Indulgence: Video knitting

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.

Baby Surprise Jacket #2 - finished!

I am completely delighted with the finished project. The Baby Surprise Jacket is even more fun the second time around. I see why people end up making dozens of them.

Details: Berroco Comfort Yarn in (obviously!) yellow and white. I used 1.3 skeins of yellow and maybe 1/3 skein of white. Knit Picks Options #6, I think. Maybe #5. I'd have to check. Comfort is wonderful to knit with but with one minor quibble: it's kind of splitty and I do not like splitty yarn. Other than that it was a dream project.

The buttons are from As Cute As A Button and I love them too. I almost went with fat round yellow ones but the daisies were irresistible.

If you haven't already knitted a BSJ, you owe it to yourself to try one. I mean, what knitting project would keep your techie husband up a few extra hours while he tried to prove his theory that Elizabeth Zimmermann reverse-engineered it. I watched as he deconstructed an old shirt to prove it (I wanted to take pictures but he wasn't thrilled with the idea) and then whipped out one of my EZ books and read him the Legend of the Baby Surprise Jacket.

Then I whipped her Pi Are Squares on him, followed by the EPS.

"You're right," he said. "Knitters are geniuses."

I rest my case.

Baby Surprise Jacket #2 - almost done!

bsj2-prefinished, originally uploaded by wickedsplitty5.

The photo is ten minutes old. (I'm reasonably sure my neighbors think I'm crazy. "Who is this woman who hangs knitting from trees?")

The knitting part of the project is completed. I wove in my ends. Now all I have to do is seam it and button it and light a candle to the genius that is Elizabeth Zimmermann.

My husband is an engineer. He has an analytical mind. I tossed him the completed BSJ and said, "Turn this into a sweater."

I think I heard his brain cry.

Winners 17 & 18 . . . and A Plan

Let's take care of the fun stuff first. Winners #17 and #18 are:

Elizabeth and Martha! Congratulations to both of you. I'll ship your prizes tomorrow.

I had a brainstorm last night. A true Eureka! moment. You know how you blink your eyes and it's the end of September and the holidays are starting to breathe down your neck and you know you'll never in a million years finish all the things you want to finish for the people you love and why didn't you start knitting sooner . . . like back in July?

Yep. I'm starting. Actually let me amend that: I've started. I decided (this is brilliant) (it really is) to cast on for a number of the items I know I want to knit up as gifts. Maybe do a row or two just to truly commit myself to the project. Bag 'em in Ziplocs with all the necessary yarns, needles, extra doodads. That way I can reach for a bag in spare moments and actually accomplish something other than moaning about how I'd love to be working on another Vintage Velvet scarf but I just don't feel like casting on and knitting the onerous first row.

Last night I started a bright yellow and white Baby Surprise Jacket in Berroco Comfort on Addi Lace 24" US6s and a pair of pink Regia Silk socks on 32" Knit Picks Options #3, Magic Loop. I want to start two Vintage Velvet scarves, restart the Sea Foam scarf, and (even though I swore I'd never knit another one) a Fiesta La Boheme Famous Shawl, and a sweater for Goldisox. Pattern to be determined. Oh yeah, and continue working on the Elizabeth Zimmermann Garter Stitch Blankets . . . and the Log Cabin.

And write a book.

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.

Winner #9

Three cheers for Linda Ladwig, our winner #9. Check out Linda's blog - I know you'll love it.

The day completely got away from me but I did find time to work on the Baby Surprise Jacket which all of a sudden started to actually make sense to me. I could see the sleeves! I could see how the cast-on turned into cuffs. I suddenly got where the neck edge was. It's a totally amazing knitting experience, well worth the new grey hairs and my increased vocabulary of four-letter words.

More about that tomorrow!