Baby Surprise Jacket
The Baby Surprise Jacket, abbreviated as BSJ[1] and also known as Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise,[2] is a knitting pattern for an infant sweater designed by British knitter Elizabeth Zimmermann. The Baby Surprise Jacket is regarded as both a classic American knitting pattern with a distinctive construction, one of Zimmermann's most popular patterns and one of archetypical of her style. It has accrued a fanbase on the internet.
Description
[edit]The Baby Surprise jacket has a distinctive construction;[3][4] it is knitted flat (back and forth on two needles)[5][6] in garter stitch[7] as one piece, then folded[5][6] and seamed up to form the final jacket shape.[1] The original 1968 version of the pattern gave a series of steps for the knitter to follow, more akin to an algorithm than a traditional pattern. The 2009 re-release had step by step instructions for all 97 pattern rows.[8]
Pattern and publication history
[edit]Zimmermann designed the Baby Surprise Jacket pattern in anticipation of the birth of her first grandchild,[9] Cully Swansen, son of Meg Swansen.[10] Zimmermann had been attempting to design a bonnet at the time, but found that the resulting garment, when folded, was reminiscent of a sweater.[4] She gave it its name because "it looks like nothing on Earth when you have finished knitting it".[2]
The pattern was first published in 1968 as part Zimmermann's Newsletter and Leaflet #21,[9] then re-published in the spring 1989 and fall 1999 editions of Knitter's Magazine.[11] It was posthumously republished by Schoolhouse Press in 2009,[8] It was included in the 2013 updated edition of Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop.[12] Zimmermann's grandson, Cully Swansen, designed a modified circular, stranded, version that was published that same year.[10]
Legacy
[edit]The Baby Surprise is one of Zimmermann's most popular patterns,[9][2] archetypical of her style.[5] It is considered a classic American knitting pattern.[3] During the twenty-first century, accrued a fanbase on the internet,[5] especially on the knitting database and social media site Ravelry. As of 2012, there were over 16,000 Baby Surprise Jackets recorded on the website.[5] By 2014, that number had increased to over 20,000.[3] In 2015, Yarn magazine described knitting the pattern as a "rite of passage" for knitters.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Lewis, Maggie (1 March 2012). "A circle of sources, a baby's surprise". The Christian Science Monitor. ProQuest 925654979.
- ^ a b c d Skeers, Jude (2015). "Elizabeth Zimmermann (1910-1990)". Yarn. No. 38. ArtWear Publications. p. 50.
- ^ a b c Heffner, Brenna K (2014). "Lydia Bennet's Secret Stockings": Material Literary Narratives in Contemporary Culture (PhD thesis). University of Louisiana at Lafayette. p. 67. ProQuest 1549966756.
- ^ a b Steege, Gwen W. (2011). The Knitter's Life List. Storey Publishing. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-60342-996-2.
- ^ a b c d e Worland, Gayle (2006-11-12). "Knit knack". Wisconsin State Journal. G1, G10. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
- ^ a b Wolff, Barbara (17 October 2006). "Exhibition celebrating America's knitting doyenne to open". University of Wisconsin–Madison. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
- ^ Upitis, Lizbeth (2008). "Joyfully Opinionated Knitters". Piecework. Vol. 16, no. 5. p. 10. ISSN 1067-2249.
- ^ a b Craig, Michelle; Petersen, Sarah; Petersen, Andrew (2012-02-29). "Following a thread: Knitting patterns and program tracing". Proceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education. ACM. p. 237. doi:10.1145/2157136.2157204. ISBN 978-1-4503-1098-7.
- ^ a b c Marsh, Maureen Lilly (2016). Knitting rebellion: Elizabeth Zimmermann, identity, and craftsmanship in post war America (PhD thesis). Purdue University. p. 132. ProQuest 1833188528.
- ^ a b Butt, Louise (April 2013). "Born to Knit". Yarnwise. No. 59. p. 36.
- ^ "Adult Surprise Revisted". Knitter's Magazine. Vol. 17, no. 3. Fall 2000. pp. 114–115.
- ^ "Have you read?". Knit Style. No. 191. April 2014. p. 10.
External links
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