I knitted a Baby Surprise Jacket

Yes, it's true. It's not finished, but it's knitted. I still need to sew in the ends, the top seam, and add buttons, but here is what it currently looks like:

It is knitted in Knit Picks Comfy Sport, a cotton-acrylic blend that will be perfect for a baby who is going to live in Arizona. I brought the almost-finished piece to the Atlanta Knitting Guild tonight, and I received many oohs and ahs from the membership both on the yarn selection and my workmanship. It is appropriate that I finished knitting the BSJ tonight since I began the BSJ at the last guild meeting. Okay, actually I spent the May meeting fighting a ball of yarn intended for the BSJ, but I think I cast on that evening or the morning after. I hope to weave in all the ends by my next weekly knitting meeting. Once the baby is born, I'll add the appropriate buttons.

On some level, I felt a little silly in that I had a lot of problems with what essentially is a garter stitch pattern. I do feel I learned a lot from the pattern, and I take a great deal of comfort in the fact that most people seem to find it a challenging pattern.

I also learned an important little fact from my knitting group last night. Apparently, I do not make my knit stitch correctly. I knit into the back of the needle and purl into the front. My understanding is that many self-taught knitters make the same mistake. While this is not a problem for many patterns, it may be a problem when I start to use patterns that require I knit into the back of the stitch. I decided to knit several washcloths and baby bibs to re-teach myself how to knit.

Anyway, I'm going to celebrate my accomplishment by curling up in bed and watching The Deadliest Catch (I'm addicted). I hope ya'll have a great evening!