Baby Surprise Jacket!

So, I tried to do Elizabeth Zimmerman's Adult Surprise Jacket [Rav link]. There is an instruction that says "keep the center stitch of the double-decrease constant!" This does not mean, evidently, keep the center stitch as the same # stitch (in my case, 80). That gives you weird, weird shapes. I didn't realize just how badly my shape was off until I was about halfway through the jacket. I had to frog the ENTIRE THING.

Not that the ASJ is a "normal" shape, but still.

So, I tried to do Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket [Rav link]. That went much, much better!

I was originally just going to knit it in green yarn leftover from my Enlightened Hoodie, but added some black.


Then it was a case of figuring out how to fold the thing: Figure A isn't it. It does, however, give a good idea of how the stripes will work. The cast-on edge is at the top of the photo, the final cast-off edge is at the bottom. You can see where I put the stripes:

Fig. A
Now, in Figure B, you can see how those same stripes are placed in the finished jacket. (And yes, the "surprise" is that this weird amoeba-yarn-thing actually folds into a jacket.) My first stripe started at what wound up being around the armpits.

Fig. B
I did add some stuff to the finished jacket: knitted buttons (knit a square. Run yarn around the whole edge, pull tight. Instant button!) and a collar.

I think it came out pretty great!

The Bootie Call

Once again, I am knitting/crocheting because my mother made me. Yes, I'm old enough to not cave, but mom-guilt combined with the insane competitve streak I have with my non-crafting sister pretty much guarantees that I will knit/crochet insanely cute things in insanely short timeframes, just to prove I can. So, the Bootie Call was made, and thus, I crocheted booties. (PS, my mother has no idea why the phrase "bootie call" is making me laugh so hard. Please do nothing to enlighten her.)


First, my sister is a Shoe Girl. Think Kristin Davis's character on Sex & the City, only with red hair. Part of her husband's speech at their rehersal dinner included a recital of all the major Shoe Types (Manolosk, Jimmy Choos, and Christian Louboutin). Thus, I was ordered to start with some cute little Christian Loubooties:
Then came the idea of "make some for each month of the year!!" This was quickly shot down, as the child in question lives in Miami, which is not known for really *needing* clothing for at least half the year, if one goes solely by temperatures. I was willing to go for another four months' worth, though, because it *can* get chilly from time to time, and my little niece isn't an ice skater (yet), so her cold-survival reflexes aren't there yet. First off, October - and some cute little pumpkin booties. These were based off Lisa Cro's Easy Baby Booties pattern - I added some scalloping to the top, and the little pumpkin-vine tie. The Shearlings at the bottom were also based off this pattern, with some obvious changes. The others booties are all just me wingin' it as usual.

November means Turkeys. Mom seemes to think I'm adding little turkey-heads to these, but I think that would just freak the infant out, and give her something to chew on that maybe she shouldn't, as toes are totally reachable-for-chewing when one is small. I'll stick with the pretty colored feathers, thanks.

December means tiny Santa booties/Mary Janes. With fuzzy yarn. And sparkly yarn, since I needed it for the bottom of the Loubooties anyway:

Then, January and February might actually be *really* cold, so I made some big enough that socks - thick socks - could be worn underneath. Unless, of course, the child gets my sister's long, pointy feet - which is possible. Then maybe just thin socks. But cute little Shearling-type booties. These, as you can probably tell from the number of photos, are my favorites.

Okay, mom, that's it for the baby for a while. I have an O.W.L. I need to have half-finished in two weeks!!