This little ribbed jacket appeared in The Knitter magazine in January 2020 and proved to be a big hit with knitters! (see my previous post) I had lots of positive feedback, but as usual had to wait 6 months before I could publish the pattern myself. The pattern is now available to buy from Ravelry.
I decided to make some amendments and additions to the original garment. It is often the case that it is only as I’m sending a completed sample to the magazine (usually right ON the deadline!) that I realise I could have improved it in some small way.
I can’t actually remember what inspired the design of the jacket, but I have a love of wrap cardis, especially if they are cropped. They look great worn over high-waisted dresses. Watching a re-run of Jane Austen’s Emma TV drama last night reminded me that the short jacket – or spencer – was a stylish part of Regency fashion, and I was probably influenced at some level by this.
When I originally designed the jacket I had intended to knit it in one piece with no back seam, but I have been made aware in recent years of some of the problems of knitting garments in larger sizes. One of those is that there will be far more stitches on the needles. For this reason I made the garment with a back seam – and then had lots of requests for a seamless version! In retrospect I should probably have made the sample seamless and provided instructions for those who wanted a seam.
As I had the opportunity of re-knitting the sample, I decided I would make it with long sleeves, giving knitters another option.
Finally, on the original sample there was no room for a top button, which would have finished that edge neatly. As the final cast-off row ends at that point I decided a small loop could be made as an extension of that row, and a small button could be ‘hidden’ under the armhole.
Click here to go to the Ravelry pattern page where you can purchase and download the pattern.
