ROFLMAO! As a longtime crocheter (almost 31 years)& a much shorter term knitter (about 7ish) I can see that bar fight & would happily sit on the bar & cheer for a resolution of that SC/DC issue.

Your sweater is adorable. I ended up getting Rocketry because of your posts & made a hat & booties from the leftovers.
Enjoy your garden time.

Lynne

I feel your pain with crochet (and with moss stitch and double moss stitch). I'm all thumbs when it comes to crochet, although it becomes a bit smoother with a lot of practice. The yarn looks great. I do believe I'm going to have to learn the long draw.

Gorgeous!! Very cute. I have yet to knit one...but want to!

i was on row 80Something before i realized what the heck was going on with BS. hehee

marie in florida
yay cherries

Cool. Cherry surprise!

This couldn't be a more appropriately timed post - I'm halfway through my increases on my very first BSJ, and was considering using a croched edging for the neck. Now I can see it in action! Beautiful!

(And maybe now I'll someday make me one of those. I'm a grandma-wannabe, I'm trying to keep away from the baby sweater fumes.)

You're shaking my resolve to NOT learn to spin until my youngest is at least 5 years old and can be trusted (perhaps) to leave a spinning wheel alone. At the moment, the things fascinate him and whatever fascinates him must be touched. And pushed. And spun.

But I did get a cheapie hand spindle and some roving to play with. Is that cheating?

I just got the Baby Surprise (and the Adult Surprise) patterns from Schoolhouse Press. Your comparison to turning a heel is apt--I cannot figure out how it's sposed to work reading the pattern. So I guess I'll just have to wade in and do the thing. I'm saving leftover yarn for it.

Awesome how your yarn falls in the color scheme of the dread Tree of Cherry Hell for you...

I love the surprise jacket. I am ordering the book from Knitpicks as I type. I am going to make my girls bigger versions for (sorry ; ) ) christmas and I need to really start now.

You are lucky to have a cherry tree. My family loves them (just made a huge cherry pie) and it costs a small fortune for just a pie. Enjoy your cherries.

Cherries! Yum, yum. Good luck, and good eating. Send the girls up the tree. It's summer, what else have they got to do? (Sorry, girls.)

Gorgeous knitting and spinning, too: yawn, what else is new? :)

Now I know what I'll do with that mixed bag of Kerry by Tahki Stacy Charles I got at Webs last Tent Sale. Thanks!

Cherry Tree Hell.

Sorry that was a terrible pun. Moving on now....

Cute as button... or three. I really need to try that pattern. I don't feel like I can be a real knitter until I do.

I'll take any excess cherries off your hands :)

I was just this minute surfing around to see where to find the pattern for the BSJ, and then thought I would pop over here to see if you had posted yet-- and there was a most beautiful example staring me in the face! It's very lovely, and will inspire me to get going on one of my own asap. Here's hoping it will help to restore my knitting mojo, which seems to have wandered off somewhere.....Second Sock Syndrome has been sucking the life out of me.

Also, I have been distributing your books to the women in my knitting group here in Somerset, and they have been a big hit.

After my previous comment re Ravelry, I have to say that you've only provided more inspiration to knit the baby surprise jacket. Its beautiful. Thanks for sharing it. What an amazing shape you knit to make it! Is it worth spending $20-$30 dollars for the $3 pattern to ship to the UK? I'm tempted, very tempted......

Here is the U.S., the edge you added on the baby sweater is single crochet. Double crochet would be "double" the stitch height of single crochet.

Darling jacket! --but what I want to see is a video of someone actually folding it. As much as I study the pictures, I can't visualize how it fits together. Maybe I'll have to knit one and fold it myself.

Thanks for your blog, Stephanie! It's always good reading.

Me, too. Keeping up with the raspberries is turning into a full-time job.

1) How the *hell* did you make that seam? Seams are at least 80 percent of my sweaterphobia. Do I just have to bite the bullet and do it wrong 9000 times?

2) That is unquestionably single crochet.

3) Knitting bar? Where?

Maybe I'll sneak over in the middle of the night and liberate some cherries. My fav.
Must make of of those baby sweaters... or two - for my neighbour's twins.

Cute little sweater. I am going to have to read some Elizabeth Zimmerman books.

I was told that you were coming to Wichita Kansas sometime soon. Is that true? I hope so. That would make my year.

Cherries! I want some!

I was just trying to figure out the adult version of the Surprise Jacket this morning. I have time-- we're months from jacket season.

Beautiful! I love the addition of crochet around the edges. I just finished my first BSJ and I want to make another. Now I just need another baby who needs a sweater!

What timing! I am almost finished with my first ever bsj, and am finding it wonderful and inintriguing, and yes---a total leap of faith, especially with the directions written as if she assumes I'm smart. I was at least halfway through knitting(phebe this is for you)& had consulted the drawings many times before I was able to begin to see how it would come together. Now I have to figure out how I wound up with 2 more stitches than I was supposed to have on the sides(symmetrically, thank the knitting gods) and how to adjust for the last little bit---no, ripping back is not an option. Maybe next time I'll get it perfect---but this one is shaping up to be wonderful in it's own right. If anyone is interested in reading more about it, a google search turns up many blog entries with photos(yum) and an exhaustive article on knitwiki as well.

Okay, I'll have to come out of the closet as a crocheter of many years duration (I learned it later than knitting, but did it more in my salad days.) I think in 'merican that's single crochet you got there. Care to duel? Look out, I have a really sharp pointy size 16 hook I'm using to get the beads onto my freakin' Mystery Stole (Everyone had sold out of the size 13s. Wonder why? Ahem.) On guard! (That's 'merican too, I think.)

P.S. I love EZ. Sigh.

Thank you for the info on the little Surprise Jacket. I just found out about it and was thinking about making one. Your comments will definitely make life easier.

Those cherries are gorgeous! All of ours got zapped in a hard late frost so we got nuthin'. Good luck wrangling them all-I know how much fun you have with that ;)

I've got to knit me one of those surprise jackets - they are magic.

I'll bet once you knit up your yarn you will fall in love with the "learning curve" color change....

I love the baby surprise sweater, altho I still don't get it. I haven't tried it yet. I discovered EZ one day while working for my friend at her yarn shop. I was bored (I know, hard to believe in a room full of yarn, needles and patterns!) and started looking over her books-for-sale, and found "The Opinionated Knitter", sat down and read if from cover to cover. I bought it and "Knitting Around". They are so nice to read - her journal entries and letters, makes me want to go cross-country skiing, then have some home-made stew in a log cabin somewhere with home-spun wool to work on. I haven't tried her patterns yet, because they seem a little too (I don't know how to describe it, maybe not enough direction, I need to be brave and take the leap?) One of these days I will. I love the adult surprise sweater but the directions befuddle me. So I will make the baby surprise first, then try the adult one. Anyway! The yarn you spun is beautiful - you can do a whole batt (or more?) in one day? Neat!

I like that jacket. I think I may have to take my very limited knitting skills (I'm a crocheter who is trying to learn knitting) and attempt that.

PS: I finished your latest book in one sitting (taking a walk away from a project that was driving me nuts...crochet project that was slogging) and I loved it. It does translate over to the crochet world, too! :) Your blog is one of the ones that got me to attempt knitting again (my poor mom tried to teach me over and over, as it is she hates watching me 'cause I have to knit continental to make it make sense to my hands).

Okay, enough rambling.

I'm so glad I'm not alone in thinking crochet patterns are v. difficult to follow. I blamed it on my instructor for a while, and I still think she's partly to blame of my confusion, but maybe it's the knitter in me just refusing to understand the concepts.

Your tree is making me very tempted to knit the BSJ in a red with cherry shaped buttons!

Your cherry tree is prettier than our Bing cherry trees. I had a whole bunch that a friend picked for me and was a little frustrated that I could only find canning recipes for the sour pie cherries and not the sweet Bings. I'll bet when you look you only find sweet cherry recipes.

I just finished my first BSJ and was a tad awestruck at a) how easy it was and b) how clever it was. The two don't usually go hand in hand. I love it, and plan to make many many more.

And I love looking at all the other BSJs out there. They're all sort of uniform but unique; there's definitely no two alike.

I love the looks of the cherry tree(s). Only question now is: Who gets most of the cherries? You or the Rat Bastards of the squirrel population? :-)

I'm glad other people could tell what fruit was in the picture. As a relatively newbie to knitting, I've not jumped on the EZ train yet, but have heard wonderful things...

Lovely lovely lovely. I have two friends having babies in a few months, and I think you have just helped me select their knitting. With Saartje booties to match!

You know, I still haven't delved into E. Zimmermann. I think I'll treat myself to a book of hers tonight.

The sweater is lovely. You don't crochet in much the same manner as me.

I finished one of her lovely surprise jackets about a month ago. The parents say that they receive a lot of comments about the jacket. Even just two colors looks nice!

Absolutely wonderful! I love the yarn too. Wow, I can't wait to spin that well.

How perfect that you should post about the BSJ today. I ripped mine out for the fourth (or was it the fifth, I'm losing track) time this morning. It's not a lack of faith that I'm suffereing from. I'm comfortable enough jumping blinding off a cliff, at least as far as knitting is concerned. But I'm doing the damn thing wrong and can't for the life of me figure out the right way. I've showed my sweater to others who have successfully completed their own BSJ and they confirm that mine is wrong, though they can't say just why. And I've held mine up to an unsewn BSJ and mine ain't right. I've made mitered squares before so I thought I could swing this easy enough, but not this time. Now thousands of people have made this sweater over the course of many decades and most all will swear to the ease and wonder of this pattern, but for some reason my thick head is just not taking to it. So I'm casting on again and will keep at it until it kills me. Thanks for the inspiration. I'm going to figure this thing out if it kills me.

AHA! Thank you for that... I'm working on my very first BSJ, and let me tell you, blind faith is tough for a girl like me. I've just been knitting along for the last day and a half, believing in the genius that is EZ, and feeling stupid for having absolutely no idea what part of the sweater I'm knitting. You have seriously contributed to the faith. Plus being able to look at your manta ray and then your sweater, I think I know which part I'm knitting now... not that it matters... but, y'know... I would prefer it if I could outwit the yarn occasionally.

Thanks for the lovely "surprise" -- I've only knit one BSJ, but I have to think that the color issue is pretty foolproof with the basic design, and with the lovely colors you had, how could you go wrong?

Single? Double? Who cares, it's just a great edging. Call it "chained edging for BSJ."

Hi Stephanie,
Schoolhouse Press will post the pattern to me for a couple of dollars (not the $20 I expected, should of emailed them earlier.) Yay - I can make a Baby Surprise Jacket too!!!! I'll just have to be patient while the pattern crosses the ocean...

I just finished my first Baby Surprise Jacket - and yes, at least once, I had to repeat to myself, "Trust Elizabeth. Trust Elizabeth. Trust Elizabeth." But it all came out in the end. Except that I had to go back for a third ball of yarn. And it took me a lot more than 6-8 hours.

I am amazed by both the ingenuity of Elizabeth Zimmermann, and the speed at which our Harlot knits.

mmmm, sour cherry cake...

thanks for the reminder of the BSJ - I have a baby gift to get out before August (Mom of a kid on Son's soccer team) - the poor woman is hugely pregnant in this heat - she deserves something for that...

Pie cherries. *sniff* We didn't get to Rhinebeck to get any this year.

I love love love the SBJ! EZ and her sensibilities, an amazing mind.
Whoooooeeeee.....cherry cake time!

MMMMM. cherries. yum.
MMMMM. baby surprise. yummier.

I also have a cherry tree. We invested in a cherry pitter this year and it was a really smart move. It is serious work making use of a whole tree worth of cherries. Best of luck to you!!

That is a US single and UK double. So - no matter what you called it, you'd have 50% chance to be spot on. *grins*

Having grown up in England only to transplant to America in my late teens, I find it fascinating the slight differences in patterns and terminology. And often only figure out if my pattern is UK or US by eye balling the 'finished product' that is shown.

This is often why I tend to avoid patterns that do not supply at least a somewhat reasonable close up of the designer's intentioned outcome.

Very lovely jacket. Who's it for?
You know what would be stupendously nice of you? If you would write up a pattern for the Mittens Without Borders. But is that legal? I seem to remember that you cobbled it together using charts from a book. Some kind of recipe would do, in that case. I'm DYING to make a pair for my self, I think they are some of my favorite things you have ever made.

Fabulous colors on the baby surprise jacket. I'm surprised you haven't made on yourself yet out of the yarn from Dream In Color.

Uh-oh, it's Cherry War time at your house again! Good luck mounting your assault on the tree's vast resources of cherries, and be careful when hanging off the roof!

And if all these people online keep making those cool BSJ's, I might have to make one myself just to find out what the fuss is all about. Even if I don't have a baby to make one for. I love that EZ wasn't afraid to work a bit of math nerdiness and ingenuity into her patterns :)

It is a single crochet in all domains. However, I beleive that a double crochet American is called a half double British. Doubles in British are 3 times the height of a single. Where it really gets weird in crochetland, is what do you can the first stitch? Every darn designer does it different. I could be wrong about all this, but then I close my eyes and stitch blindly. Its sort of how I knit too, come to think of it.

Which explains a lot of my projects.

Love the Baby Surprise Jacket. I knit one recently in Socks that Rock Barney Rubble colorway -- my first EZ project. I can't begin to imagine how that woman figured out this pattern. I could barely even figure out how to fold it up once it was done! So when I put photos on my blog, I included step-by-step photos of the assembly process from amorphous mystery object to half a jacket to an honest to goodness baby sweater.

Oh. I've been looking for a good baby sweater pattern, what with being due in December and all.

Thanks! :)

I suppose this is kind of a random comment- but after seeing you seam up the ends in the pictures, I'm curious how you weave in ends.

I've asked several people about the "proper way" to weave in ends and each of them gave me a different answer. I'm curious...

OH MY GOD!!! Are those cherries at the botton of this post. I grew up in Michigan and had a cherry tree in my back yard. I miss it so much! YUM!

I love your BSJ. I have made several, including one that I did in sock weight cotton yarn, in red, white and blue for an American newborn who just turned one, and I sewed the front closed to have a sweater. However, I have yet to sew the shoulder seam on ANY of them, because I'm so darn afraid of doing it 'wrong'. I LIKE sewing seams, grafting, all that stuff. When it's normal (like, sock toes, sleeves to armholes). But a stitch to a row in garter stitch? Scary.

I'm eagerly awaiting stories of neighbours stealing your cherries again! LOL! ;-)

OOoooh! I Like, I like! I'd also like to echo Jen's comment above. I've never figured out how to weave in the ends correctly and there's always something sticking out. I also really like your seaming. I struggle with that too---hence my propensity for knitting things in the round.

I had a really great laugh at the crochet bar figth set up. I can see it so clearly. For the record that looks like double crochet to me too. I love the sweater and I think I like the crochet edge more than the i-cord one I tend to see. It could be that I have crochet on the brain lately though. I still confuse the stitches too.

If we were at a bar we could stop the fight by passing out wool-- the fume induced euphoria should quell the argument, but thats still single crochet... :)
are you going to the roof to pick cherries again?

Did you see the one that Brooklyn Tweed did? Gorgeous. http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/

great minds DO think alike! I also have enough leftovers from both tulip sweaters and am going to employ them thusly... but I PROMISE I won't make it exactly in the same color order.

Baby Surprise Jacket is such a classic - I've knit a lot of them and no 2 ever look alike, yet the pattern is immediately recognizable. EZ was a true genius...in both her approach to knitting as well as her approach to life.

I'm bookmarking this post for the awesome pics of you sewing those shoulder seams. It will come in handy when I make my second bsj!

Best wishes for the cherry picking adventure!

Wow, you know where to find a knitting bar! I think I might go raid the fridge for cherries to drown my sorrows now.

You are so right about the EZ baby surprise jacket. I just did my first one and I just kept thinking I must have screwed something up, but in the end I followed the pattern to the letter and the thing folded right up into a perfect little jacket. I will defiantly be making many of these in the years to come. Makes perfect, fast, easy gift to use up stash and left overs. Yours looks great...love the color changes, I must try that next time.

Oh, wow. I have the book with this pattern in it but I've been too afraid to attempt it so I just knit socks and more socks. You may have given me courage, and three of our friends just gave me tiny baies to knit for, so I'm taking this as a sign. I wish I had more confidence in my ability to tead a pattern or chart (now THERE'S a good knitting bar fight question...)

You know, some of us have to PAY for our cherries. I'm just saying...

Barb

Awesome! I just finished my very first BSJ two days ago (out of handspun) and I love it! The most trouble I had was doubting myself and overanalyzing the pattern. I can't wait to knit another!

Well....that was going to be my next project and YOU HAVE TOTALLY CONVINCED ME. at first her crazy devil may care attitude toward logic put me off but I can't handle the cuteness.

thx.

Cherries! Cue disaster music. DUH DAH DUHH. Good luck.

This is too funny, as I too just bought the pattern for the BSJ! :)

That is an amazing pattern! I love the way it knits up and so cute! I wish I had known of it before I started crocheting the cute little white dress for a friend of mine. (Yes, I crochet... and your edging is single crochet (SC)in US terms. *grin*)

What a great baby surprise jacket! Have fun with the cherries!
(((hugs)))

Such a great BSJ! somehow I cannot get it right. It takes me hours and i've given up on three thus far (and took one out of its misery) and while I can turn a heel and figure out shortrows and lace and stuff, thus far the BSJ has been what's held me back. well, in general i seem to have a really hard time with garter. ::shrugs:: it is an inspiration to pull it out and try again! more babies a coming and i'd like to be ready with gifts for their parents..

Awesome Baby Surprise Jacket! These have been popping up a lot lately, and yours is definitely one of my favorites. :)

That jacket is marvelous! The colours are so wonderful together, who would'a thunk it?

Seeking advice: I have a little issue with a yarn loving puppy who likes to grab any yarn or needles that might have been laid down somewhere for even an instant and run off without any heed to consequences such as dropped stitches, tangled yarn, frantic grabby-handed dog-mom etc. She must be affected by the yarn fumes because this she prefers to any other item that might be left laying around. It was really cute the first time but since then I've had to lock away all yarn and am not able to set the yarn down anywhere, at all, for any length of time. I realize this is a slightly lesser scale of problem to your fleece-nabbing squirrel but do you think puppy will grow out of it? Will I have to change crafts?

I cannot believe that your post is full of the BSJ. Would you believe that I am just going to start my first? I mentioned to my kids that I was going to start right after checking your blog. I just can't believe it.

I love the baby surprise sweater too. Yours came out just georgous!! I had to buy the dvd and follow it to understand though?!?!

I was picking dark sweet cherries from a neighbor's tree (with permission, I swear it!) and wondering when yours would ripen. In the winter I imagine how lovely it would be to have a tart cherry tree in the backyard. When I see them in season, however? Not so much. Maybe a wee little one, putting out one pie-ful a year.

Your friend, Ken... shares leftover yarn? There must be a catch in this relationship. Some imperfect flaw. So far, I'm not seeing it!

What finally made the BSJ enjoyable for me was actually finding my coil-less safety pin stitch markers. IMO, it is critical to mark the "corner" stitches in this pattern. If you do that, the knitting is nearly mindless and far, far more enjoyable than it is if you spend all your time trying to figure out which darned stitch is the double decrease. :)

I learned to crochet about 35 years ago, no terms, just did it - grandma showed me. Now when I have a crochet question, I call my friend Rosie, the nuns showed her how to crochet, and if there is a discrepancy in my grandma's way or "the nun's way", the nun's rule wins. LOL. Yes, a DC/SC would start a bar fight!!

I was just wondering about your cherries. I had seen some down here last month, I think. Happy picking and eating.

I love the yarn. So pretty! And the sweater is faboo. Also? STOP! Cherry time! *boogies*

You're a classic too, Stephanie, don't ever forget it.

(and the barfight scene is brilliant!)

EZ herself would say KNIT ON---- it is wonderful, I really love it!

You have been terribly productive, I am kind of sniffling about it! If you tell me you are caught up on both clues of your MS3 I will put my head in the oven. (of course the yarn is in there at the moment so it really wouldn't be that awful!)

(from a dyed in the wool Texan) looks like single crochet to me! What a gorgeous jacket! Don't ever tell anybody those are leftovers. Also, you are a spinning ninja! Very very nice yarn.

Got my cd today...........very nice........your voice is very relaxing........thank you.....Sandy

I've been reading about your cherries (the ones in the tree) for years now, and it's driving me bonkers.

If you walk out into the yard and spy a knitter in your tree with a cherry-stained mouth fighting a squirrel for a ball of yarn, it might be me. Feel free to turn the hose on us.

Well, that's the final proof that I do indeed live in a hole or something. Never have I heard of any sort of debate over sc/dc. BTW, what you did was sc ;~)
Enjoy your cherries. They look delicious. Didn't you once give a recipe for brandy? Think I'll do a little search through the archives...

You have indeed worked a fine row of double crochet - in UK terminology. In the US it's single crochet, and double crochet is something quite different. (Please don't hit me.) :) I love to crochet, and I do fine with either UK or US directions, as long as I am informed right up front about which it is.

That said, both your yarn and your Baby Surprise are gorgeous! I haven't knit a Baby Surprise yet; I ought to get with it. They're so darn cute.

Ah, yes, crochet. I normally refer to it as the 'c' word. I totally agree with your befuddlement about the terms. Probably how crocheters feel about sizes of knitting needles.

Love the E. Zimmerman sweater. I knit the origami bears from the Knitters a few years ago... about the only way you'll get me to knit bears. Fun to see how it folds together.

Good luck with the cherries. (Wish me luck on a yarn buying trip in TO on the weekend! My friend needs a new 'yarn pet'! Great excuse!)

Mmmmm, cherries.

Forgot to mention! I was looking up nasturtiums on the Internet today. One of the key entries was a reference to them in one of your blogs. The Harlot in the world of horticulture (I sense a pun coming on ... but I will desist.)

I´ve started my first BSJ this afternoon. Like the pattern a lot, I´m just before the increasing row at the back.

I too just finished my first BSJ and wrote about the experience traveling with that very piece of knitting to the Grand Canyon and back to Massachusetts in my newsletter, Metaphorically Speaking. It is great travel knitting especially in the Shetland that comes with the Schoolhouse Press kit for it. Customers in my shop love the sample and are asking for it faster than I can order the books to sell them.

You are a mind-reader! I'm getting ready to hit the road and that was the pattern I was thinking of taking with me. Never tried it before but I definitely up for it, especially now.

Start a fight in the crochet bar...LOL...you crack me up!

I am just finishing up my second BSJ. Love 'em. A nice break from Maggie Righetti's Dumb Baby Sweaters, which are my usuals. There will always be babies, hence there is always a reason to knit a baby sweater.

Please tell Lucia and some of the others who worry about the seams in the BSJ that they can crochet them and make them a design feature.

Oh damn, those cherries! Had I known, I would have taken a right at Buffalo and combed Toronto for that cherry tree...

Now Stephanie, I have to say that I have long considered you to have a 'sparklingly stunning quick brain' when it comes to knitting (and appliance delivery, but that's another story), so Elizabeth's brain must be in yet another eschelon. I just bought a copy of this pattern over the weekend after seeing a stunning version at Jared's BrooklynTweed blog. It's on my to do list, but my current projects are the Dream In Color Tulips sweater and the MS3 project (I'm still on Clue #1). We won't mention the yet unfinished sock pairs (Pomatomus anyone?)

Have you ever dyed roving with those cherries? I don't even know if it would be doable, but I thought I'd throw it out anyway. I am neither a dyer nor a spinner (yet). That's also on my to do list...sigh.

Just got back from knitting camp with Meg Swansen. One of the things that Meg said "Knitting will never lie to you." I think that is especially the case with the surprise jacket.

One of my proudest possessions is a photo of me with Elizabeth Zimmermann. You're right, though -- BSJs always take more yarn than you think they're going to. It's good to be warned.

I love the sweater! And your yarn is super pretty too! :)

Oh, I love that little sweater! The colors and the striping you did look so perfect. One of these days I'm going to have to try it out with some of my leftovers, because I keep seeing it popping up all over my favorite blogs.

Also, I have the same trouble with crochet. I'm working on overcoming my issues with crochet patterns. We'll see how it turns out.

I love these sweaters..made a few myself.
Interestly enough, at my lys ( yes you know the one) i had a kinda problem with a customer service person telling me EZ's books were not in stock because there are now 'far better techniques' and her stuff was 'old fashioned'
Hopefully that's not representative of all the new staff there!
sweltering in Victoria

Those are some BRIGHT red cherries.

Holy good lord, that is a LOT of cherries. I mean, it's always a lot of cherries, I know, but it just looks like the tree worked overtime this year.

Unfortunately, I didn't get netting on my cherry trees in time. Therefore, I haven't a SINGLE cherry to pick since the robins have eaten all of ours!!!

A barfight in Crochetville!!! I love it!!!

I never knew they called the stitches by different names in the UK...What's really strange is that I was taught to crochet in Canada by my Scottish grandmother...

Maybe it's just you, Stephanie...*grins and winks*

Upside down cake! See, a bright side of the rain is the avoidance of the steaming fruit of '05 was it?
Beautiful yarning pics too

English Cdn/US
sc slip stitch
half double single
double half double
treble double

It's taken me years but I think I've finally got it figured out.

Love EZ! I'd don't have any babies to knit for but I might try the adult version.

Good luck with the cherries!

OK, OK, I'll bite.

Now I have to explain to hubby why I HAVE to get that book.

I have looked and looked at that picture, and it's bugging the heck out of me that I can't figure out how it comes together.

Sanity. That's why I have to get that book. Pure sanity.

Oh, and I have a very much yummy recipe for cobbler batter that I think would go smashingly with those cherries. I usually have it with rhurbarb. I think it was created to go with those tart/ slightly sour fruits. That'd be a great way to try out the new stove. With cherry cobbler stuff all baked onto the bottom. Yum. Feel free to e-mail me if you want the recipe. Anyone. It's one of those "handed down from generation to generation that someone probably found in a magazine" recipe.

I got so excited about the whole cherry cobbler thing, I forgot to comment about the crochet...

I was raised as a crocheter, but by a knitter. I learned crochet from my Nana, who was way cooler than my mom when I was "that" age. I think the difference is that one method counts the number of "draw throughs" to get whether it's single or double, whereas the other method looks at the size of the stitch.

But you're right, why can't they all just get along? Like the whole sizing thing for the needles? I was teaching someone how to knit, and told her to get some size 8's. I completely forgot about that whole mm thing. Luckily, she was confused too, and bought some 11's, which were 8 mm, and some 8's. She's smart. She'll do fine in the coven.

Cherries! Ours finished a week or so ago; we didn't have nearly as many as you.

Wow, are those cherries ever a vibrant red!

I clicked on the link to Schoolhouse press... and was about to order the adult version ($1)... but the shipping seems to be $5. For a piece of paper? That can't be right... but I'm too lazy to e-mail to find out. Perhaps I'll have more incentive after I've gone through some of the sweater yarn in my stash. ;)

OK, Elisabet (from www.sincontrol.blogspot.com) and I just finished Knitting Camp with Meg Swansen. There was a camper who has made 100 of the BSJ's for babies he mostly doesn't know. Let us fill you in on a tip=to make this a real EZ baby surprise, you need to do I-cord along the edges. Very finished and very lovely. However, as EZ says, "knitter's choice" so if you want to struggle with crochet, be brave and go forward.

Cherry pitting time! Hope they don't go rotten this year.
I want to make a baby surprise jacket. Guess I can afford the postage now! LOL
So what is your moss stitch? mine is k1 p1 with the k1 and p1 falling on the next row so that they don't make ribbing but make lumpy bumps. I think Americans call that seed stitch.

Double-treble-single-slip-and-a-half. Geesh. I need a drink.

FYI -- my BiL was diagnosed with gout last year and he says his research on the subject showed that sour cherries prevent outbreaks. He drinks sour cherry juice every day and hasn't had any problems since. I'm getting him his own tree for his b-day this week.

EZ really was a genius wasn't she? And your BSJ really is adorable. Good luck with all those cherries.

Surely by now you've knitted something to get those cherries out of the tree easily? A sling shot of some sort?

I LOVE that baby sweater. I don't know if I can knit one - it really is knitting origami. Amazing. You are soo patient. I crochet and understand all the differences with the names of stitches. You have to know pattern origin rather than the actual stitches. I crocheted long before I knit and there is a place for both. Really. I can probably crochet anything that you can knit. Now I am trying to figure out the how to make KNITTING look like filet crochet. I saw it in a magazine and I just can't get it out of my head.

So, today I get my package from Knitpicks.com with my yarn for the MS3 (all your fault) and in that same box was EZ's Knitting Workshop book and your new book! I log in today to read your blog entry and you are talking about the Baby Surprize Sweater. Am I the only one who finds that just a little bit odd?

Don't miss zimmermaniacs.blogspot.com for all things Zimmerman

Your baby surprise is adorable! I've made several and love the pattern since I HATE LOATHE AND DESPISE sewing up sweaters. I made one out of Sockotta on a #3US needle and it is perfect for a newborn. Bet you'll make many more!

damn you, yarn harlot! I'm just finishing up the Dream in Colour Tulip Cardigan you seduced me into a few weeks ago and still have a Rocketry one to go (you're right, they're irrestible, and two's the bare minimum). Now with this Surprise Jacket which I'd already been pondering after seeing Brooklyn Tweed's latest. My daughter's never going to believe I'm just knitting baby sweaters 'cause they're fun -- she's going to see this as a wishful prospective grandmother's campaign. . . No matter, yours is a gorgeous inspiration and I want to play too. Plus, as you say, it's really just a practical way to use up the ends from the two baby cardigans. Sure, no extra yarn will be required. Not at all.

I just in the last few days started my first BSJ - actually doing it in heavier yarn and trying to get a size for my tiny 2-year old (well, she'll be two when sweater weather rolls back around). So far it looks good. Love the pictures, I've been studying them all over the 'net trying to see for sure where stripes knit in the "manta ray" will end up in the finished jacket. Yeah - trying to figure it out instead of taking that leap of faith. I will "press on" though!

Love the yarn, and looking forwrd to the day that I jump into a Baby Surprise adventure!

Thank you so much for showing both the garter stich manta ray and the jacket. I've been trying to figure out how the jacket went together so that I could plan color changes. Thanks a bunch.

Any chance of getting a picture of the back????

You need a dog. Or specifically a very good dog that will sit at the bottom of that tree and eat everything that falls from the branches. (Our own dog does this but he is tall enough to reach into the branches standing upright, as a result we have yet to see a plum come from any of our three trees.)

I love the Baby surprise jacket. The colors are beautiful as well!

Everytime I go to crochet an edging I need to remind myself that US single crochet involves two loops. The naming must have been done by the same person who devised the US needle size system. What is crab stitch/reverse single crochet called in Canada and the UK?

I have a very nice swatch I did for a moss stitch sweater with a single cable down the front. The sweater itself has been delayed (by, oh, about 6 years) as I realized that a Rowan pattern meant seed stitch, but I like the moss stitch in this yarn. That means I have to interpolate the raglan seaming and V-neck shaping, especially given the difference in my row gauge for the same stitch gauge. I'll probably end up dumping the pattern and trying it top down without seams.

A Knitting Bar?? Where?? Geez, Canada has all the great stuff!!
I agree about crocheting-I have trouble grasping the patterns and so I hate it and refuse to do it-I even hate the provisional cast on -big time.
A Crocheted edge may be quicker-but I will do an i-cord edging every time I can get away with it-and I think EZ had a lot to do with the i-cord edging being invented(or unvented as she said). She truly was a genius-Probably would have been a remarkable engineer. I have attended her camp and her daughter, Meg, is so like her Mom.Meg even has her Mother's sense of irony and humor which I see every time I watch one of their video's.
Her directions though have to be taken at face value-just start at 1 and go to the end-it will work out,but if you are making the Gull Pattern baby sweater from The Knitter's Almanac,be sure to read all of the pattern first. Really. This is one of my favorite baby sweaters to make-my copy is a mess-but the first one I did , I did not read the whole pattern first. So I did not do buttonholes at the top(I used ribbon which was pretty) and there were several other issues! This sweater is a great "early on" lace project. EZ was a genuis-and she didn't do crochet edges much according to Meg(said at Camp) so I don't feel we should be guilted into it either.

PS Beuatiful spinning and BSJ. I love my old VHS copies of EZ and Meg's Knitter's Almanac. EZ's techniques are not so much old fashioned as they just require some thought on the part of the knitter.

Nice cherries, too. My wildlife doesn't let mine get that ripe before they strip them all.

Sweetpea, I'd bet my Guinness that you've just done a single-crochet edging.

And you know if I bet my Guinness, I'm dead serious.

I was going to ask "Are those cherries?!". But I see by reading other responses that they are...and so beautiful and tempting! I grew up in The Cherry Capital of The World (Traverse City, MI) and so miss the plentiful cherries of my youth. I have to pay nearly $10/lb here. Lucky you!

And beautiful sweater, too!

Ok, WHO are you knitting all these baby sweaters for????

I've done several BSJ myself, and taught the pattern at my LYS a couple of times too. It's a fun project.

Our cherry tree looked like that a few weeks ago. Hubby did ALL the picking and ALL the pitting (over several days)...and THEN went ahead and made 2 cherry pies! All by his own self! Having never done so before! And did a darned good job of it too. What a guy. (you could show this to Joe, ya know?)

I just finished my second baby surprise sweater - and this one's for a girl so I did picot bind off along the "front" (having done one before, I had a MUCH better idea of what would be where in the end!).

I have to say though, for me it's a weekend sweater - probably 15-18 hours including seaming.

I'm so jealous...not only do you get fresh picked cherries, you have another year to totally embarrass your children! Does life get any better than that? (And I've had 4 babies and not one baby surprise jacket...I'm gonna have to give in and knit me one of those...)

And for the record? That there little missy is what we in the states call us single crochet... (But I'm not walking into a Crochet-town barfight with you, sweetheart...you're little but you look tough and I think you could take me...)

I don't see it. I really don't. How does that "manta ray" (it really does look like one) end up as that adorable sweater? I have Knitting Workshop and I guess I'm just going to have to make it to see it happening to understand it.

The British commenter might find it easier and less expensive to buy EZ's book, Knitting Workshop, at amazon.uk.co. There are a number of copies available from third-party seller there (I just checked), at about £25.

It might even be less expensive to buy the book from Amazon.com, since they have it for US$19. I don't think the shipping would be enough to drive it over £25 plus shipping.

Love, love, love the sweater. I've yet to make a true garter st EZ baby surprise sweater, but I did make one with a cable that traveled along the edge. It was like magic.

I guess I'm a rare-bird-ambicrafter 'cuz I don't understand all the fuss about knitting vs crochet. I do both and as long as I'm playing with yarn, it's all good! (Don't hate me; I also draw, sew, woodwork...if you can make something with it, I've likely tried it. I LOVED art class in school.)

Seeing your version of the BSJ, and the adult size too, well, now there are two more things I need to make!! I have colors swimming in my head already! Toss in a "leap of faith", one-piece construction adventure and I'm SO there! I guess I need to look closer at those EZ books...

oh, lovely baby surprise jacket, great colors & construction. Anyone who can think & knit a one-dimension shape but see it multi-dimensionally *is* a genius.

I was just wondering the other day about the cherries. Are you really SURE that pattern was written the year you were born? I seem to recall a certain birthday post...

It's my lucky week — you posted pictures of your BSJ the same week I knit a swatch for my first one, except I'm following the directions for the ASJ and making (at least that's the goal) one to fit a 2 year old. Three buttons instead of five, great idea.

I just finished my first EZ Baby Surprise Jacket and am so tickled and impressed by the result. How in the world did she think this one up?! I took me about 2 weeks of knitting in front of the tv in the evenings, and I took it really, really slow since I just couldn't understand how it was going to turn into anything resembling a baby sweater, but it did! Now I'm rarin' to go on another one.
Paul in SF

CHERRIES!!
(drooool) ...you know that fruit is better than candy, right? Better. Than. Candy. I got some fresh organic hugemongous blackberries today and they are my candy.
The baby surprise jacket is definitely on my to do list. But right very now, I am mystery stole-ing. I'm using yarn I spun on my drop spindle - the first yarn after I more or less perfected my technique past the thick 'n' thin OMG did a yak get caught in a cotton candy machine - it was a sheep you say? yarn. It's actually very nice.

That jacket is very cute. Looks easy to knit. The seaming is what I always have problems with.

I love your hand spun.

speaking as a crocheter who has done so since infancy (ok, well, since age 5! that's infancy, isn't it?), here's my take on it. in us terms? the # of yo's it takes to complete a stitch once you have all your loops. hence, what you did in us terms is single crochet.

in uk terms? the # of loops before you start the yo's. hence, double crochet (yes, i figured that out on my own while reading your little bit about fighting in crochet bars, lol!)

it gets a bit odd once you get past treble/triple, but since those stitches are rarely used, i'm not gonna worry about it 'til i run across it, lol!

and don't worry, i've been knitting since i was 10. i'm polycraftual.

We were just talking about the difference between a single crochet in the US as opposed to Europe last night at crochet club!! :D Perfect timing!

OHHHHHHHH I want a knitting bar here in Kansas! I've knitted while out for dinner, at a Royals baseball game, even while at the race track for a recent NASCAR Race (talk about getting funny looks there) but never at a bar... THAT would be fun!

Love the BSJ... I'm working on my first one now... can't wait to get it finished.

I have been thinking about the BSJ for a few weeks; maybe it's something to do with the phase of the moon, as it's popping up all over the place now. Perhaps it is like contemplating a certain car model and then seeing it everywhere. So, I finally bought the pattern tonight.

Also, it looks like it's time to hoist a teenager against her will up into the cherry tree and take away the ladder until she fills a rather large bucket. Maybe you can bribe one with the promise of baked goods?

Elizabeth Zimmerman is more than a genius. She translated knitting directions into actual language, bless her, and made it all seem _possible_. I crocheted way better than I knit until she came along. Now I do both, but knitting gets me _socks_.

Love that little sweater, and the way you interpreted it.

You classy enabler, you......At 2 a.m. I've just ordered a bunch of patterns from Schoolhouse Press - including BSJ, which I've been wanting to make. My queue is getting longer and longer....I'm ambidextrous, but I still need both hands to knit one thing!

Cherries? My addiction is to Rainier cherries - DH has twice this month brought home a treasured bag of them for me. Talk about here today, gone tomorrow! I mean, I eat them like that - but they are available for about half an hour, it seems, and only at this time of year. On a par with superb dark chocolate!

I love EZ, but also feel the need to do something about the neckline. I have been known to add a wee collar to finish it off.
Thank you for the crocheting explanation, that may just explain why I'm finding it so difficult to work out a pattern! Oh well, I'm determined to learn - so I will!

What I don't get with the baby surprise jacket is why its always knitted in garter stitch - is there anything intrinsic to the pattern that would prevent it being knitted in stocking stitch?

Garter stitch just looks so "starter knitter" to me...

Oh yes, my one brush with knitting fame (other than Mom almost running over Lily Chin at a show a few years back, and she took it well enough anyways, and besides that lady is TINY!) was the day I ordered a bunch of yarn from Schoolhouse Press, and called back to confirm a few colors, only to find out I was talking to Meg herself.

I'm not ashamed to admit I burst into tears. My hubby simply rolled his eyes. But I am so very glad I had the chance to thank her for all that she has done for knitting...

ah so pretty there, the wee cherries.....

tell us a story steph..............tell us a story about pretty cheries,

please please with a cherry on top.

Over the years, I've seen dozens of pictures of Surprise Baby Jackets, accompanied by high praises about how clever & fun they are, but I have YET to see one ON A BABY. As cute as the little buggers are (the sweaters, I mean, and of course meaning no disrespect to Madame Zimmerman), those jacket arms look pretty huge to me, in relation to the rest of the garment, and I'm wondering if the jacket actually, you know, FITS a real baby? I would answer this question for myself by knitting one and trying it out, but I don't have access to any real babies. Has anyone actually tried the jacket on the real thing?

*ahem* I'm looking at the seaming photos and noticing that the "green" from your Dream in Color sweaters is being seamed to the "green" from your wrap cardi......

oh and you owe Lee Ann a Guinness.

Yo Lee Ann, I teach crochet and I know your right. Don't let her fake a british accent and say "my people were british". That was a single crochet.(still love you harlot)

That jacket looks a very interesting knit, but I don't have any tiny people to knit for just yet (and won't have for a few years, I hope, as both my sons are at university!) I love the colours you used.

We had lots of cherries on the ancient tree in our garden, but the squirrels stripped it before they were ripe. I forgive them because they are beautiful red squirrels (and they did have plenty of help from the magpies and blackbirds). It was great fun watching their acrobatics as they tried to reach the last few cherries on the ends of the branches - will your cherry-picking be equally entertaining?!

I just finished my first baby surprise jacket. You are right about the blind faith. There were many times I just flat out refused to believe it would work.

I used cotton stria (it's been a long time since I've knit with 100% cotton)- I can't wait to make one out of wool. Good thing I know lots of soon-to-be-babies!

SEED STITCH! Moss doesn't look that organized! The pattern looks like seeds all in a row. You coming to the 2nd Annual Ottawa Knit Out at the Experimental Farm on Aug. 5th?

Oh I can't wait to knit one of those! We will be having our very first niece/nephew in my husband's family this winter! Just a few more weeks before we find out if its a boy or girl and I can start knitting!!!! This will have to be one of its very first gifts.

That is a beautiful jacket! I've never done one, and have always wanted to!

I haven't yet picked up the pattern for BSJ, but I did make her baby jacket in the Vogue Summer issue this year (in the same issue as a CASHMERE BEACH BLANKET--what the heck??), and absolutely loved it. Can't wait to do the BSJ sometime here. Loved the colors Stephanie, and good luck with the cherries this year....

Here's a link to see the BSJ on a baby

www.flickr.com/photos/mrspeterson/417615851/

Beautiful yarn! The gradations are quite appealing, especially when contrasted with the slick, bright cherries of the photo below.

I have a lovely slug picture on my blog that may cause you to have flashbacks to Orcas Island.

I'm about to do my first and second Zimmerman-inspired sweaters - two drop-shoulders in Noro Kochoran and Shetland 2000 (for me and my friend) so wish me luck!

Oh, and I actually like the grey-pinky color in the center, so, ah, like I've said before, good thing I don't spin.

Yay cherries! Ye gods, looks like you have enough there to feed all the readers . . .s

Wonderful pattern indeed. I invented this sort of shaping (you know, I read about EZ. Never seen any of her patterns, though) when I was trying something in the sweater field and I plan to use it a lot when the sweater season comes. Next week or so. Could look damn good with some Selbu patterns.....

As the only semi-knowledgable crocheter in my (U.S.) knitting group, I feel your pain. I tried helping someone in the group with a baby poncho, and it took me about twenty minutes to realize that the pattern wasn't trying to make a scalloped side edge, but was a Canadian pattern and we needed to translate (and send my friend home with a list of what meant what). To make matters worse, she'd learned to crochet in her native Mexico, so this was the third set of terms she had for the same stitches, across two languages.

A knitting bar? Now that's one I would frequent! I am kicking myself that I didn't learn to knit until my kids were 4 and 6 years old and they never got to wear a Baby Surprise jacket...Now I'll just have to hope for grandchildren someday!

As always, you do good work! The birds stripped our small cherry tree already. I do, however, have a cherry pitter and might even be convinced that a road trip this weekend is a good idea. Be an even better idea if I can convince DH to drive (thus creating much stellar knitting time).

My grandmother maintains that the key to success in knitting is NOT TO THINK TOO MUCH. "Just knit!" she says. "Don't think! Knit!" (Clearly she does not know me well at all.)
The thing is, she seems to be right.

Love the jacket and the new yarn! I know you loathe crochet, but just for the record, UK is 1 above US. ie., US single is UK double
US double is UK Triple or treble and so on :) hope you get the help you did last year with the cherries!

ooooh cherries! We had two trees in our yard when I was little, and I have great (though also hot and sweaty) memories of helping my mom pick them all.

Lovely sweater!

Enjoy your cherries; ours here have been long gone for almost a month! Unbelieveably hot this year. It's now earlier than usual apricot time!! Double yum!! :-)

Cute! And the yarn is gorgeous, learning curve or no. :)

That's obviously single crochet ... but call it whatever you like, it's a nice finishing touch. Love the color combo you used. Now I need to rummage thru my left-overs.

I've been waiting for, oh, 6 months or more on the library hold list for EZ's Knitting Workshop. Since DH is reading over my shoulder maybe he will take the hint and give it to me as a birthday present...

Oh. He says I should introduce him to knitters as "Mr. Bubblebutt".

I bartended my way through college and as supplemental income for many years afterward. I make a mean magarita. I would LOVE to be the bartender at the knit/crochet fights!

Here in South Louisiana, where every Cajun female is born with a crochet hook clutched in her tiny little fist, we would call your edging double crochet.

But then of course Cajuns are from Canada.

I have just cast on for a BS for an impending grandniece/nephew due very close to my own birthday next January. I never, ever tire of any of EZ's patterns, but the BS is one of my very favorite.

Yummy yarn. Oh, and? Yay Cherries!

Hello Stephanie, I read your blog all the time now and I also am with you on that court matter.
Also I have some pictures I want to send you so what is your e-mail address to do this on?

I love that baby sweater and my knit group at Zaynab's of Knitting Grounds is doing just that sweater also.

Linda my friend is also going to make the baby sweater.

Check out both there blogs & you will see me on there also.

I finished my felted purse too and that picture on both these blogs.

http://www.zingis2000knitterblogspot.com

http://www.knitsfromgrounds.blogspot.com

Pauline In Alaska

The squirrels win the battle over the cherries in our back yard every year. You are sooooo lucky. I wish I lived closer to Toronto -- I'd gladly provide an extra set of hands to help with your bounty.

Have you seen the TomTen jacket on Brooklyn Tweeds' Blog? He has taken the basics of EZ which are wonderful - to brilliant heights! We need to talk him into writing a pattern- so those of us without that knitting wonderfulness can make one!

I must say though, crochet is really good for stuff like bags that are meant to hold my laptop and stuff. It's slightly more sturdy and I have slightly more faith in its ability to hold than knitting. XD

I need you to go back to that seam thing and do it again, slower with more pictures and more words please...

I'm wading my way through my first baby surprise jacket.. it's taking me longer than 8 hours I think.. but is also going to take me considerably more than the 3oz of yarn EZ told me I needed (I started with 4 oz of odd yarn.. and will be rummaging around to find something that goes with.. something equally odd yet coordinating.. tomorrow. and.. it's anyone's guess at this point what size critter this jacket (?) is going to fit when it's finished..) and twice so far I've had to magic away an extra stitch (because for the life of me I couldn't figure out where it came from) and I will be surprised if it's a jacket when it's finished..

which I guess is the whole point. so.. I'll carry on. and even finish it. provided someone draws me a map to step by step instructions for that seaming thing.

that crochet thing.. *I* (and perhaps only I) would call that a half-double crochet, I think. but.. maybe that's the southern term. :)

It is absolutely gorgeous!! I have this pattern in my queue, and now I really wish I could crochet. I can't crochet to save my life...

I received your RAOK yesterday-- thank you *so* much!! I just posted about it on my blog :)

I learned to crochet from a library book, then made a Christmas tree skirt that came out rather smaller than expected. I didn't know there was a difference between British and American terms - I'd learned from an English book and used an American pattern. Now I make sure my stitch fits the pattern.

The BSJ is great. I've made several and plan to make myself the adult version for fall. And a tomten for my soon-to-be toddler son.

That baby sweater is great - I'd like to learn how to make one. And I love love love that fabulous red yarn!

Love the sweater! :o)

The yarn looks great! I love the variation in colour.
Look at your beans - they are like a jungle.