BSJ

Not another acronym! Knitting is full of them: KAL (Knit ALong) LYS (Local Yarn Store) WIP (Work In Progress) UFO (UnFinished Object) SSK (Slip Slip Knit). However BSJ was a new one on me.BSJ Baby Surprise Jacket.  It is the iconic pattern from Elizabeth Zimmerman.  Both the garment and the designer are famous in the knit world. Elizabeth Zimmerman left a mark so deep on knitting we are still taking our cue from her though she passed away in 1999. She was such a famous knitter her passing was given a full article and obituary in the New York Times. Zimmerman’s motto was “Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crises.” She wrote the book Knitting Without Tears among many others on the craft.All this power behind the BSJ, it’s like a force of nature, or at the very least a rite of passage to knit one. I had looked at the pattern and honestly couldn’t make sense of it. The BSJ is knit flat and then folded origami style to make the jacket. It is not constructed like anything I’ve ever tried to knit. I gave up quickly.This month the LYS where I work was having a class to make a BSJ. I signed up. I wanted to master this pattern. I no longer have babies in my life, no pregnant friends or relatives. But it was time for my knitting to come of age.I signed up and cast on 160 stitches. Nine rows in I ripped the whole thing off the needles and cast on again. Hmmm. Usually I can see where I’m going. I work the sleeves or cuffs or back. With the BSJ everything folds onto itself, as a novice I didn’t know what goes where. The pattern begins with double decreases and gets stranger from there.I went online to complain to some knit friends. Lovely women that they are I received wise counsel: Trust the pattern and keep going. Huh. Take it on faith that Elizabeth knew what she was doing? Thousands of jackets later I am just one more person to follow her pattern. But… I quit complaining and knit on.I put increases where they looked bizarre. I added stripes with no idea where they’d be on the finished garment. I pressed on. It was kinda fun actually, the mystery of it all. I was forced to enjoy the journey, for though I knew the outcome I had no idea how I was getting there.Maybe you’d like to step out and enjoy the journey. Try a new and challenging pattern, or perhaps step back and just work on the task in front of you rather than worry about the final outcome. The Baby Surprise Jacket offered me a surprise I never saw coming the surprise of how exciting it is to take it on faith.