Every so often I start to knit something that I really want to have finished, but which saps my knitting strength horribly, and the jacket I started a few weeks ago was exactly that. Coupled with the general misery that is January, it’s meant that it’s all gone very quiet round here – sorry about that!
But last weekend it was finished at last, and today the snow has finally melted enough for me to get out into the garden and take some photos. Excuse the lack of make up, that was just a step too far! I used to take photos on a Wednesday morning before I started work at lunchtime, but I’ve started working full days on Wednesdays now, so until the light evenings come back I’ll probably be looking a bit bland! I’m not a big wearer of make up, but I’ll make an effort if I’m going out after work. Well, sometimes I will…
Anyway, enough about my general laziness. The jacket is knitted in Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Chunky, not the Debbie Bliss yarn in the pattern, but they had the same gauge and yardage, so I’m assuming they’re pretty similar yarns. I went up to 7mm needles to get gauge, and that’s where the fun started – 6.5mm is really the biggest needle I’m comfortable using, and adding moss stitch and cables into the mix was just a bit too much for me. I knew that if I stopped it’d still be hanging around half finished next winter, so I forced myself to get on with it, but, oh, it was a struggle! And then when I thought I was nearly done, there was the collar to do, which seemed to take forever (it took about 150g of yarn, so I wasn’t imagining things!)
The seaming was a doddle by comparison – I mattress stitched the sleeves in, then for the sleeve and side seams I oversewed them from the back to try and get the seam to lie as flat as possible. With hindsight it would have been better to do the body in one piece up to the armholes, but I was too busy trying to make sense of the pattern to think about that – as is too often the case with British patterns, the cable pattern was written out instead of charted, and I had to chart it to work out what was supposed to be going on. It turned out to be a very simple pattern, but that wasn’t obvious from the written description.
I used three big antique shell buttons I bought from Woolfest a couple of years ago, and I think they finish it off nicely. I did have to use a coordinating embroidery thread to sew them on – the holes weren’t big enough for the yarn, and when I tried to split it it lost its strength and just snapped. I’ve backed them with small clear buttons to stop them pulling too much.
The only alteration I made to the pattern was the make the sleeves full length – I do like 3/4 sleeves, but for something this chunky and warm I decided that I wanted them to come down to my wrists! Plus there’s that thing with shorter sleeves where you can’t hang onto them whilst you put your coat on, and they end up scrunched up round your elbows. No danger of that here!
Right, that’ll do for one post. I’ll be back soon with photos of spinning (I had to do something to break up the moss stitch, and spinning didn’t count…) and other things I’ve been up to.
Very glad to read your post – thought you might be unwell. Lovely knitting too.
Oh, thank you for being worried! I’ve just been lacking vitality and motivation, and then it snowed – I really should knit things I enjoy in January!
Absolutely stunning! That Jacket is a work of art!
Thank you! I’m really pleased with it now it’s done – I think I forgot to say that!
Your jacket is beautiful! (don’t worry for the make up)
Thank you! I don’t mind, I just didn’t want to scare anyone ;)
Wow!! It’s gorgeous! I admire you for taking on moss stitch and cables at the same time. It’s the moss stitch that would do my head in. The yarn is lovely, and the buttons set it off beautifully.
It looks very nice, although it does sound like it wasn’t as much fun to knit as some other things. (I’ve just finished a project in 1×1 rib, so you have my sympathy – all that ‘yarn back, yarn forwards’ gets really tiresome!)
Thank you! It was a combination of the moss stitch and the big needles – I can just about cope with either on their own, but the big needles wobble when you move the yarn in a way that smaller ones don’t. I’m so glad it’s done!