My youngest daughter has a friend who has spent a lot of time in our neighborhood because her grandparents live here. Well, daughter’s friend is now a proud big sister to a beautiful little sister — born about a week ago. The wee one is so tiny and so perfectly gorgeous, she melted my cold and bitter heart into a puddle. I had to take up the knitting needles to mark the occasion!
Loads of people have made the Saartje Booties — they are darling and easy and the pattern is free. This became the perfect excuse to try out the pattern.  I already had the pdf, but also “googled” Ravelry to check it out. Fleegle had done some major modifications to the pattern, removing seams, lots of ends, and adding her own brand of genius to an already ingenius pattern.Â
Armed with the free Fleegle pattern and lovely yarn from my stash, I whipped up these lil cuties in an evening.  I now have to buy buttons, but with gas at $4 per G, I opted to wait until I could double up on my errands. I would make these many times over — the pattern is great, the booties are darling, and the investment is small.Â
The yarn I used is a hand-me-over from Surly. I believe she got it at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival a couple of years ago. It was not labelled at all, but looked liked single-ply, handpainted silk in a worsted weight. I used a US 6 needle. These booties can be large or small depending on the yarn used — mine are kind of on the big side, but babies are known to grow…a lot!
Okay, this yarn and the cute booties inspired me. As you know, my oldest is a (very) recent HS grad so there SHOULD BE NO GRANDCHILDREN FOR ME on the horizon — I’m serious about that….don’t even THINK about it! Anyway, I thought I should make another classic: the EZ Baby Surprise. I believe that every single knitter on earth is required to make a BSJ (BSJ = Baby Surprise Jacket) before they die.Â
So, I am starting one in the same yarn to be finished on a slow timeline. It’s just for fun. I will save it for one of my own grandchildren OR I have a couple of close friends with adult daughters who may be in line for a special gift like this sometime soon. But this yarn is so nice……I may be forced to save it for my grandbabies!
You’d be surprised how fast the years pass, then BOOM! A grandbaby! I have baby patterns in my notebook that I’ve saved thinking they would be used for a friend’s baby or something, but I am actually using them for my very own “babe”. Start collecting patterns.
Comment by Lisa — June 2, 2008 @ 12:15 pm
The booties are lovely – but can barely see them as I can’t look past the stunning frost flowers!
That one is in my queue (and it’s crowded in there!). Beautiful job on both!
Comment by beth — June 2, 2008 @ 2:32 pm
I started a BSJ when my granddaughter was just a couple of months old. She’s graduating this Friday–from Kindergarten! The BSJ? It’s in the UFO closet.
I became enamored with EZ’s Tomten, and have knit one each year since said granddaughter was two years old. (She reminds me each year that she needs a new one because she has grown). Because I let her select the yarn, she has loved every one of them. If you haven’t already done so, you really must add the Tomten to your baby/children knitting repertoire!
Comment by Katie's Granny — June 2, 2008 @ 6:43 pm
okay… my bad but what is a bsj?
2ndly
great idea to start the grandbaby chest 🙂
I may join you and get started myself 🙂
Comment by Michelle — June 2, 2008 @ 9:18 pm
I love those booties!!
Comment by Soo — June 3, 2008 @ 2:48 am
Thanks for the link to the fleegle version. I just printed out the pattern to make some for a neighbor baby, and was contemplating getting rid of the seams. So nice to have someone else do the work!
Comment by mary lou — June 3, 2008 @ 8:08 am
Susan- Grandchildren? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!
Having said that, I do look forward to having someone to watch Sesame Street with.
Comment by Lorraine — June 3, 2008 @ 9:21 am
My oldest is in college, and also way too young to be giving me any grandchildren, but I’ve had an urgent need for months to do baby items. Unexplainable. So I was thrilled to find out my niece is expecting and my younger son’s coach is expecting twins. I’m almost done with the first BSJ, and Saartje’s booties were one of two patterns I’ve been looking at, so this is perfect timing to find out about a similar pattern that has fewer ends to weave. Thanks!
Comment by Patti — June 3, 2008 @ 3:18 pm
For a while there I was addicted to BSJs. It’s such a fun, almost instant gratification kind of project. I did my first two with stripes. That was adorable, but a big old pain. I dearly hate weaving in ends. So now I just use some variegated or self-striping yarn. Much less annoying. At any rate, I don’t think you’ll do the slow timeline deal. I’m not sure what I’m basing that prediction on as I hardly know you, but I bet it’ll be done in a flash. And those booties are just too cute.
Comment by Peggy — June 4, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
The thing with making one BSJ is you immediately want to make another. It will look great in your yarn.
Comment by twinsetellen — June 6, 2008 @ 10:28 pm