surrrrrprise!

stick a big ass fork in it - it's done!the adult surprise jacket! elizabeth zimmermann is an absolute genius!! this sucker was knit in one piece - unbelievable - a little bit freaky while it was on the needles but the results were well worth it! the only seam was the one up the top of the arms!
and i am very happy and very pleased! in many, many ways!!
and the weather has finally cooperated and cooled so that i can actually wear it! yippee!!
and here is the really freaky news about this sweater - i actually followed all of the directions - to the letter - and that, in itself, is a miracle!!

i knit the prerequisite - the baby surprise jacket. what a terrific idea and great advice. it helped instill the concept of layout and knitting methods and procedures. it was somewhat deceptive however - the bsj was knit in a flash and was nice and tiny. that was not the case with the adult version - the garter stitch just seemed to go on and on and on and on as the jacket got heavier and heavier and heavier!!

the pattern also suggested that one include all the colors in one's closet so that the jacket would be versatile and could be worn with everything. i think they were referring to the basics, like brown, black or navy not the whole 9 yards!! since my plan was to do a little stash busting, i decided to really include all the colors in my closet which didn't seem to be much of a problem since i have oodles and oodles of leftover bits of odd ball yarn! why not use them all? great idea, i thought, until i had to work in all of the ends! not such a good idea!

i successfully used 4 skeins of gray paton's wool and made a dent in my tidbit bin! wow, i'm actually stash busting! gosh, i hope i don't break my arm patting myself on the back as i need to be stash bustin' on a much bigger scale!

oh, yeah, did i mention that there was math involved? i actually sat down and did a gauge swatch (another miracle) and did the math - me, doing math! i think that that is why i usually knit from patterns that have all of that business taken care of so i don't have to dig through the cobwebs and engage that part of my brain!! in this case, i'm glad i did.

all in all, i think that this sweater is 'the bomb'!! it's stylish, it fits and is nice and toasty warm! perfect for all those fall days ahead! and....thoughts of knitting this again keep wafting through my mind......someday.....maybe.....