EZ's Baby Surprise Sweater

[AriRashkae]

OK, this question is for those who have knit Elizabeth Zimmermann's wonderfully confusing Baby Surprise Sweater. That mess of garter-stitch-gone-wrong that, with a little faith, turns into a sweater. (Even better if you've read the Opinionated Knitter, which is not to be found in any MA library so far.)

I've seen references for an adult sized version. Is it really as simple as scaling up to adult size (via measuring the person, and swatching for stitches), and just picking up the bottom, cast-on, edge to knit down to the required length?  

[DecemberFlower]

I haven't knit it, but I do have a couple of her books. Which one mentions the BSJ?  

[AriRashkae]

Knitting Workshop, which is actually the companion to her PBS series. If you're lucky enough to find the tapes/DVD in your library system, grab them! If you have to pick tapes, make sure you get vol. 3, which has the sweater. (Supposedly. I'm waiting for it to make its way across the state whee )

If you can't find the video, just Google "baby surprise cheat help" and the first link up should have a cheat sheet, since she doesn't write row-by-row for that. She actually demands her readers be smart. wink I got pretty far before I had to reassure myself I was doing it right. I'm knitting with one wrist in a splint, and I think I would have cried if I'd had to frog it because I misunderstood. rofl

I'm using a light blue acrylic from my stash right now, because it's light and large, so I can follow the pattern easily. I'll probably finish it nicely, since I just found out a not-sister-in-law (might as well be family) is pregnant.  

[Zahra Ovaci]

I'm actually just finishing up my first BSJ, of a set of two for my two pregnant friends. Here's my take on adult-sized mods:

1. Length: not a problem. There is an area in the pattern (if you have a copy next to you, look where it says to knit the center area only, and later pick up stitches - you can make that part as long as you want, and pick up stitches accordingly)

2. Arm length: This is the part that I would think would be more of a problem, since babies have such shorter arms relationally to their bodies. If you either picked up the areas that become cuffs and knit onto them, or did rectangle-y shapes before you cast on and added them where they would need to go, that could do it. I worry that doing the arm shaping on a greater number of stitches for a longer amount of time might do something wonky, and you'd have shaping coming out your armpits (if you can see what I mean?). Then again, a longer cast on for the center area might fix that.

Basically I think that if you had a gauge such that your cast-on for the cuffs was what actually fit you in the arms, the sleeves would be too short, because of the rate of arm shaping. You might could change the rate of shaping to change the slope, but that's more math than I can do in my head biggrin

Sorry for being vague, her patterns are so simple when you understand the ideas behind them, I'm trying not to give things away smile  

[AriRashkae]

LOL That's ok. That's what I love about the cheat sheet I found. Unless you have the pattern in front of you, it's just a bunch of numbers. What it does is tell you how many stitches you have in each row, not how you make them. If you can figure out a BSJ from just that, I will acknowledge you as a knitting god/dess. rofl

I've figured out her Percentage System, and I think Opinionated Knitter has the directions on how to adapt for an adult. The less thinking I have to do right now, the better! Flu season is coming, and the shots aren't a guarantee (although we got them anyway).

I'm pretty sure I can adapt well enough. I was just looking for confirmation of my suspicions, since I haven't tried it yet. wink

And isn't it funny that she seems to be the one knitter everyone is fiercely protective of? rofl Not complaining, but I've never seen this level of "secrecy" with any other designer. heart  

[Rune and Raccoon]

I have found the forum on the Knitty website to be quite helpful. You can always ask around there as well.  

[Zahra Ovaci]

Just went and looked it up on Ravelry, and she did resize it in the Opinionated Knitter. There's also a "revisit" of the adult surprise jacket in Knitter's Magazine #60, Fall 2000, if you happen to have access to that.

I think people tend to be more protective of EZ because she was such an icon to the industry smile And I think also to get people to actually read her stuff, and see what a genius she (and of course her daughter) both are!

I think her books, the Barbara Walker stitch dictionaries, and Lucy Neatby's knitting videos are the only knitting books I ordered for my library where it was multiple works by the same author. Good stuff all around.  

[taligator]

If you are an EZ fan, check out the ZimmerMania blog. It's slow as death to load but has so many beautiful EZ pictures.

I am knitting the BSJ first to see if I can do the pattern and then I'm planning the adult version. We'll see how that goes. smile  

[AriRashkae]

My grandmother has a good # of her books/newsletters (somewhere) in her attic, and she's going to let me have them. heart I can also raid her (huge!) stash whenever I'm in the neighborhood and want to. gonk I so love her.

As far as making the BSJ goes, it looks very odd while on the needles. And those corners do not like to slide along, so be prepared to give them a nudge now and then. I marked my indicated stitches on either side with a pair of fine wire rings, small enough to pass a stitch over, but still big enough to slip without losing. It was a lot easier to keep track of where I should increase and decrease.

I'm going to have to lengthen the sleeves on the one I made (pics on Ravelry, I swear, I'll post here too!) since I made it big enough for my 2 year old, but I need to make the arms a bit longer. sweatdrop