Friday, July 30, 2010

Doll-Baby Surprise Jacket

 I finally stopped spinning my wheels long enough to try out the concept of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. Ravelry had a pattern for a doll's size version which allowed me to knit one up in a hour or two and see how it came together, solving the big mystery for me. Isn't it cute?



Now what shall I do with this knowledge? The adult version is intriguing but since this is knit all in one piece, it ends up being a lot of stitches all at once on the needles, which loses its appeal to me. The thing I do like is that there is a chance that no thinking is required to have matching stripes all the way through. I love the no thinking/planning aspect and the using up of lots of scrap yarn in the construction.

See how much sweater there is? I grabbed these pictures and the following ones from the Ravelry site. I am not so happy with horizontal stripes across the vast territory of  the butt.



On the other hand I love how the front looks and yet have complaints about the sleeves and the way they come together. Is there no pleasing me? Why can't I be like the hundreds of knitters of this cardigan who rave about how much they loved making it?

I could go this route and just eliminate the sleeves entirely and get the striped effect. I think this knitter had luck enter into her knitting, just a bit.
I do believe that Guru1 on Ravelry has the perfect near-version.

She writes::I never do a pattern exactly as written - just ask anyone! For instance, on the bottom half of this sweater, instead of doing one back and two front pieces, I chose to do two side pieces. Same basic results but I like the placement of the miters better.
I also chose a lighter weight yarn than called for so that I could follow the instructions for the larger size and end up with 3/4 length sleeves without measuring much.

I love her attitude, so much like mine!
This one has the top down raglan shoulders which I love and can easily fake from a standard pattern in my library. The bottom half can be made in two pieces like she did, which can be picked up not sewn, and if I am careful, I can match the stripes by counting rows.
This may require a teeny bit of thinking, which is all I am up for these days.
Don't hold your breath waiting for a finished project anytime soon. I am still in the deciding stages.

12 comments:

  1. I love how your mind works through these things!

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  2. My knitting is pretty limited these days, but I love this blog.

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  3. Wonderful jacket...want to try it but haven't yet...Thanks for going over all the options...I can't wait to see yours....

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  4. Melody - great sweater idea. I'm not much of a knitter yet but it does intrique me. What will you come up with - can't wait to see. Have a great everything!

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  5. Anonymous10:51 AM

    You could mitigate the effect of the horizontal butt stripes by using cooler, darker colors for that section...as long as you're using scraps anyway. Mary

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  6. Your baby surprise jacket looks very similar to one I crocheted for my daughter when she was a baby. I have never been good at following directions in crocheting (I usually wing it) but that sweater was really easy. Haven't thought of that in years!

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  7. Thank you so much for saying my version is 'near perfect'. I still need to perfect it for my own body type - a fitted waistline will make it hang better on my frame. The next one will use Yoyo so I hope it turns out as I envision it.
    And you're welcome for the use of my pictures, etc.

    Thanks,
    Guru1 aka Lori at The Crafty Lady in Lacombe Alberta

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  8. I made the baby version, just because.

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  10. Anonymous4:01 PM

    I'm just finishing my first ASJ - I LOVE the last jacket as it's miters are really cool - although I don't have any idea how those mitars in the back work ... :) LOL!
    Thanks for the link - I favored it on Ravelry.
    Follow my name back to see my attempts ... it's not done yet. ;)

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  11. Anonymous6:59 AM

    Hi : )
    Shopping on the internet or in-store? which often do you realy go for? truly wondering lol.. i favor in-store only because i don't really like waiting for it to come!
    Cheers
    Isabella

    ReplyDelete

Hello,
So nice of you to drop by. I love your comments, and if you would really like a reply, please email me at fibermania at g mail dot com