The Baby Surprise Jacket

Once again, thanks are due to Judie for a new project inspiration!  This time I turn my attention to Elizabeth Zimmerman's hand knit pattern called the Baby Surprise Jacket, and the machine knit adaptation credited to Alethea Robinson which can be found here.

If you are a hand knitter, you likely are familiar with Elizabeth Zimmerman's work, but if you're not I would encourage you to look her up!  Her main design philosophy is one of understanding your knitting and not "blindly following" a pattern, which is certainly what we have been working on in this blog!  Some of her patterns are very traditional, but the ones I admire the most are the ones that employ unique construction techniques (like the Baby Surprise Jacket, hereafter in this post to be referred to as the BSJ) or instructions that are guidelines and learning opportunities, not necessarily row-by-row instructions.

As an example of this, one of the first Zimmerman designs I tackled, many years ago, was her Pi Shawl.  It is still one of my top ten fun projects that I have ever knit, because you can decide as you go what you want to do.  Interweave published a great article a few years ago on it that you may want to check out here. 

Another example of her unique construction techniques is her pattern for her Sideways Mystery Mittens.  Even if you find them a bit odd looking, the construction is fascinating and opens the door (and mind) to other non-traditional construction techniques which could also be adapted to machine knitting.  I have the Schoolhouse Press DVDs "Knitting Workshop" and "A Knitting Glossary" and if you can get your hands on either or both of those through the library, a friend, or the website I highly recommend them.  In one of those she talks about the inspiration behind her pattern for the Bog Jacket, and why its construction method is of specific interest to weavers because of the minimal waste of any fabric as it comes off the loom.  For a little history on the bog jackets in general you can go to this link.

As I was looking into trying to find the hand knitting pattern for the BSJ, I saw that Zimmerman's grandson has published a book entitled The Complete Surprise which expands on the BSJ to include information on how to make many modifications, including custom sizing to make an Adult Surprise jacket, or using the mitering technique to construct other types of garments including a bolero, a scarf, a bonnet, and a baby snuggle suit, to name a few.

So here is my first kick at the can, using Premiere Yarns "Candy Shop", a self striping 100% acrylic yarn.

This takes no time at all to knit up, and the fun starts in deciding how to finish it - what type of ribbing to add to the bottom and cuffs (if any), and what to do around the neck and front opening, etc.  The body of the sweater itself employs short rowing as you can see by the triangle cutouts in the schematic above.  Everything else is up to you - yarn, gauge, how to cast on, how to cast off, and how to embellish.  I encourage you to check out the Ravelry group devoted to this project, the Wiki they have created that has a wealth of information, and also Roberta Rose Kelley's YouTube video on the BSJ. 

The ingenuity of Elizabeth Zimmerman was extraordinary and her patterns and construction methods are timeless.

Nancy