I am ready for camping!!!

As the title says...I am ready for camping. The 1977 Tivoli hooded jacket is finished!! It took a little longer than planned!! Had a few interviews for jobs since my last post which kept me busy!! Another interview tomorrow!! Busy Busy!! Hopefully I will have some good news soon!! I have had an offer but not telling people much yet. I want to play my cards close to my chest until it is confirmed!! So in the mean time my knitting has fallen by the wayside unfortunately.

And although it took me a while to get it completed, the jacket was an unbelievable pleasure to knit. The aran pattern panel was simple..to the point I knew it off by heart at the end and didn't even need to look at the pattern book. And it was rather quick to gain length due to the thick aran wool and large needles. All pieces of the jacket were knitted separately (see pic below), the back, the two sides, both sleeves and two separate pieces for the hood and then they were sewn together.

When all the parts were sewn together the pocket borders and side/buttonhole/hood border was knitted by picking up stitches along the edge. I have always had difficulty with this and ended up with lots of holes and gaps in my work, but this time I found an excellent video on YouTube on how to pick up stitches (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF34R6KX-cc) and it showed me where I was going wrong. I was only knitting through one loop and not through two loops. Below are pictures of where I picked up and knitted stitches along the pocket edging. My silly dog Fred ran across the knitting while I tried to take the first picture...he really does love the camera...he sees it and insists on getting in the way! I have to admit I find it very adorable however annoying it can be at the time!

The final stage was to add the toggle buttons. I bought Vogue toggles in Hickeys, Galway, while running for the train home...I literally had two minutes and there were three sizes.. I grabbed the middle size and hoped for the best. I was waiting patiently at the till for my receipt and 1 cent change...I am sure the lady behind the counter thought me odd to be waiting for 1 cent with my paw out, but I was actually waiting for the receipt in the case that the toggles were the wrong size!! Luckily they were the perfect size! So I didn't have to go in and exchange them =D

Below are some pics of the finished jacket. It is so warm!! I had to take the photos myself in the mirror as the camera screen is cracked and can't use the touchscreen to set the timer. Nobody was at home to take them for me =(

                              This first picture shows the jacket with the hood up.

 

This second picture is with the hood down. (I look very cranky..haha..I was..I can't turn the flash off on the camera due to the cracked screen and the photos kept coming out to white to see any detail in the jacket)

This final picture shows the jacket tucked up underneath at the end. This is useful if I want to wear a coat over it and don't want it to hang down (and get wet if it is raining..which it is known to do quite often in Ireland).

I made this jacket in the smallest size according to the pattern..this was a 32 inch chest to measure 34 inch in total upon completion. I find it may be a little too big in places...under the arms is one example, this can be seen in some of the pictures. Another example are the sleeves. They are knitted so that there is a turn up. Even with the turn up at the end they sleeves are still very long..and I found that I needed to turn them up a second time (like a little child who's parent bought his/her jumper a size too big so he/she will get more wear out of it haha). I have shown some pictures below..the only problem with this is that the sewing was reversed at the end for only one turn up..so the sewing stitches can be seen when thet are rolled up twice. But who will be looking that closely only me right!?

                                          Rolled up twice. you can see the stitching

Sleeves rolled only once. It will be great if I am very cold..I can bunch my hand up under the sleeves without stretching the wool!! =D

So I decided once it was finished there was something missing...I felt it needed a belt...so at the moment I am knitting what I have nicknamed the "snake belt". It is very simple. When I have completed it I will post the pattern in a separate blog post.

I hope you like my knitted jacket..I am well happy with how it turned out. Remember if you want to make this
yourself I am selling a PDF copy of the pattern in my ETSY shop. The link is in the previous post and on my facebook page. Or if you like it and want somebody to make it for you..don't hesitate to contact me.

Until again

Helena =D