Ribbed Baby Jacket

Baby garments are a great way to experiment, because they are bite-sized projects that do not take months of knitting. (I did take months to finish this, but I put it down!) This was my first attempt at a garment with sleeves, and even though I doubt I'd knit an adult garment with sleeves like this, it was fun nonetheless to knit it in one piece, fold it in half, and voila! A sweater!

OK, in reality, it was not so "voila!" I had to learn how to seam on two finished edges together. Learning and applying the mattress stitch for the body of the jacket was a snap, and the result was satisfying because it truly is an invisible seam. I had more trouble with the sleeve seams. My first attempt, whip stitching it together, was embarrassingly ugly. Like, I couldn't give it away for free ugly. Thank goodness for Stitch 'N Bitch by Debbie Stoller! I used the fake grafting method, and once again this sweater was presentable.

Most of this sweater was knit in December 2008 when I had 28 hours of sitting in a car. Knitting was my salvation, because there is no way the "before knitting" version of myself could have ever sat still for that long. I also knit a good portion of this in the evening while at my in-laws' place. Yes, I did have to put up with some subtle comments about how the boy and I are not doing a good job of producing spawn, since itty bitty baby garments seem to draw baby longing out from hiding, but I'm good at ignoring that kind of talk.

I knit the jacket in mercerized cotton since this baby is Texan and I cannot imagine knitting a wool sweater for a Texan kidlet, especially if said kidlet is due to arrive in the summer.

The boy used Pinky, his sewing machine, to make the button hole. He also stitched the button in place.


To wrap up the gift, the boy sewed a burp cloth that we used as wrapping paper. We finished off the package with a bit of twine.

Overall, I'm happy with this jacket. Even with the right seam, the sleeves were a little bumpy due to the way this is constructed, and that is my main complaint.

The Dirty Details
Pattern: Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss
Size: 3-6 months
Yarn: Elann Sonata, colorway 7350 Nouget
Needles: Addi Turbo US size 7