The return of the Baby Surprise Jacket

We had a quiet weekend - Leon has a nasty cold, and I'm fighting off the same bug. It did give me a chance to knit up a quick pastel charity baby set.

I started with a Baby Surprise Jacket pattern by Elizabeth Zimmermann. I've knit 12 of these before, but the previous one was in 2021. I love this design for using up leftovers because, no matter what, When I looked at my pile of pastel scraps I was worried about getting the sleeves of a jumper to match, and then I remembered that, with a BSJ the stripes are all ways symmetrical.

The only problem with the BSJ is that the sleeves are three quarter length. This time I picked up the sleeve stitches and added some extra garter. Next time I'll use a provisional cast on for the sleeve parts, or even knit the sleeve extensions first. This is such a well loved pattern that there are suggestions for every variation available.

Then I made a matching hat. It looks tiny off, but it's actually fine - it the adult sized head moseld I have (I saw in an old post that I'd named her Zen, for that blank-eyed expression).

Now I'm doing another hat, this one in grey to complete a set (knit by someone else) with a grey jumper. Then I'm casting on for more holiday knitting, because we are off the Adelaide for the Cabaret Festival on Thursday.

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What I made, by Sharon

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