After Barbara's enticing description of the Baby Surprise Jacket, I went in search of directions for an adult version thereof (mostly because I don't have any babies to knit for at the moment). In my hunt, I discovered this knitting video on Amazon.com. I couldn't resist; I indulged myself by ordering it (along with the utterly delightful book
A Place in the Shower Schedule, published by our colleague-in-blogging, Fran Baker).
What a treat it is to have Elizabeth Zimmerman's own daughter, the gentle-voiced Meg Swansen show us her mother's great invention step-by-step. Her unhurried speech, nimble fingers, and some great camera angles make the instructions crystal clear. Best of all, she demosntrates all sorts of nifty additional techniques and features, such as:
-- invisible cast-on
-- i-cord cast-off
--various shaped collars
--a matching bonnet with and without a flange
--button loops
--adding a continuous line as a design element
--and, of course, how to size up for the adult version.
Somehow
seeing these techniques, as opposed to
reading about them, makes them easier to learn.
Ms. Swansen also shows you some of the Baby Surprise Jackets her mother knitted in various colors and designs.
One camera trick amused me. I'm sure you've seen old movies where the hero and heroine sink onto the bed locked in a passionate embrace, and then the camera cuts to blowing curtains or breaking waves or some other metaphor for sex.
Well, in this video, when Ms. Swansen needs to do some boring old knitting back and forth before she gets to the next step of the pattern, the camera pans up to the autumn leaves fluttering on the trees around where she's sitting. She's invented a metaphor for doing garter stitch: fall foliage.
Does anyone else have a favorite knitting video? I'm hooked now.
Labels: Baby Surprise Jacket, video