April 10, 2017

Finished pattern work of left front to stopping point after row 36. Began right front to mirror and set up for button holes.

For vertical button holes (3sts long) in a 155 st garter facing I placed pins at these intervals to set up for 6 BHs worked on the right side of work at row 7 of 13 as follows: 20, 23,23,23,23,23,20. As you can see, these are evenly spaced given that I am allowing for the actual 3 stitch length of each BH. (There will be a BH created in the bottom band and the neckband.) I used the method from Barbara Walker’s Treasury of knitting that is also illustrated in Poems of Color. I am very pleased with how they turned out.

April 12, 2017

Finished pattern work of right front to stopping point after row 36. Will join right and left fronts with CO for the back yoke next.

Pattern called for CO of 126 stitches. I found this to be one stitch too many for the motif to remain true. In order to exactly mirror the fronts I need to keep with the stitch pattern repeat of 6 +1. Existing stitches are 166 on each front (which equals a total of 332) so adding 126 stitches would bring the total to 458 stitches which translates to 76 repeats +2 which doesn’t work.

I adjusted pattern so that I provisionally CO 125 stitches and divided them this way: 24sts for left front extension, place marker for left shoulder, 77sts for back (this is where I lost the 1 stitch since the pattern called for 78 back stitches - I like having an odd number for those back stitches), place marker for rt shoulder and 24 stitches for rt front extension. Deep breath, this worked with motif beautifully. Total of 457 stitches which is 6 X 76 +1.

First increase for yoke at row 45 called for 29 stitches to be added at a point when the motif repeat changed to 4 +1 stitches. This increase was also one stitch too many so I added 28 stitches in the back yoke section in order to keep the motif mirrored on each front. Total of 485 stitches which is 4 X 121 +1.

April 15, 2017

Through row 59 of chart which includes the second increase of 24 stitches (which was the correct number of stitches and very cleverly done) and 509 stitches now in play on three circular needles.

April 16, 2017

Completed final colorwork increase on row 64 of 69. Per instructions, added 6 stitches to back section of yoke bringing total to 515 stitches which is 51 X 10 + 5. This works perfectly with the last motif repeat of 10sts +5.

April 17, 2017

Finished the pattern work knitting and it is a good thing since it barely fits on my ironing board/blocking board! Now to start the garment shaping. I will be considering ways to knit the back top down from the existing yoke and using short rows rather than knitting bottom up and joining via kitchener grafting. Not much way to change the fronts as they are knitted side to side so I will start there.

I did need to use some of the yarn from the wristlet kit for two of the colors. Otherwise, I did not have to dig into my other LLC kit for extra yarn as I expected given the amount of pattern yarn stated for the Jacket kit.

April 18, 2017

Completed knitting on left front. Shaping as per pattern.

April 19, 2017

Completed knitting on right front. The next challenge will be figuring out a strategy for the back. The instructions say to knit from the bottom up, shaping for armhole and accommodating yoke by grafting live stitches when you have knitted up to that point.

I think I will pick up stitches at the shoulders - working one side at a time - and use short row shaping to knit each side of the yoke stitches as they become available. At one point, there will be a group of about 45 center yoke stitches to knit straight across which is where I will join the two back sides and work straight down, shaping for armholes at some point after that to, match the fronts.

If I am clever, instead of seaming sides, I might be able to pick up front sides at BO stitches after the armholes and knitting them as I go.

April 20, 2017

I am pleased to have completed the short rows of the back of the garment, starting at each shoulder and working one side at a time. This is what I did.

Picked up 10 stitches at the left back shoulder, and worked shorted rows to incorporate yoke stitches as follows.
R1, knit 1 yoke stitch and turn (used Carol Sunday’s wrap technique found here.)

Then I continued working short rows and incorporated the yoke stitches when I came to them as follows: Knit 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 10. (Eating up the yoke stitches in this pattern was due to the arc of the yoke which was more severe at the sides than it was towards the middle of the piece.)

Then I knitted across to the center yoke stitch and stopped at this point to complete the short rows on the right back before joining the final row from the left to right, closing the last gap from the public side of the piece.

The outcome was successful and I will now work the 155 stitches (135 yokes stitches and 10 stitches from each shoulder) down to the armhole where I will match the shaping of the fronts by increasing 13 stitches on each side which will give me 181 stitches rather than the 180 that the pattern called for in the bottom up instructions. I think this is pretty darn close and a much smoother way to work the yoke.

May 1, 2017

Matched underarm shaping when back reached the same point as fronts. Increased 1 st on each side every other row 6 times, then cast on 7 stitches at each side edge for underarm stitches to be picked up for sleeves.

Back now measures a little more than 8” below the the under arm point. I usually do waist shaping at the side markers but since there is no shaping for the fronts, I decided to make darts on the back for my shaping instead.

I placed markers 20 stitches in from each side and made decreases on the inside of the markers every 12 rows (which is approximately 1” apart), starting the first decrease 2 inches down from the arm hole then the next three decrease rows were spaced every inch. Then 2 inches plain before making increases at the same rate and spacing until original stitch count of 181 was re-established. I am approaching the second increase round and have started on the second full 50 gram skein of black.

May 4, 2017

Finished knitting back. Will block and then sew side seams before picking up sleeve stitches and knitting shoulder to cuff using short rows at the top of the arm.

May 12, 2017

I am winging it on the top down sleeves and it has been a frustrating experience in part due to the fact that the pick up on the fronts is different from that of the back due to the direction the fabric was knitted, therefore making the ‘give’ or stretch of the fabric quite different.

So, my first carefully thought out attempt used a rational pick up rate for each type of fabric but resulted in a puckered sleeve cap which was not my intent. Rip…

In my second carefully re-thought out attempt, I adjusted the pick up of stitches and the and the puckering was eliminated but the rate of the short rows needed improvement. Ripped again.

My third attempt (proof of the resilience of this yarn!!!) was successful on the sleeve cap but I decided the sleeve decrease rate I used on my raglan pullovers (2 stitches every 6 rnds) was not the way to go on this jacket so I ripped back to the first decrease and am decreasing every 8 rounds.

Details: Picked up 130 stitches for the sleeves with 65 on each side of shoulder marker. Knitted to 10 stitches past the shoulder marker, turned for first short row, purled back 20 stitches (10 sts past the shoulder marker again) and turned. I am using Carol Sunday’s wrapless shortrows technique found here.

Shortrows done by working one stitch past the gap on each side until there were 35 stitches on each side of shoulder marker, essentially, half way to the underarm marker. Then I began working 2 stitches each side of the gap until I got to the ‘wedge’ or diagonal stitches of the underarm, which I worked 3 sts each side and then 5 stitches each side past the gap which got me to the horizontal part of the underarm. At this point, I continued in the round and had to close that final gap on the public side of the fabric which is tricky. I think Carol’s ‘wrapless’ short row technique is useful for this transition.

Worked 8 rounds and started sleeve decreases every 8th round with a goal of 78 stitches for cuff.

May 16, 2017

Finished first sleeve. Worked decreases until 76 stitches remained. Then worked 13 rounds of garter before binding off. Sleeve length is 18 inches. Note: pattern called for sleeves to be knitted from cuff upwards using a 1x1 ribbed cuff. I decided that I preferred to match the garter edges of the fronts, neck and bottom details. Those are all done in white but I used the black for edge on sleeves so as not to draw attention to them.

May 22, 2017

Finished second sleeve. Tomorrow will pick up the neck stitches and do that edging followed by the lower edges. Yay!

May 25, 2017

Neck edge and bottom edge completed. After trying on again, I decided to lengthen the sleeves by another 1.25 inches. Surprising to me that the extra length was needed but I ripped the garter back to the stockinette and added length to each.

Blocking and buttons needed now but the knitting is completed. My biggest regret was to knit this according to the dimension of the bust which was a ‘Medium’ for me but regretfully, as a tall gal, I did not think so much about how this limited the length of the garment since the fronts were knitted sideways and therefore the length was set early on. Oh well…jackets can be of all lengths, right?
Photos to come…

Remaining yarn:
200MC 142 grams.
111 none - had to borrow some from wristlets kit
114 none - had to borrow from wristlets kit
116 2g
101 less than 1g
1S 15”
117 less than 1g
112 less than 1g
113 6”
100 none - had to borrow from The Egg leftovers
Weight of finished garment before buttons: 326 grams

Lacking buttons but I still consider this one finished while I search for special buttons.

June 5, 2017

Finally decided on the buttons. I ordered 6 different kinds from 3 places. After trying my hardest to use a Bohus traditional 4 hole button shell button, I wound up with antique abalone two hole buttons in the correct size for my button holes…14mm. They all match but hard to get the photo to prove it due to reflection. The 15mm 4 hole were just too big. Next time, if I intend to use the 15mm 4 hole shell buttons, I will make sure my button hole will accommodate. Very pleased. Will be in Boston this weekend and if it is chilly enough, I may bring it along!