Surprise!

As we've mentioned before, there's lots of new Silk Garden Light in the store... I decided to knit up a sample in it, and The Baby Surprise Jacket was the obvious choice.  

It was designed by Elizabeth Zimmermann in 1968, and is a genius design.  When you are finished knitting this all-garter stitch piece, it looks something like this : 

very bizarre indeed! However, you sew two seams at the armholes, and this strange piece of fabric becomes a beautiful baby sweater!

Surprise!

Silk Garden Lite is really a great yarn for this pattern, because the garter stitch, and the design really highlight the colour changes. This project took three balls, with enough of the third ball left to make a pair of matching booties, or a hat!

The pattern for this amazing sweater is available in many of Elizabeth Zimmermann's books, including The Opinionated Knitter, and Knitters Workshop. These are books that are an amazing addition to any knitters library, just because of the sheer inspiration and brilliance in her patterns. We have both those books, plus Knitters Almanac in stock now, so come on in and have a look, at the books and the sweater, hanging over the Silk Garden!