Even though summer is finally starting, I'm still knitting a new design of mine--in wool. A slipped stitch jacket out of Cascade Yarns Soft Spun and Cascade Yarns Jewel Paints. I'm really loving it. But its taken a long time to get here.
The process of designing for me quite often starts with the yarn. Then a desire for a particular garment. Sometimes I see just a detail on ready-to-wear that I think is particularly clever.
In this case, I fell in love with a turtleneck I had-- more the color than anything else. A kind of lavender-blue. So when I received a couple of gift certificates to Happy Knits here in the neighborhood, I decided to see if they had some like it. I found what I wanted in the combination of colors in the Cascade yarns. I bought what I thought was plenty (and it has been-- at least so far so good).
That was just after Christmas. In February, I had "noodled" on the yarn long enough, and I started planning and swatching. Certain portions of the jacket have been knit two and three times as I worked out how I really wanted the shaping... sometimes I found a mistake and had to frog and re-do. Of course, I only have a limited time to knit, but I do try and work a couple of rows each day.
Its modelled as sort of a jeans-jacket look, but longer and with a peplum. There are cable insets that aid the shaping and pockets (one of the things I love about my jeans jacket).
I'm knitting the bottom hem now... still have a belt, front closures and collar to finish. After that, I think a matching hat would be great... we'll see how much yarn I have left. If there is enough, a matching skirt would be just the thing for fall.
Right now I'm hoping to have it complete before we leave on our vacation-- Alaska cruise in 2 weeks!
Dawn's Projects. Retired IBM database techie and current owner, Fiber Rhythm Craft & Design. Love to figure out new techniques in knitting and machine knitting. Learning more about weaving. Re-exploring many of the crafts of the 70s with the new wave.
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