THE SURPRISE IS ON ME

     I've knit this pattern before. Why is it causing me so many problems this time?

    Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. I've knit two of these jackets before, one for the daughter of a Japanese woman who married the son of a friend of mine. The couple were living in the United States at the time and I wanted the mother to have something that was typically American.

    On one of the jackets I even devised a way to create a garment with longer sleeves. The BSJ is a pattern that requires a lot of counting, but the result is spectacular.

    Well, excuse me, I have something I need to do . . . one . two . .  three . . . four . . . .

ONE STITCH TOO MANY

     Where did that stitch come from?

    It was one stitch too many.

    I used to laugh at the young woman in the first of Debbie Macomber's series of books centered on The Shop on Blossom Street. Her first knitting project was a scarf -- she kept finishing every row with the wrong number of stitches.

    A Baby Surprise Jacket, from Elizabeth Zimmerman's pattern, is an exercise in counting. At least for me. I have knit Baby Surprise Jackets before, but cannot now remember the details. You knit and knit and knit and finally achieve a relatively flat, oddly shaped piece of knitting. Then you sew two sections together to make the sleeves, and abracadabra, you have a baby sweater.

    But you have to keep counting the stitches. If you do not have the correct number of stitches, you have to froggit (I think that's the word, I should research it some time), back track until you have unknit back to a place where the count is correct. I've done a lot of unknitting on this project.

HAT FOR A BLIND PERSON

    The hat that I am currently working on is surely destined for a blind person.

    I started with some double-ply grey, and when that was knit up, I went to a combined black-brown. When I had knit up the black ply, I went to a grey. When I finish with the brown, I will probably go to a double-grey. Black-brown-grey, not the most attractive color combination. (Knitting up your stash can be overwhelming.)

    The most positive thing about this hat -- being a double-ply, it's heavier than some of the others and will no doubt be warmer. So in return for ignoring the bad color choices, the wearer gets a warmer hat. Hey, if the hat is on your head, you can't see the colors anyway.

    Repeating a previous post, I've forgotten how to activate the comment section, so if you have a burning need to comment on my color choices, email me at findreship@aol.com. You'll have to do this manually, I've also forgotten how to create a link. Sorry.

TWO EXTRA BALLS?

    Trying to knit up my stash.

    Too much stash can be overwhelming.

    Started to knit a hat with some multi-colored yarn. Thought I had two balls. Tried to keep them together even while I carried the project around, especially if I'm waiting in the car. Kept finding the second ball, kept putting it some place where I would be able to find it when I needed it. This morning I found the "second" ball near my upstairs recliner. Tried to think of where I could put it so I could find it when I needed it. Then, slowly, realized I had already joined the second ball to the project. I had two "second" balls.

    Knitting up the stash can be overwhelming.

    Added: I have forgotten how to activate the comment section, so I am going to add an email. I've forgotten also how to create an email link. Just send an email to findreship@aol.com

ELIZABETH ZIMMERMAN'S BABY SURPRISE JACKET

     EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket is no mindless knitting project. You need to be attentive to every stitch, stitch by stitch.

    I decided to make a BSJ for a new cousin, due in March. A girl. Chose a medium and a dark pink yarn. I've made BSJs before, but it is a complicated pattern. Had a hard time getting the count right in the first few rows. Had to start over multiple times. Have to count every row. Sometimes more than twice. Maybe thrice. Maybe . . . 

    Once started, blessedly, knitting went rather smoothly, even switched colors to create the stripe effect.

    Until this afternoon. Let my mind wander. Thought about something else. Forgot which row I was on. Now I will have to wait for daylight tomorrow. Do some unknitting, which always takes more than twice/thrice the time to knit the rows in the first place.

    Glad the baby not due until March. Will that give me enough time?

SPEAKING OF THIMBLES

     Speaking of fumbles thimbles, I've worn a painful callous on the tip of my middle finger, right hand. With the yarn coming in from, the left hand, sometimes I use the middle finger on my right hand to push the stitch along. The tighter the knitting the more the pressure to get the stitch from the left needle to the right.

    I experimented with using a thimble to protect my finger. That worked okay, sort of, but the thimble slipped too easily off my finger, and was hard to keep track of. Reluctant to get out of my upstairs recliner, I peered around and fixed my gaze on a small piece of elastic bandaging I had used, in vain, to get rid of a corn on a toe. I had paid a ridiculous prize for such a small piece of nothing, and I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. What would happen if I put it on my finger?

    Success! Works amazingly well. Protects my finger. Being elastic it stays on my finger. So glad this inspiration occurred to me. No more fumbling around.

COPYRIGHT? TRADEMARK?

     How to claim ownership of a pattern? I wish I knew.

    Both Ramona at Momo's in Leavenworth and Cindy -- not Mindy, as I often call her -- at The Studio in Overland Park were kind enough to talk to me, but to my great surprise, because both are very innovative knitters, neither one has sought protection for knitted pieces they created.

    I 'discovered' how to make a chameleon scarf -- one color dominates one side, the second color dominates the other side -- quite by accident. And except for the cast-on, it's incredibly easy to make because every stitch is a knit stitch. Absolutely no purl stitches.

    The pattern is on this blog somewhere, over to the right. I used to know how to post pictures on my blog. Maybe I'll take a half-day and figure out how to do it again.