On Winter Wonderland coat

When the coat was finished, I brought it to my knitting group. On that particular day, one of the fellow knitters, Valerie, was there with one of her daughters. She was quietly knitting cute little Totoros with very colorful yarns and buttons. One week later, I was given the best compliment I could ever imagine. Valerie's daughter asked her if I really knitted the coat when they got home. Hearing that it was indeed what I knitted, she told her mother that she wanted to become as good at doing something as I knit, and later she decided that reading is what she wants to be very good at. I am so glad Valerie told me this story and truly stunned to learn that my knitting could do some good as it did to her daughter.

So, in the pursuit of the craft, here are some updates on the coat. The front bands are behaving better after application of Petersham ribbons, but they are still somewhat uneven. I now realize that this is due to stitches being pulled in by cable patterns. I could have applied wider petershams. I might try that next winter.



I failed to mention on the earlier post, but I do a little trick when I knit one-row button holes: I cast on one additional stitch which will then be knitted with the next stitch. I do this to prevent weak and stretched inner edge on the holes. Despite the trick, I found my buttonholes not quite sturdy at the outer edge. So, I decided to reinforce the buttonholes: using the same yarn, I applied buttonhole stitches all around. Another thing I forgot to mention: I use back buttons for support.

Winter Wonderland Coat

Happy New Year from snow covered Boston!

Watching snow falling quietly, I was sewing up Winter Wonderland Coat yesterday, the very last project of 2008.



It turned out relatively light as it required about 3.5 skeins of Cascade Ecological Wool and the gauge was right on target with the specified needle size. Initially, I was not that sure of the yarn choice and I began knitting sleeves first. It turned out to be a good decision as I had to rip all the way to the beginning once. My tension was too loose and I was making mistakes all over the place. Overall, knitting was fun. I realized how I love cable and lace patterns. I also love the front dip and collar shaping. One thing I am not happy about is the flimsiness of the front bands. I am planning to attach petershams which I placed an order from The Sewing Place. Hopefully, it will do the trick.