Surprise...Its a jacket

Forgive me now, I am about to speak not so nice words regarding a pattern that our mother of knitting has created. What the hell was Elizabeth Zimmerman thinking when she wrote the Baby Surprise Jacket pattern? I know that she was not thinking of beginner or novice knitters when she typed that newsletter. I will say that she is an evil genius (term borrowed from one of my fellow knitters, Mary) But this pattern was not the easiest to follow, EZ leaves much to assume. Besides all the assuming that is required, there is an enormous amount of the counting stitches, at least I felt that I had to continuously count every stitch in every row. Because if I didn't and checked it a few rows later, I was off!! This little sweater was started no less than 3 times.

So real details about this FO:

Kraemer Yarn Tatamy Tweed 50% Cotton 50% Acrylic in Walnut Tweed color using a US5 Addi Turbo needle. Buttons with bear detail, not sure what metal type but they looked cute so I got them. I wanted little wood buttons but could not find the right color and size.

This was a gift to friends of my SO and I, they had a little boy this past April and his name is Sol, yes, Spanish for Sun. It fits cause his big sisters name is Cielo, cute huh? What I learned from this project is several things, first, if you knit a BSJ for a baby out of DK weight yarn make sure that you have done "before" the child is born otherwise you run the risk of it not fitting. He was about 4 weeks old when this was done. Second, just because summer is approaching does not mean that cotton is a good idea, this thing is quite heavy and it was a 50% cotton 50% acrylic.
Third, doing a 3 needle bind off at the shoulder seams is quite nice especially since I do not have good seaming skills. I am really glad that Chloe talked me into that option. And last but not least, fourth, if you are not sure that you really figured out how to do the pattern well, cast on right away for another one....I MUST be a masochist I have another one completed now.