After eight long months of work, I have completed my jacket, which is based on Kim Hargreaves’ pattern Honoured
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/honoured
I altered the neckline of the pattern, changing it from a crew neck to a V neck, and shortening the sleeves. I plan for this to be a summer jacket that I can wear comfortably in 80 degree weather to work.
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/honoured
One of the reasons I was bold enough to make extensive modifications to this pattern is that I have already knitted Kim Hargreaves’ Touch, a similar pattern without the peplum that makes Honoured so special:
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/touch
Since my Touch used a winter color scheme, I wanted to find a light color scheme for my summer jacket, and Chanel’s Paris Soeul collection was my inspiration:
The fabric I created uses dark and light shades of lilac and silver instead of lilac and pink:
I really have to credit Kim Hargreaves for her genius in imposing a slip-stitch color pattern ON TOP OF a moss stitch pattern in order to create a textile that is stiff enough for a jacket. Only a designer with her depth of experience and skill could pull it off!
I would rank Honoured in the advanced category of knitting patterns. In order to keep both front edges of the jacket perfectly straight (the jacket is fully fashioned, with no edgings added on later), you have to knit the second front piece backwards. This means reversing everything you did on the first front, and slipping the yarn in front of the slipped stitches on this piece only. However, the resulting edges are so perfect that I do feel no additional edging is needed, and that keeps the integrity of the stripe pattern which is very important
I think this is probably the most difficult piece I have ever knitted. Between tracking slip stitches on top of moss stitches, shaping the peplum and waist and bust vertical darts, and knitting one of the fronts backwards, the challenge bar was already high. Add to that the neckline change and the necessity of matching the front, back and sleeve stripes perfectly, and it was a real humdinger. One piece of advice I would give is to knit the back piece a size smaller than the front to ensure a really good fit there:
The waist I kept a little loose so the peplum would not look too exaggerated, thus avoiding a Dynasty moment. I would say that the biggest challenge is matching the sleeve stripes exactly to the body of the jacket. When I made Touch, I had to reknit the sleeves several times to make this work, so for Honoured, I started both sleeves with a provisional cast on right underneath the sleeve cap. Then I knitted the sleeve cap up 'til it was done and basted that part into the jacket to ensure a perfect match. Then I undid the basting and knitted the sleeves down to the length I wanted.
This is such a thrilling moment, wearing my lilac jacket at last. It feels like there should be a celebration party, with a little cake or something. What do you think, readers? Is it too silly for me to bake a little cake to welcome this jacket into the world?