My First Zimmermann

What's better than a first post in a long break about knitting? I don't know either. So here it is, my very first Zimmermann sweater! Elizabeth Zimmermann and all of her knitting knowledge and patterns are such an inspiration. Something about the way she wrote her patterns, and how she went about explaining things, makes perfect sense to me.

This sweater in particular, is called the "baby surprise" jacket.
Knit out of baby alpaca, from this store.

Remember this hat??
It's the same yarn, and I still can't find the pattern link, but it's free (can't beat that), and fits a newborn head - even my small headed baby girls - perfectly.

This pattern is called a "surprise" because of the way it's knit up. I honestly couldn't tell what part was what while I was knitting it. For a control freak like myself, that made for a slightly anxious knitting project. I just had to trust the pattern - I still struggle with that - and go for it. I wish I had a better before picture to show you, because it looks like a jumbled mess of a blanket, but when you seam the arms (and that's the only seam by the way), it turns into this adorable jacket! Love it!

Oh! And these buttons! Oh my, love. Love. Love them! They are hand painted and made of wood. I found them on Etsy here.

Knitting for little ones is so much fun! I'm glad I worked like crazy while I was pregnant, knitting as much as I possibly could. There's not a whole lot of knitting going on over here these days. Little Stella is keeping me pretty busy. But I know there will be plenty of time in the future to knit, so for now I'm taking as many baby snuggles as I can get.

Take care!

Lisa