Tuesday, March 16, 2010

A non-mystery knitalong

A bunch of us over at Knitting and Tea and Cookies have decided to motivate each other to knit a Baby Surprise Jacket - care to join our knitalong?

This is one of those Elizabeth Zimmermann patterns that, apparently, everybody makes at some point. My excuse: people I know keep having babies and I keep not having gifts put by for them. Something about babies always makes me want to knit something, too, and by the time the gift is done the child has outgrown it, as I have learned to my cost. If I knit up a few BSJs though, it won't matter if they fit now or later, and I can mix up the colours to be fairly gender non-specific.

Of course, around the same time that I realized I could knit baby presents in advance and with no particular baby in mind, I chatted with a friend who has been knitting hats for a Canadian adoption agency that works with orphanages in Russia and Bulgaria. Most of the children are under three, right down to newborn, and they greatly need warm things. Warm handknit colourful things are especially appreciated.

So now I'm thinking my knitalong project will head out to one of those children in the luggage of a Canadian family en route to picking up their child. And I expect to be throwing a few hats and scarves into my travel knitting agenda as well. If you're interested in doing something similar, e-mail me and I'll give you the contact information.

Wherever your jacket may go, you're more than welcome to knit along with us, and you can do it without joining Knitting and Tea and Cookies or even telling me; I'll be posting about it here as it goes along, and that may be all the company you need.

Start Date: May 1st

Pattern: you can buy it for $3 here, or buy the book, The Opinionated Knitter.

Yarn: apparently there's not much left over in your stash that won't work. So go wild!

9 comments:

madhat said...

Do you know if they send the pattern to the UK?

Anonymous said...

My pattern came today - I ordered the BSJ, CSJ, ASJ set. Wow, it is so complicated. I can't wait for this, though it does scare me.

Mary Keenan said...

madhat - e-mail them to ask, and if they don't, I suspect some kind soul (cough, cough) would be willing to order two copies and mail one on to you...

Angela - yes. Complex. This is I suspect why there is an entire group dedicated to the BSJ on Ravelry (and why we are doing this as a knitalong - safety in numbers!)

naholter said...

I'm so glad you aren't starting until May 1st; gives me time (and a deadline) to finish up some other WIPs I have, and decide on yarn(s).

madhat said...

A friend may be able to lend me the pattern ... although there is also a chance that she will NEVER find it amongst her uncounted patterns!

If I can get hold of the pattern in time, how do I join the group?

Mary Keenan said...

madhat - I can wait to order mine until Sunday so if you think you might want one I can easily add in a second copy and ship it out to you when it gets here.

Either way - you can join Knitting and Tea and Cookies by clicking on the icon in the right margin of this page... probably up a bit closer to the top at this point ;^) It's the one with the Denby teapot in the picture. The group is based at Ravelry so you'd have to join that too, but I'm pretty sure you'd get a joining-up page by clicking the KTC icon if you're not already a member.

Or you can just knit along here - I'll be posting updates regularly as I got along!

Mary Keenan said...

madhat! they do ship internationally. Here is what they say about that, though I'm sure they're talking more about books than a little pattern leaflet:

"Schoolhouse Press will ship internationally, but postage rates vary widely based on the weight of your order and its final destination. We prefer to ship airmail as it seems more reliable, though we will ship economy if you are prepared to accept the loss of your goods.

"Airmail generally takes 2-4 weeks to travel overseas. Economy can take up to 10 weeks. Global Priority at a reasonable rate (between $7-10) is sometimes a possibility for individual book orders, however, your book may incur damaged corners during its journey.

"If placing an order through our site, we will assume it is ok to ship via airmail and will charge your card accordingly ($20-30 or more for shipping is not unusual). Otherwise, please fax your order to 715-884-2829 and let us know your preferred shipping method."

madhat said...

Thank you very much, Mary!

My friend found the pattern for me, and I am borrowing it for the time being.
So please don't wait to order your own copy. I won't be needing one now. Thank you for your kind offer though.

I have recently joined ravelry, and now also the KTC group. How exciting!

I am busy with another project at the moment, so the start in May sounds perfect to me.

Mary Keenan said...

Yay on all counts, madhat!