Leaping for Kaffe Fassett: Staccato from Magazine 36

I finished my Staccato coat in 2009 after working on it for 3 years. Yes, you read that right: three years. I thought that accomplishment deserved a new photo shoot.

The coat is made with a favorite: Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran (discontinued) in the colors Maze and Tusk. Tusk is kind of odd... the tweed nubs look like coffee stains! I have so much left... what to do?? Kidding, kidding. I know what to do.

This pattern is by my favorite colorwork pattern designer, Kaffe Fassett.  It is stranded and has a 105-row pattern repeat, thus satisfying my need for self-inflicted knitting torture.  Oh my friends, there is no memorizing this pattern.  I always liked when I came to the part with the "rooster".  Yes, I had a lot of time to name those motifs.

The pattern has fantastic details to appeal to the seamstress in me:  1) lined pockets, 2) facing for side openings, 3) folded hem and zipper facings.

I like to put in zippers like a classic hand-sewn hem.  I cross my thread back over itself into X's, once from the knitted fabric to the zipper, then again within the zipper borders.

Always pick a strong fabric-backed metal zipper for coats and jackets.  Plastic zippers can bend in an unsightly manner, and sometimes warp with washing.  Knitted fabric can move in mysterious ways, you know.

I know you have been waiting for me to tell you why this coat took me 3 years to make.  In reality, I made this coat 1.75 times.  You see, like most Kaffe Fassett patterns, the sleeves have drop shoulders, and I looked awful in them.  

Upset, I took a sabbatical. 

I then used Ann Budd's "Handy Book of Sweater Patterns" to change the pattern to a set-in sleeve, but the dimensions really weren't right, and it looked awful... again.  

Frustrated, I took a leave-of-absence and contemplated life and the rules of knitting.

Are you sitting down?  When I was able to face the coat again, I pinned it, machine sewed the sleeves onto the body in exactly the shape I wanted, and chopped off the knitting with a good pair of scissors!

It fits beautifully, now!  heh heh.  I have been wearing it every spring and fall for biking to work for three years, and it still looks great.  Gotta love that Yorkshire Tweed.

My Ravelry page for Staccato

Follow me on Bloglovin'