It is finished

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Noro Transitions jacket

Yarn:  Noro Transitions, wool 55% silk 10% cashmere 7% alpaca 7% angora 7% camel 7% kidmohair 7%, colour no 5, 720 gr

Needles: 6.5 mm

Tension: 14 st per 10 cm

Size: small

Pattern: Own, from Wendy Barnard's Lettuce coat (Custom knits)

Knitted: 8 October 2010 to 12 January 2011

 

The jacket is finished, and it has taken me several weeks to find the time to write about it.

 

When I last wrote about it I was about to start the ribbing at the bottom.  Only I decided against ribbing because I thought it would pull it together too much.  Instead I found this seeded rib in a pattern in the Falll issue of Interweave Knits, and it worked fine.  The same ribbing was perfect for the button bands too and the collar.  I thought I would try the one row button holes from the same issue.  Once I stopped doing what I thought the instructions should say and actually followed them it worked fine, and the method produced sturdy good looking button holes.  I found the buttons in my button store.  The shape and size is fine but the colour is solemn.

 

 

I started by picking up stitches for the collar and knitting it straight.  I didn't like it at all.  I had wanted to knit short rows to give it shaping at the back, but I couldn't find a suitable pattern quickly.  So I looked a bit further and found something, with a different shape and tension, but I used it as a guide anyway.  I redid it with short rows, and now it sits much better.  It worked first time round, too.

 

So now the jacket is ready.  I am happy with it.  The size is fine, it is not too big.  It is not at all small either.  It is the yarn and the stripes that bother me.  The first is that the colours are not arranged symmetrically, so you have to make sure that you start from the same end of each hank.  Otherwise the colours appear in the opposite sequence.  I got it wrong at the back before I worked it out.  Then I spent a lot of time rewinding balls so that I could get it right.

 

The other thing is that the fibres seem to go with the colours, ie the cream is angora and the green silk.  I do prefer yarn that is the same fibre, or mix of fibres, throughout.

 

And a picture of blanket #138 which is progressing very nicely.  I haven't started any other projects so I'm spending a lot of time on it.