that I got free with Let's Knit and while I persevered and used it throughtout, I don't think I'll be using it again. I'm not sure I like bamboo hooks (perhaps it's just the cheap ones?), in fact I have some bamboo dpn's too and again I find they're just a bit too grippy. Good for some yarns I guess so I'm not going to be chucking them out just yet. I'll be going back to my old metal aero's for the next project. I guess these days they'd probably be described as vintage but I love them. They're so smooth and the grip is in just the right place.

Will I make the pattern again? Yes for sure. I just need someone else to have another baby to give me another excuse to make it again!

Another BSJ?

It's been a few months since I made my BSJ and I've been looking for an excuse to make another to a while. Imagine my delight when I was browsing the BSJ group (Ravelry link) and discovered that there was a crochet version in the works. I managed to bag myself a copy of the pattern as soon as it was published and went stash diving for something suitable.Here's how it looked over the weekend (when we still had sunshine!). I'd ground to a bit of a halt at this point as I wasn't sure whether I'd made a mistake or not but then Monday night, I had a bit of an epiphany and it's now racing along again. If it carries on like this, it'll be done before the weekend.

Just in case you fancy a go, the pattern is courtesy of Stitch Stud and you can get it here :)

Finished - Baby Surprise Jacket

I finally stitched the buttons onto my BSJ this morning so now it's all ready for wrapping and delivery. As I've said before, brown's not usually my first choice of colour but I'm really pleased with this. The stripes definately lift the colour as well although next time I knit this, I might not put in quite so many or maybe make them bigger so there aren't so many ends to darn in!

I didn't actually buy any buttons until last week as I really wasn't quite sure which colour to choose. I came across these ones last week and they're perfect. They even have a little stitching detail around them which picks up the colour in the yarn. The right choice of buttons can make or break a garment so I'm glad I waited.

Right the final details:
Pattern is the Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman (bought from KnitnCaboodle here in the UK)
Needles: 4.5mm 80cm circular
Yarn: Sirdar Bonus DK (used about 75g of the ball) and odds and ends for the stripes
The verdict, will I knit this again? Yes, most definately. I loved the simple construction and the finished shape.

A BSJ at last

So here's the first of my Christmas knits. I have finally managed to get my grubby little mitts on a copy of the Baby Surprise Jacket pattern by Elizabeth Zimmerman. A few months ago a lady, who I've never met again, brought a couple of these along to our Stitch and Bitch meeting. One already stitched up and another unfinished to show how it was constructed. It's such a simple idea to make a cardigan completely in one piece and so completely unlike anything I'd seen before that I was hooked.
It was my first ever introduction to EZ and I've been trying to get hold of the pattern ever since. I've got a couple of her books now but I've never managed to get hold of the Opinionated Knitter, even my library (my favourite source of knitting books) was unable to get it. I have found a couple of sources in the US but the price of getting it shipped just made it unworkable. So you can imagine my delight the other week when I discovered that KnitnCaboodle are now stocking it and two days later the pattern was in my hand.
I have to say it was all I could do not to cast it on there and then but I was in mid bag making swing so I couldn't. As soon as the craft weekend was out of the way though I dived straight into my stash to find something suitable and cast straight on. This is actually the second version as I cast it on initially in blue but it just wasn't working for some reason and after all my excitement, it was becoming a chore to knit. So a change of needles later and a new ball of yarn and the rest is history. Dexter's BSJ is growing and growing, this picture is from a couple of days ago, I'm already past the first mitred corners and I'm increasing again. It's actually almost starting to look like a cardigan now. If it keeps growing like this, it might even be finished by the start of next week.