BSJ Modifications

I've had a few people ask about my modifications to resize the Baby Surprise Jacket so I thought I'd post them here. Sorry it took so long. I really need to update you all on the last few weeks but I'll save that for another day.

For these mods to be of any use you'll need the original BSJ pattern. I don't want to breech anyone's copywrite by posting the pattern, but hopefully these instructions will make some sense. If not, let me know please.

To make a newborn size BSJ using 100g (or a bit less than 230m or 250y) worsted weight wool and size 4.5mm needles (I haven't actually worked out my gauge but I'll have a look later)

Cast On 128 stitches

Mark stitches 29 and 100

After 8 rows (4 ridges) increase 7 across each end

At 70st work 3 even

At 86st work 8 evenly across middle

At 114st shape neck by bind off 4 at each end

At 118st work on centre 66 for 16 rows (8 ridges)

Mark stitches 34 and 100

4 rows then make buttonholes then 4 more rows

Then you should end up with something cute like this:

The big one!

This is the FO I've been wanting to show you for ages. It has only been finished a few days but it has been a lot of work and I'm really proud of it. This little labour of love is a present for my Nan's 90th birthday, which isn't until March but I didn't want to rush it. It took me a month to complete which is slightly quicker than I expected although I wanted to have time to resize it if need be.

Anyway, without further a do, may I present my Swallowtail shawl:

Isn't she pretty? Not a huge shawl but a good size for a little grandmother.

Here's the blocking shot:

This made me realise that I really need blocking wires so I'm saving up for a splurge at The Knittery asap, especially as I already have more lace on my needles.

Not sure what to say about the swallowtail. It is a fairly simple pattern to follow if you don't have a 2yo helping out. I used Knittery 2ply merino on 3.25mm addi lace needles.

Oh, and it has really whetted my appetite for lace. So I joined a Secret Stole thingy (for all my free time!). They send me a clue every week for 9 weeks and I knit them up and see what happens. Unfortunately I needed my only lace needles so I had to wait until the Swallowtail was finished, which meant I was 3 clues behind. Luckily it is fairly easy knitting so I got the first clue done in 2 days and have made good progress on clue 2. I'm really hoping to be up to date by the time clue 3 comes out on Friday night.

Here is a little progress shot of the stole:

Terrible pictures, but it looks pretty good in real life. I've done a fair bit more since this picture but I'm only going to take pictures at the end on each clue.

Unfortunately due to the lace bug that I've caught everything else has gone on the back burner. I hope I can get a few more things finished off in the coming weeks as I hate having lots of WIPs bugging me.

House report: who knows and not worth talking about. Hopefully we should start knowing a little more by next week but until then we're trying not to think about it.

Another FO

OMG has it really been that long since I last posted? How terribly slack of me. Sorry about that. Things have been on the busy side here and I have actually been getting quite a bit of knitting done. I started and finished another project in the last 2 weeks, actually it was in the last week! I while back I made this gorgeous little jacket for a friends baby and last week I decided to make one for my own impending bub. I thought it best to do a little bit of stash busting but only had worsted weight yarn that I wanted to use so I had to change all the calculations. Basically I took 10% off everything-ish and it worked out really well. I can't really post my number because that would give the pattern away but if anyone really wants to know I'm happy to give them a hand.

Anyway, not real point with the progress shots so here is the finished item:

It took 2 balls of Noro Silk Garden on 4mm needles. Sorry I don't post all the details on my blog. I put them all in Ravelry now and can't be bothered cross posting. Lazy aren't I :-)

I made a terrible cock up on the sleeves. You are supposed to increase a certain number of stitches across a section and when I wrote out my notes I forgot to mention this and just increased the stitches at either end. This meant my sleeves looked like this:

So I had to undo my cast on and frog down from the top. This was a PITA as the decrease stitched would not just pull out so I had to pull the yarn through everyone. It took bloody ages! But it was worth it in the end and I am really happy with it. It should be a perfect size for her first winter.

Stay tuned because I have an even more exciting FO for tomorrow!!!