This is what the Baby Surprise Jacket looked like just after I bound off. I probably should have photographed it the other way up, as the cast on edge was the grey at the top of the photo. From this weird shaped thing, you just have to execute a couple of nifty folds, and you get…
this…
the back…
Sew up the seams along the tops of the sleeves, weave in the ends (in my case, rather a lot of them, thanks to the stripes), and add buttons…
These buttons were some I already had in my small button collection. It’s such a clever pattern and I like that you end up with the cast on/bind off forming most of the edges. The only side edge of garter stitch is on the front neck.
I managed to be a stitch out for much of the first half of the project, and I decreased just a little too far in the centre, AND I had too many stitches towards the end, but you know what? It didn’t matter because it all came together fine. My gauge was 5 sts/inch which gave a finished chest circumference of 17 inches.
NICOLA KNITS 
It turned out wonderful … love all the various colours.
Love your color choices — very cute!
Well, how cute is that ! Some baby is going to welcome it. Great job.
Well, the person I gave it to isn’t a baby any more, as this post was written in 2011. 🙂
Love this pattern, I keep seeing posts for it but can’t find the pattern, only a link to a book full of patterns. I do basic knitting in front of the telly so don’t want a complicated pattern and I use odds and ends to make stripy garments for charity so thought this looked easier than knitting 2 fronts and a back and trying to match it all as I go! A lady on YouTube has made a 6 part video on how to use this which scared me off, not watched it, so would love to know if it’s easyish and where I can get a pattern. Many thanks
Hi there. It has always been available in Elizabeth Zimmermann’s books, but I think you can purchase it on its own from Schoolhouse Press, here https://www.schoolhousepress.com/