Winner #14 and the BSJ

I'm delighted to announce that Teabird (also teabird at Ravelry) is winner #14. In the interest of full disclosure, Teabird was my favorite librarian when I lived on Long Island. This is what I love about the internet--how else would we have found ourselves back in contact again after twenty years?

Remember it's not too late to enter. Just send me an email with TWO in the subject header and I'll make sure you're in the running.

And now let me present my finished Baby Surprise Jacket. No buttons yet but other than that I'm finished and pretty happy with it. Yes, it's a circus-y, cotton candy kind of BSJ--not at all the crunchy granola BSJs I've seen. Acrylic, baby! Machine washable and dryable Lion Brand Baby Soft Print in Carousel for the body; Lion Brand BSP in bubble gum pink for one stripe and Stylecraft Wonderbaby in powder blue for the other. I used an Addi Turbo US5 lace needle (circ 32") and edged it with slip stitch crochet.

And now that I know what I'm doing and understand the pattern, I'm going to cast on and do it all over again in yellow and white Berroco Comfort.

What did I learn about knitting the BSJ?

1. Do not change colors during the 10 ridge/90 stitch section or you'll be pushing ends out of the way when you're trying to cleanly pick up stitches along the side.
2. Add stripe or two right after the initial 5 stitch increases on either side; that will give you lovely stripes right above the cuffs.
3. If you're using a busy yarn (which I definitely was) follow Meg Swansen's suggestion and use a coilless safety pin to mark the two neutral stitches. You'll be glad you did.
4. Get yourself a copy of Meg Swansen's Baby Surprise Jacket DVD. It made all the difference.

Highly recommended knitting experience.