Embellishing a Little Jacket

There's nothing like a blank canvas to inspire creativity.  That empty natural colored baby jacket didn't stay that way for long.  First, I set in the zipper (not really all that hard, thanks to my trusty sewing machine), and then I set about adding to the jacket the embellishment that gives it its name: the circles.    In the photo above, I've crocheted all the circles onto the jacket and am working my way around adding the satin stitch that gives the circles the interesting raised texture.

One thing that became clear in this process: it's harder to free hand a circle with a crochet hook than you might think.  It also takes longer than you might think.  When this jacket is all said and done, I am betting that I'll have spent almost as much time on the embellishing process as on knitting the main part of the jacket.  The close-up shows the completed circles and a set that have been "outlined" with crochet and are awaiting their satin stitch covering.  I nixed the idea of taking the circles around the bottom and back of the jacket because, frankly, I got a little tired of putting on the circles.  But the nice thing about not lining the jacket is that I can continue to add circles to it any time I feel like it.

Once I finish covering the remaining circles, the only things left to do will be the zipper pull and some additional rings that embellish the top point of the hood.  And then maybe we'll try the thing on a certain baby that lives in my house now.   It will be way too large for her, but baby photo shoots are way too much fun!