At last, the veil of secrecy is lifted, and I am pleased to present the Baby Surprise Jacket that I made for Janis’s StarDemon! It is the second Baby Surprise Jacket that I’ve made out of single-ply yarn from 100purewool, and I noticed the same things: first, the yarn is delightfully soft. Second, about 75% of the way through a Baby Surprise Jacket, one hits a wall of garter stitch and lags on making progress because one cannot imagine the sweater ever truly being finished. But eventually, it is done and seamed and given as a gift, and I am quite pleased to be checking it off my to-do list.

I had the bright idea to knit bobbles for buttons. These are great for baby sweaters because they can never come off to become the world’s worst choking hazard. Unfortunately, the bobbles I knit weren’t big enough to fulfill their function as buttons. Instead, they just slipped out of the buttonholes. First I tried to pass that off (“It’s, um, a cardigan! With useless buttons!”) and then I tried to deny the need to make them bigger (“Oh, he’ll only be wearing it for a couple of months anyway”) but then I gave in to the reality that no, they really needed to be bigger. After a couple of attempts to make them bigger by stitching into them and making French knots around them, I eventually decided to just crochet around them.

I tried to use sections of yarn that contrasted with the colours of the original bobbles. The result looks a lot like flowers! But the next time I want bobbley buttons, I’m going to crochet them on after the fact. Knitting bobbles is sort of a pain, and crocheting around them was just a little bit fiddley. If I can avoid that pain and fiddliness, I don’t see why I shouldn’t!

Now that the Fleeps are done, it’s time to move on to the next gift, which is something for Janis’s little Stardemon. Unfortunately for blogging purposes, this is going to be a Sekrit Surprise Gift, and that’s going to make writing about it a little difficult. But there are a few things I can say: I’m using this worsted-weight merino from 100purewool. It’s the “Winter Joy” colourway and it is so, so very soft.

I wound it up on Sunday afternoon into these beautiful cakes, with only a little bit of grumbling as the yarn had gotten a little felted together in places, and then I started knitting. It is as wonderful to work with as I remember, and just as soft. Before bed, I’d knit enough to feel like I got a really good start on the project, and I put it down with a sense of accomplishment (and aching hands). I added a few more rows on Monday.

I don’t want to ruin the surprise, so I might not say much about this project until after it’s done and given. I’ll leave it with this for now: wow, my tension is even. The stitches look so pretty. The yarn is delightfully soft, and knitting up to a good firm gauge that is neither too drapey nor too stiff. I found a knot in the yarn and after a little growling at it, I cut around the knot and spit-spliced the ends, and now I can’t see where the join is. And even though this yarn obviously felts with very little effort, I don’t feel at all worried about giving a handwash-only sweater to my knittingest friend.

Due Date …… Project
1/1 ….………. Gift for Janis’s baby boy (in progress)
2/1 ………….. Fleep Restraints (magnets ordered, 1 month delivery delay)
2/1 ………….. Jacob Hat
3/1 ………….. Twins’ sweaters (yarn ordered!)
4/15 …….….. Gift for Gwen’s baby (What to make, what to make…)