E. Z. Surprise Baby Sweater

Over the years I have heard so much about Elizabeth Zimmermans Surprise Baby Sweater that I finally got a copy of the CD a couple weeks ago and kit the sweater. I could not understand why this pattern was so popular until I knit it. It is easy but also a challenge since it is knit in one piece from the top down. The way the sleeves go together is trueley unique. You have to knit one to understand.

It took me about three days to knit. I do not know how many hours at least 10. Since I used knit 200gms of yarn. 150 gms of Crystal Bamboozle 3 balls and I made the stripes from one 50g ball of Panda Cotton knit double stranded since it was fingering wt sock yarn. It worked fine. I had verry little yarn left over. less than a yard of each color. Both yarns have stretchie elastic quality. I knit the jacket on #8 needles beginning with 160 stitches. I figure if I add 12 stitches 4 to each section then it would come out bigger.

I suppose I could use bigger yarn and #10 needles to make a bigger jacket. I could try to felt it after knitting on the bigger needles. So many possibilities and so little time to knit. I took my finished sweater with me to visit Elizabeth for her knitting lesson on Tuesday. She wanted to knit one for her baby brother. We tried the one I made on him and found it to be too small. Francis will be 1 in March. So If I am to help Elizabeth make her sweater we will have to knit it a bit bigger.


I will be teaching the Danish Tie Shawl at Knitters Fantasy in April and I wanted to knit another Shawl before the event also. I should try to focus more. I have so many projects on needles. I should really be working on the shawl instead of this pattern. However this pattern fascinates me so I will start another sweater anyways.