Getting closer

I’ve been steadily plugging away on the Baby Surprise Jacket, and I’m finally seeing some real progress. For a few days, my pattern seemed to be that I had to rip and reknit two rows out of every four, because I kept sailing by one of the pairs of increases. When I miss a single increase, I can make it up even a few rows later by crocheting down, but double increases make the tension far too ugly. At least I kept catching the problems quickly (I’m using the row-by-row chart, crossing off rows as I work, and counting regularly), but it’s made this project feel like more of a slog than fun. Because of the increases, each row is longer than the last, so that probably doesn’t help my sense of progress.

I took photos of the construction so far, but the light here has been horrible and they’re all yellow and flashy. Sorry. I tried retaking them, but the March clouds are just too persistent. (We are so ready for summer!)

Here’s the unfolded blob on the needles:

I’m at the point where you put the two fronts on holders and just work on the back and bottoms of the front for a while. The cast on edge is the trapezoid at the top – the top edge plus the two sloping edges at the sides. You can see diagonal lines coming in from the top corners – the decreases for the sleeves, and then slanting back out the other way – the increases for the body. Because of the increases and decreases, it’s impossible to lie this flat, so there are folds of fabric on the right and left sides.

Now, if you fold the sleeves in half (the cuffs are the sloping cast on edges) so that the seam will run across the top of the arms and shoulders, you get a jacket. Huh.

Here’s the back:

It’s a cleverly designed pattern and shape. I’m not sure if I’ll really knit this again, once might be plenty, but it certainly was a puzzle to work on until my eyes adjusted to the construction.