About the pattern -

the Good:

• very fitted and structural jacket, classy, but with a modern flair;
• attractive stitch pattern, which actually looks more woven than knit;
• beautiful attention to details, i.e. pockets, buttons, crochet edgings, side seam and sleeve openings;
• it could be dressed down with a floral shirt or a tee shirt, or dressed up with a crisp white shirt or a blouse.

the Bad:

• used 2.5 more skeins than stated in the pattern, which is a major adjustment to the yarn requirement, and I used the recommended yarn;
• the stitch pattern, though beautiful in the end, is not very fun to knit in a cotton yarn like Denim, but I guess no pain, no gain :)

…and the Ugly:

• I was under impression that Kim’s patterns for Rowan Denim are designed with 10% shrinkage (it’s not obvious, but actually easy to calculate reading the pattern and comparing to the limited diagrams she provides). Anyway, the garment shrunk only 5% in my case. That could have been a disaster, but actually ended up being more of a blessing than the curse. Had it shrunk intended 10%, my armholes would have been too tight. This way they are perfect, but the length of the jacket is a bit more than expected, and the sleeves are more of a bracelet length than 3/4.
• just kidding about the ugly, there is nothing ugly about this pattern. It’s quite wonderful!

Some additional notes and mods:

• knit pocket linings in stockinette rather than textured pattern to avoid added bulk;
• added buttons to the sleeves (just because I had 10, and it seems like a good idea); It was great fun to make them using button forms;
• learned how to do “crab” stitch using YouTube videos; I loved it! It ended up being one of my favorite features of this knit!
• used one-row buttonholes instead; they are placed on rows (not counting first 2 set-up rows) 35, 57, 79, 101, 123, 145, 167, 189.

IntSweMoDo2010 #12

Will take modelled photos soon.