This is inspired by the Petersburg pattern from the Rowan 42 magazine. I don’t have the magazine. I wanted something similar but with pockets, buttons, waist shaping and a more length.

This is my first major project with no pattern or instruction (I managed a very simple lace shrug). Overall I’m very please with it. It’s a tiny bit baggy around the bottom but I can live with that. Some cables at the back would have been a good idea to balance out the chunkiness of the front.

15/1/08: Arm bands done, epic front band in progress. I have learnt a few things from this project: very fitted things look better than unfitted on me, don’t be scared of as little as 0-1” ease, trust the calculator!

14/1/08: Finished the body, just the bands to go. I am so pleased with it.

9/1/08: This wool knits up really fast. I really like the way it looks so far. I am doing integrated pockets by picking up and knitting below the stitches I’ve cast off. Also grafting them to the body on each row so there are no seams. I don’t know if this is a standard method for doing pockets but it’s working well and is nearly invisible from the right side.

7/1/08: Swatching to work out the cable patterns - strands 3sts wide seems to look best with this chunky wool.

Rib and i-cord knitted with 6mm needle, the rest with 7mm.

Used < 6 skiens for the garment, the i-cord belt took it into the 7th.