We’ve been getting lots of questions about our March choice for Makers’ League, The Baby Surprise Jacket.
First off, we want to say…take a deep breath! It’s just a little baby sweater. It’s just a garter stitch sweater that when complete is folded up in a certain way than then. Voila! A sweater!
You only need to know how to cast on, knit, increase, decrease and cast off! The sweater has a very unique construction. You won’t be able to picture it while you are knitting. So just trust the pattern. Cast on the right amount, put your markers in and follow the pattern!
So, how many stitches to cast on is the first question…
Take a look at these images.
Baby Surprise Sizes
Both of these sweaters had the same number of cast on stitches (the middle number from the pattern) and both were knit with worsted weight yarn.
The top sweater was knit on a US5 in Malabrigo Rios. Carroll got 6 stitches to the inch. It measures for a 3-6 month old sizing.
The bottom sweater was knit from our Liberty Wool Kit, on a US7. Carly got 5 stitches to the inch. It measures for a 9 – 12 month old. Carly had about 10 grams of yarn left over from the 3 balls of yarn in our kit. If you want to make a bigger sweater than this you should purchase an additional skein of yarn.
Here is another picture
Baby Surprise Neve
The bottom sweater is the same as in the photo above. The sweater on top is knit from our Juniper Moon Farms kit Neve. It is knit on a US6 casting on for the smallest size. We would say it measures for a 0-3 month old. There is plenty of yarn in this kit to knit a bigger size too!
You can play this two different ways…
You can just pick a size, pick a needle and cast on. You’ll knit line by line, fold it up and seam. You’ll hand this lovely sweater to a new mom or donate it to a hospital or school auction! Happiness!
Or…
You can do lots of research before you knit. There is lots of information about the BSJ out there. There is a whole Ravelry group devoted to this garment. There is a BSJ Wiki page with so much info in it that every question will have an answer. You’ll then do some measurements of the child in question, you’ll do a few gauge swatches to help you choose your needle and size. But at some point, you’ll cast on! You’ll knit line by line, fold it up and seam. You’ll hand this lovely sweater to a mom or donate it to a hospital or school auction! Happiness!
However you choose to knit your BSJ we are sure you’ll love to knit it! It’s a right of passage for all knitters. We can’t wait to see yours!