Knitting Paradise

Somehow I found out about this wonderful place called Knitting Paradise. It's very similar to Artisian's Square. You can post pictures of your projects and then if someone is interested, they are welcome to leave comments on your thread. I posted three pictures of the knitted swing jacket that I showed in the Haute Couture fashion show and what a reception I received! I just couldn't believe it. Everyone was so very nice. I was asked how I did the cable at the bottom of my coat, so this is a little thank you for all those who came by and left such kind messages, a few even called me an expert. Again, incredible. (Just a little side note. Quite often we have no idea what a person's life is like. We put on a smiling face and when asked, "How are you?" we quickly reply, "oh, just fine," or even "Great!" when actually we would love to just sit down and cry. As some of you know, I have been very worried about my husband's health. Thankfully, we had a very good report on his last visit and he will not need to see the doctor until August. Great news. And then on a much less serious note, but one that I took to heart, I was in charge of the fashion show this year. It was a lot of work and the let down from it all has been a bit taxing. So with all of that said, receiving all of those incredibly gracious remarks on Knitting Paradise was like medicine for the soul. I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart.)

As I shared with everyone, the pattern for the jacket came from the Fall/Winter 1986 issue of Vogue Knitting magazine.

This is a fabulous issue of this magazine. Check out how ratty mine is getting. I am going to have to do something to save it because it is far too valuable to me to have it fall apart. You can see some of my favorite patterns and a few of the other pieces I have knitted from the magazine here.

This is a photo of the jacket as it was photographed for the magazine, very over sized which  was the style of the period.

My jacket. The jacket is knitted from the top down. When you get to the armhole area, some stitches are bound off and others are put on stitch holders. As I said before, I loved the jacket, but  once it was finished, I just felt that the hem area was lacking.

So I added the cable.

I've made up a small sample for you. The cables on the jacket consist of 6 stitches. I cast on 12 stitches in total. The first 3 and the last 3 were knit in garter stitch. I knitted the strip a little longer than what I needed for my jacket as I know things seem to change a bit once you start sewing things together.

Once I had my strip as long as I needed, I turned the garter stitches to the back,

and sewed them together.

The front looks like a strip of cable.

I didn't attach the garter stitches to the cable as I sewed so this is really a tube.

In this picture you can see the back side of the cable and above that is the bound off edge of my jacket.

Here you can see the cable sewn to the jacket from the back side.

And here you can see the cable sewn from the front.

Once again, you can see the cable from the back and the bound off edge of my jacket. This worked out perfectly as the jacket needed a little bit of weight, especially in the back. I took chain, just as you would in a "French" or "Chanel" jacket and sewed it right under the bound off ridge.

Here you can see how it goes around the back of the jacket.

The buttons I found at a lovely store here in Chicago called Soutache. She carries the most beautiful ribbons and wonderful buttons. These buttons are from a company that uses natural items for their buttons. These buttons are actually sticks. Now I could have made the buttons, but what more of a pain in the you know where could that have been? Sometimes it makes more sense to let someone else do the work. The loops are just an I-cord that I twisted and sewed together to look a little like the cables in the jacket.

And so, once again, me in the jacket.

I will wear this jacket the rest of my life.
I hope this answers your questions.
By the way. I have sent a note to Vogue knitting about this jacket as I think they should seriously think about publishing the instructions once again. If and when I hear from them, I'll let you know.