Stashed 20 balls of DROPS Alaska 58 (mustard - uni colour) - bain 75904 and used 17 balls (850 g).
I love the result, the wool finally got softer after blocking and the coat is so warm. Spring is coming so I won’t have the opportunity to wear it a lot this year.
The pattern is well written and really clear. First but not last Katrin Schneider’s pattern I will knit, for sure.
I’ve purchased 7 + 1 buttons and sewn the extra one on the hood, thus I will never lose it and in addition, it make the whole thing unique :-)
Needles
3.75 mm for body
3.25 mm for hem
4.0 mm for sleeves
3.5 mm for cuffs
2.75 mm for cuffs bind-off
3.25 mm for button band
3.75 mm for button band bind-off (note for later: use same needle size - or 0.25 mm smaller - otherwise the button band bind-off would be too loose)
Amount of yarn used
Body: about 8 balls (420g)
Sleeves: about 2.5 balls (50g + 28g) each
Hood: 4 balls
Button band: less than 2 balls (50g + 40g)
At first, I didn’t really like the touch of this yarn because it felt quite dry but it became much softer after blocking.
08-02-2019
About 20 rows left before ribbing the hem.
For the moment, increases for A-line shaping are quite visible. I hope it will looks better after blocking.
10-02-2019
Body and ribs finished.
At first attempt, I used Lace bind off like advised in the pattern but didn’t like the result, too loosy.
As I had also forgotten to bind off following 3x1 ribs, I frogged the ribs and decided to use classic bind off, without forgetting to follow the pattern that second time!
20-02-2019 - SLEEVES
Needed to go one size up for the needles (4.0 mm vs 3.75 mm used for body).
Made the sleeves shorter (88 rows from underarm + 12 rows for the cuff).
Bound off cuffs with 4US/3.5mm.
Followed Suzanne Bryan’s trick to avoid holes at underarms.
25-02-2019 - HOOD
Hood finished and first grafting time for me. I’ve followed Cheryl Brunette grafting tuto because it helped me figuring out how stitches work.
01-03-2019 - BLOCKING
Washed and blocked the coat before knitting button band like written in the pattern.
08-03-2019 - BUTTON BAND
At first attempt, I knitted button holes following the pattern but didn’t like the result because stitches around holes seemed too loose.
I unraveled some rows and knit the button holes with one row button holes method.
Thanks Morphinae for the tip ;-)
10-03-2019 - POCKETS TIME
Going to knit them simultaneous to ensure they end to be perfectly identical.
15-03-2019 - FINISHING
Washed pockets and button band (I only soaked those ones, not body, sleeves nor hood) and blocked them before sewing the pockets.
Thus, pockets got their final height and button holes their final diameter.
Choose buttons with a diameter larger than button holes to ensure they won’t get off the button holes.