Surprise - It's a Jacket

This piece of knitting was quite a challenge for me.  I was intrigued with Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket and wanted to give it a try.  The instructions are written for someone more experienced and very comfortable with knitting.  Fortunately, our local library had a DVD by Meg Swanson showing how to complete each step of the pattern.  The knitting itself is not really difficult, and I was able to complete it with help from the video instructions.


When the knitting is complete, you have a strange piece with some interesting bulges.

Simply flip up each side, sew the shoulder seams and SURPRISE, you have a baby jacket!  This is difficult to envision with the pictures, and believe me it is a surprise that it turns into a jacket.

The yarn is Felici from Knit Picks.  It is self-striping and was wonderful to work with.  It is so soft, and machine washable.  Finding buttons was a bit of a challenge.  Went to four different stores, and could not find a good selection anywhere.  Finally, remembered that I had the perfect size wooden buttons with my Close To My Heart embellishments.  They worked perfectly for the jacket. 

Avery modeling his jacket.  Unfortunately, his Nana did not have the buttons sewn on yet.