I spent part of the weekend hanging out with the girls. It's always nice to go out, have a lot of good eats and just chat about life and crafting. We started again at our favorite bakery in the city where we enjoyed a delicious spread of treats. We can't ever get enough of that bread pudding! But I think each time I go, I have to try something new. This time, I tried the chard quiche. Soooo yummy! And the crossaint, the best I've ever had. I think the rumor may actually be true, the one that says each crossaint is made with 1/2 stick of butter (How can something so evil, not taste so good?)! We also had another siting of the Interweave girl! She must live nearby or knew that we were coming. We then mosied over to a cafe to get some "work" done. There were also pictures to be taken.. And brainstorming to do. We talked about the projects that plague our lives and the solutions to rid us of these darned plagues. For Steph, it's been her Argyle Vest. For me, it's been the Ram's Horn Jacket. I practically have an FO in my hands, people! The sweater is all done, knitted and seamed since before Christmas. The collar has also been knit and blocked since before Christmas. Even after all my Christmas projects have been completed, I still haven't touched the darn thing. There's a certain apprehension I have with this project that has prevented me from finishing it, part of which is the lack of instruction on attaching the collar (thanks goes to the girls for helping me finally decide on a course of action). The other part I can't pinpoint. But what I will tell you is this. This sweater will be finished by the end of the month! There. I said it. Now you have to hold me to it.

Is not being able to find an appropriate closure a good enough excuse NOT to post an FO? I'm definitely going to say yes. My little old Ram's Horn Jacket has been sitting around since April for exactly that reason (yes, it's been waiting around for 6 months to be debuted). I've worn it a few times around town without a closure and needless to say, it felt naked without one and was also a bit annoying to have the big old collar just loose and flapping about whichever old way it pleased. So are you ready to see the jacket in all it's ram's horn-ee-ness glory? Of course you are, lots of you have been waiting 6 months!

Pattern: Ram's Horn Jacket, Norah Gaughn, Knitting Nature
Size: 42.5"
Yarn: Cascade 220, color 4011
Needles: Addi turbos, 4.0mm and 3.75mm
Started: October 2006
Finished: April 2007

Notes:
I fell in love with the pattern as soon as I saw it in the book. But honestly, it's so easy to fall in love with anything in Knitting Nature. The patterns have been styled and photographed so beautifully it's hard not to like anything in there. But what I loved most about this pattern was the insanely huge collar (despite the minor construction issue I had with it). This pattern jumped out of the class of being one of a run of the mill swing jacket patterns to something you could consider a piece of modern art.

And of course the upturned hems on the sleeves and the body are also a nice touch.

I did have a few issues with the pattern. First off, the pattern was severely lacking construction and finishing instructions. It gives instructions on how to knit the hemmed sleeves and body pieces, but no where does it indicate how to finish them. Since I've knit hemmed edges before, I merely knit them up as I knit the piece. However, if I were a beginner who had never knit upturned hems before, I'd be left scratching my head.

Another thing lacking from the instructions was how to attach the front bands. Are you supposed to put them on before or after you finish the upturned hems? Oh wait, they never tell you when or how to finish the upturned hems, so maybe you don't attach them at all? And if you attach them, do you try to seam it to both sides of the hem or just the one? What I did since the hems were knit up as I knit the body piece, I attached the front band to the outer layer of the hem, then went back, and seamed the inside layer of the hem to the band so the "tunnel" created by the hem wouldn't be exposed.

The most major issue I had with the jacket was the collar. The collar is basically knit from the skinny side to the large side and is constructed using short rows. The short row technique used in the pattern left pretty visible stitches, but trusted the pattern and I hoped that they would block out. Unfortunately they didn't but I decided to leave them as is instead of reknitting the entire collar. If you decide to knit this jacket, use the traditional short row method instead of the one the pattern sugguests.

The visible short rows were actually the least of my concerns regarding the collar. If I knitted according to the pattern and ended the collar at 94 stitches, the collar would have stopped at my shoulder, no where near where the collar is supposed to end according to the pattern picture. I was pretty positive the collar wouldn't block out an extra 8 or so inches so I kept knitting. I knew the collar would end up ginormous, but that is what makes this jacket. I ended with about 124 stitches or so and it turned out to be just the right size. There would have been no way that a wimpy collar of only 94 stitches would even do the jacket justice, not to mention even resemble the pattern picture.

And my final construction rant about this jacket, the pattern doesn't even suggest how to attach the collar. Once the collar is knit up, you fold it in half and then seam it. Again there's this issue of two sides of fabric (the folded collar) being attached to one piece of fabric (the neckline of the jacket). I finally decided to bust out the handy dandy crochet hook, and sc'd the free edges of the collar together. Then I seamed that to the neckline. The pattern also does not tell you which end of the collar goes to which side of the neckline. Each front is a different height. The skinny end of the collar is attached to the taller front and the large end is attached to the shorter front.

Are you thoroughly discouraged from knitting this jacket now? I hope not! I've gone through all the knitting pains for you, so now you don't have to. I just apologize that it took me so darned long to post about it. Oh, and for the closure. I was searching high and low for an appropriate shawl pin or something to use. They use a wooden shawl pin in the book which has a HUGE wooden stick. I'm not sure how they were able to manage to get that stick through the fabric, but I do hope they didn't wreck the yarn. With the gauge I knit my jacket, I couldn't imagine taking something of that diameter and forcing it through four pieces of knit fabric (two layers of the collar, the left front and the right front). I was debating alternative closures, such as sewing on a snap or even hook and eyes. But the perfect closure was the most obvious one, a kilt pin. Whodathought?

And one last note, not pattern related, but the cure for my OCD on photo shoots is to find a suitable model and take the photos yourself. There was a marathon putting-together-wedding-stuff-day yesterday and I voluntold my BFF that she would be my model. It worked out well and is even better than taking photos on a dress form! Why? Because you can tell her to do whatever you want, including, I'm a little tea pot!