Elizabethan Jacket

Recipient: MIL
Designer: Jade Starmore
Pattern: Elizabethan Jacket
Source: A Collector's Item
Completed: December 1, 2007
Colours: Cream, sage and red
Yarn: New Zealand wool, worsted weight
Completed status: It doesn't button up, but she loves it
Pictures:

front


back


interior (for you finishing freaks)


steek detail


button detail

2008-Jan-1

This was brought out of its giftwrapping to the tune of delighted exclamations and superlative compliments. After all the gifts were unwrapped, my MIL immediately picked it back up so she could try it on.

Well.

Firstly, it took her about 10 minutes to undo all the buttons. (They may have been a tad too tight for the buttonholes. However, they were such a perfect match to the cardigan that I couldn't resist using them. Besides, I didn't find it that difficult to shove them through the buttonholes. Unfortunately, as my husband pointed out, I am not in my mid-70s with arthritis starting to affect my manual dexterity. Crap. I never thought of that.)

Secondly...once the thing was on, it was too small to button up the front. It just sits there open, gaping widely. I made the correct size, I got gauge, I blocked to measurements...but it's still too small. Figure that.

However, although my sense of perfection is deeply offended by this, I'm not that worried, because first of all, it being too small to fasten means she never has to struggle with the buttons, and secondly, it is totally more her style to wear it like a blazer. So, even though I screwed up, I win.

2007-Dec-1

Hey, guess what? (Tumblina, warning...you're probably about to get hit in the heart yet again. Sorry to kick you like this when you're in the middle of vest purgatory.) I sewed in the sleeves:



Once again, I sing the praises of using binder clips for 'basting' your knitting garments together. They're the poor knitter's Knit Klips (children's hairclips would probably also work well in a pinch). They make sewing things in, especially really pain-in-the-ass stuff like set-in-sleeves, VASTLY easier.

Once the sleeves were sewn in, I was faced with a truly frightening number of ends:



This picture does not convey how bad it was. There were a lot of ends. It took a looong time to get rid of them all.

And then there were the steeks to lash into place. That was also a helluva job. There were ten of them, and of course every time I started a new length of yarn with the sewing of them, I had to weave in each end of that length. Blech. But, it got done.

Oh, and did I mention the buttons? Yeah, there were fourteen of the friggin' things.

So hey, guess what?

I love, love, LOVE it.

2007-Nov-23

I did it. I got out the iron, ironing board and a wet towel, and did what had to be done. We now have pleats on the darts:



I also did a little steam ironing of the collar so it would generally stay put instead of sticking straight up.

As a bonus, I used the iron to hem the new kitchen curtains. They no longer drag on the ground - hurray!

I've also cut up the sleeve steeks. Next up: sewing them in. Blech.

2007-Nov-19

A few more ends have been sewn in. What I'm really procrastinating about is taking out the ironing board and iron, wetting a towel, and pressing the pleats down on the darts. It will be a dull and awkward task and I'm not looking forward to it. However, it must be done, and then I can sew in the sleeves. Maybe I'll kill two birds with one stone and hem up my new kitchen curtains at the same time.

And thanks very much, everyone, for your comments and compliments on the project.

2007-Nov-9

Coming along bee-yewtifully:



The collar is done, the button and buttonhole bands are done, and the front and back neckline steeks have been lashed into place. The monumental task of weaving in ends has begun, and I've begin to cut up armscye steeks in preparation for sewing in the sleeves (one of my least favourite sewing tasks in the world). My heart is starting to quail at all the sewing and weaving I have ahead of me, but we're definitely closer to the finish line now.

2007-Oct-27

The approach of Hallowe'en and the huge amount of Christmas projects I've taken on has thrown me into a bit of a Christmas panic. This panic gave me the chutzpah I needed to do the blocking last night (which also involved cutting two of the steeks). It looks absolutely marvellous - it blocked more-or-less to the required measurements and all the ugly rippling and puckering is gone:

2007-Sep-18

Having finished the Peacock Feathers Shawl, and being focused these days on DH's Christmas sweater (when he's not around, that is), I was inspired to keep going on another Christmas project: this one. When last we saw this project, I had finished knitting the body and sleeves and was psyching myself up to do the steeking. So this past week, I crocheted up all the steeks to anchor them prior to cutting: front opening, armscyes, front neckline, back neckline, and each sleeve. It wasn't particularly fun, but it had to be done, so I did it. Now I'm trying to work up the cojones to go ahead with the cutting.

2007-Apr-10

Knitting is DONE. Finished that a few weeks ago, I think. I now have a completely knitted body and two sleeves:



And the best news is that I actually had enough red to finish all that. Waaaay more than enough, actually, there's a fair bit left. I knew that I was completely in the clear and could breathe a sigh of relief when I had this much done on sleeve #2:


and the rest of the red weighed this much:


Because before I'd started both sleeves, there was about 167g left of the red. To have used up less than half of that and have a few inches of sleeve #2 already started was EXTREMELY good news.

So, next up: blocking! The weird thing is that the pattern never tells you when to block. In fact, it tells me that my next step should be the cutting of the steeks. But I think that the blocking should happen before the cutting. There was a 'Today's Sweater' segment on the Cast On podcast a while back where one woman tells the tale of her first sweater - a full-on Norwegian sweater - which was blocked before steeking and sewing, and so that is what I'm going to do for this baby. It really does need a good soak and stretch. I'm actually counting rather heavily on the blocking to get rid of all the laddering ripples on the sleeves and to relax the fibres out so that the pieces can be the size I'm going for. Stay tuned - this could still turn ugly.

2007-Mar-13

The arrival of the 3mm DPNs meant that I could stop wasting my time trying to do the magic loop with the sleeves, and start all over again from the beginning of the fair isle part. The difference - both in ease of knitting and in the quality of my work - between the too-short circular and the just-right DPNs has been PRONOUNCED. It's not as easy to do as the body (round and round on a circular needle), but I'm happy with the output and the work is definitely moving along. I'm approaching the halfway point for the sleeve increases.



Hooray.

2007-Feb-20

I continued to move forward like crazy on this project, and finished the body:



This is the kind of project that REALLY attracts attention when you take it out in public. I got many more comments and questions about my knitting with this project than I usually do. And the funny thing is that, more than once, when someone started asking me about the project, someone else sitting nearby turned out to be a knitter and also wanted in on the conversation. It was really cool! I did manage to freak out two older women who wanted to know what the checkerboard strips in the piece were there for, so I explained about steeking. Their reaction was predictable:

"You...wait...you...CUT the knitting?!? You CUT it?!?"

(I haven't met anyone - myself included - who hasn't had this same initial reaction to the concept.)

Once I'd explained the process and assured them that it really did work, they thought it was very cool. I don't think they're going to be trying out the technique for themselves any time soon, :) but they did think it was really nifty, and I felt really happy and educator-ish for introducing them to the technique.

Unfortunately, after I started the first sleeve, the whole project screeched to a grinding halt. The problem? I don't have a circular 3mm needle short enough to be able to do the sleeves without using the magic loop technique. Unfortunately, at the same time, my 3mm circular isn't long enough to do the magic loop comfortably or easily. So, although I tried very hard to keep going on the sleeve, I just wasn't doing well, and consequently did not enjoy the knitting at all.

So I stopped. And then I ordered a couple of 3mm DPN sets from Yarn Forward.

And...uh...some sock yarn, too. [Embarrassed coughing] Well...what else was I supposed to do? I'm almost completely out of sock yarn, and ordering it along with the needles made the shipping costs way more efficient.

Don't judge me.

Anyway, the package arrived yesterday (minus one of the sock yarn colours, which is on back order), so I expect I'll get back to this project pretty soon. (Stay tuned for a future blog entry to see pictures of the 'haul'.)

2007-Jan-30

I can't stop working on this! I've just started another great new project, and yet, my hands still keep taking this out of the bag to work on. I suspect a large part of the reason for this is that the suspense of whether there will be enough red yarn to complete it is driving me nuts. I MUST know...and the only way to find out is to knit and knit until either the red or the cardigan is finished. Which is really quite insane, when you think about it. How many people have you ever heard of who get a major piece of Christmas knitting done by, say, February? I'm a freak!

But...I'm a freak with a really gorgeous WIP:


Carrie K caved to the pressure of all this loveliness and asked where she could get the pattern. :) (Muahahaha.) This is a Jade Starmore design, from her book "A Collector's Item". You can't get this off-the-shelf from any of the big online booksellers, but eBay has it sometimes. However, after missing out on several of those auctions, I finally thought, 'screw it', and ordered my copy directly from the Starmore site. I think my total cost with shipping and exchange and everything was about $65, and that was back when the exchange rate sucked a lot harder for us Canadians. So it wouldn't be so pricey for you, Carrie. Plus, there are a lot more awesome patterns in the book than just this one. To be honest, if this book is any indication, I believe Jade actually surpasses her mom for design genius. Her concepts are more modern, and she throws in more variety and new ideas, not just in terms of motifs, but also in terms of cut and style. The Persian Tiles shawl I made for my grandma is also from that book. So if you buy it, prepare to be stunned (in a good way). Honestly, I can only think of one design off the top of my head that I don't want to make from that book - I'm pretty sure that everything else in there is on my list of 'projects to complete before I die'.

2007-Jan-27

I brought this out for a little bit during the SnB just for a little variety during the evening, and it definitely got noticed. (I can say that without worrying that I'm coming across immodestly, since it's the pattern that makes it so incredible, and I didn't design the pattern. I just do as I'm instructed...when I'm not screwing it all up, of course.) I also got some suggestions on how I could maybemaybe make the red yarn stretch far enough. Denny brought up the idea of 3/4 sleeves and a deeper neck. She pointed out that these might actually be desireable features since the stranding across the back of the work is going to make the cardigan super-hot...shorter sleeves and a deeper neckline might be the only way the wearer can stand it without melting. :) Another suggestion (which I think Megan made) is to do the red just for the body. I will certainly consider all these ideas, especially since it's looking more and more like I am really screwed, red-wise, despite Carrie K's assurances. I shall thank her, however, for that vote of confidence, by respecting her resolution to "Not.Look.For.It.Online.", and NOT telling her how to get the pattern. (But if you ever change your mind, lady, let me know. :)

However, aside from that, it's coming along very nicely. I'm getting close to the bottom of the armscyes. These will also have to be steeked. And I find I can bear the knowledge of more steeking to come with great fortitude. The lack of having to weave in ends for colour changes, in kelpkim's words, is certainly "GREAT!!!" More and more, I think whoever invented the concept was not a sadist, but actually a freakin' genius. So, on Wednesday night, when Fibersnob fretted out loud about the upcoming steeking she's going to have to do for an absolutely GORGEOUS baby cardigan she's working on, I was able to reassure her with great confidence and authority. Hopefully it helped.

2007-Jan-23

Carrie K confirmed my 'good daughter-in-law' status and boggled at the fact that I was doing Christmas presents already. Yes, I am just that sick and twisted. Sorry. :)

Anyway...this is still my new favourite project. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out why:


I'm so enamoured of it that I am even willing to show you the reverse side:


Unfortunately, all is not perfect in Newfavouriteprojectland. For one thing, I screwed up more times than I care to count on the dart pattern. Let's just say there will be a fair amount of duplicate stitching to correct things. As well, I completely missed the part of the instructions which told me to work 5 additional rows after doing all the dart decreases, and then pleat the darts. Yep, you guessed it - instead, I pleated the darts immediately after I finished the decreases. Four to six rows later, I finally read that fateful instruction and...frogged the whole thing back. Couldn't avoid it - my mistake was very likely to result in a structural change to how the darts functioned. Bleah.

As well, I have this problem:


The skein on the bottom is about how big the skein on the top was when I started. And I have about half the body and two sleeves left to go. I am so screwed.

However, on the upside, I am absolutely gleeful over the fact that all the billions of ends resulting from the colour changes happen in the middle of the steeks, which means there will be NO NEED TO WEAVE THEM ALL IN! Muahahahahaha!

Now, if only I could be assured that I won't run out of the red...

2007-Jan-17

In the absence of my Peacock Feathers Shawl pattern (although the shop tells me it's coming soon and, if I'm really lucky, it'll be there by tonight so I can go to the SnB), and given that DH's Christmas present is racing rapidly towards the finish line, I figured it was time to turn my Schedule-obsessed attention towards something else for a while. Specifically, to my MIL's Christmas present. (Never say I don't think ahead.)

The problem here is not a lack of ideas. Heavens, no. Ideas and inspiration I have tons of, enough to last for years. Projects like...


Alice Starmore's Mary Tudor cardigan


Helen Hamann's Lliclla wrap (drooool)


Elsebeth Lavold's Emma jacket


Anne Feitelson's Sandwater Jumper

And Hanne Falkenburg's Mermaid blazer (ivory/sand mix/dove colourway). To name some top contenders.

(Incidentally, just to toot my own horn, am I not the best daughter-in-law EVER?)

All of these would suit my MIL bee-yew-tifully and would deliciously satisfy my penchant for advanced projects. (Well, okay, the Lliclla wrap doesn't look like a big deal, but the payoff of an absolutely glorious finished product would more than make up for that.) The problem is...budget.

Bleargh. Money (or the lack thereof) raises its ugly head again. Fact is, our Christmas budget is about $500, and it's used to buy presents for 10 or 11 people. For my individual gift from me to my MIL, therefore, I have a limit of about $25-30. Now, sometimes we do pool both DH's and my gift money for one person in order to buy them one big thing. However, as DH pointed out (as I was trying to convince him that we should use this strategy so I could afford the 400g of Peruvian Highland Wool I'd need for the Lliclla wrap), a handknitted gift to someone is going to be perceived primarily as a gift from ME, no matter who else's name may be on the tag under the "From:" heading. And, sadly, he's right.

Thus I was left with no real alternative but to stash-dive.

What I found that got the creative juices flowing again was a bunch of New Zealand wool that I had bought a few years ago in various gauges and colours from a very nice eBay seller. And I began to think about another contender...


Jade Starmore's Elizabethan Jacket

I chose three colours that seemed to work well together and that would suit my MIL (cream, sage, and red), and swatched. I realised on the first swatch that there were two main problems. Firstly, the red was far too prominent. It's sort of an orangey-red, but it has enough of a blue undertone to not be completely suitable to my MIL's colouring (she's a redhead). So I wanted the cream-and-sage striping to be dominant, and in the first swatch, it just wasn't. Secondly, the swatch was a touch too big for gauge.

So I made some changes. Firstly, I went down a needle size to 3mm. And secondly, I reversed the colourway: instead of the background being a single colour and the main pattern being striped, I made the main pattern solid (red) and the background striped (cream and sage). Behold the result:



I like it. And I'm pretty close to gauge, too. I'm sure I can block it out to the right measurements. (No, I haven't washed the swatch. What can I say - I've used the yarn before, so I've got a good idea of how much 'bloom' I'll be dealing with; plus, I like to live on the edge.) The yarn should bind together with the steeking, and I'm pretty sure I have enough of each colour. (I know, I know, again with the living on the edge...I haven't actually weighed all the yarn to make sure I have enough. But it seems like enough. Oh, stop rolling your eyes at me. If it doesn't work out, you have the right to mock openly.)

So, Monday I cast on. And now...


It's my new favourite project.

Labels: mil2007