Baby Surprise Jacket, Tomtem

Back to my same theme, who doesn’t love Elizabeth Zimmermann??

Her baby Surprise jacket (rav link)  is the evolution of several patterns.

From what I can piece together, that pattern is the result of her playing around with the basic idea for a bit.

I see that she made the Baby Garter-stitch Jacket: The Prequel, which is published in Wool Gathering #61, sept 99. A very nice simple baby jacket. I also found the Surplice Jacket, (rav link) published in Woolgathering #50

. I also found the Tomtem jacket (rav link), which has a hood, and I love this addition to the pattern. Although this pattern was written for a child, I decided to give it a go, and try to make it for a baby present!

Yarn:I settled on some Organic Cotton, I had knitted a small project with this and fell in love with it. It just keeps getting softer and nicer. I also wanted a color that wasn’t a baby color, and finally decided on this one called “spice”.

I fearlessly cast on, knit about 6 rows and realize this would fit me, not a baby. OK, frog it, and start over, after repeating this with smaller needles, and then, decreasing the stitches needed. I finally come up with something that looks like it would fit a baby!

The term Tomtem or Tomte is a mythical creature of Scandinavian folklore. Tomte or Nisse were believed to take care of a farmer's home and children and protect them from misfortune, in particular at night, when the house folk were asleep.

In the 1840s the farm's nisse became the bearer of Christmas presents in Denmark, and was then called julenisse (Yule Nisse), this little guy looks like our Santa Claus.

At any rate, a cross between Santa and a Gnome, this farm troll is a fitting creature to protect children.

After much dithering around about how to install the zipper, I ended up basting it in, (this made it much easier!!) , and then using the sewing machine to sew it. I whip stitched along the edges. I decided this would be sturdier in the long run, and the application turned out to be simple.

Now I just have to wrap it up and send it off. I think her baby has just arrived!

May your knitting needles fly as fast as Dragonflies…..