Flair jacket

Flair was finished on Saturday, and the buttons sewn on yesterday. Modelled today as it's slightly cooler!







Pattern: Flair by Knit and Tonic
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas worsted dyed organic cotton, shade 620 Fern
Yardage: 6 full skeins plus a small amount of a seventh
Needles: main body Denise 4.5mm with 30" cord; Addi 4.5mm 16" needle for sleeves; Denise 4.5mm with shorter cord for collar

I do like how this has turned out. It fits nicely, has plenty of "swing", and the fabric is very soft and fluid. The BSA cotton does tend to shed and pill, as it's so soft though.

Pattern amendments:

- an extra buttonhole
- added several more increases plus some straight rows than the pattern called for before I separated off the sleeve stitches. I quite possibly added a little more than I needed but it doesn't show
- seed stitch band is 8 stitches, not 7, as I had a brain fart with the seven at first (dont ask!). Therefore the bottom band is also a tad deeper to match with the vertical one.
- body length below armholes is slightly longer than the pattern calls for, and this was just with knitting up to the last mandated increases (although I didn't do that last one). I find this a little odd as I was convinced that my row gauage was causing the buttonholes to be too close together at first.
- I made increases (M1) where the pattern called for decreases in the sleeves (thanks Sarah)
- I've only added buttons on the front placket. I didn't fancy my chances making the inner buttons "invisible", and simply added one and a loop at the inner top instead. It seems to hang well enough! The buttons are olive wood and were a good choice I think!

I originally bought 6 skeins of the BSA from kpixie, and only just went into a seventh for the collar alone, which I acquired swiftly from Loop GB. I ought to know by now that it's always wise to buy an extra skein!

As you can see from my ticker above, I'm stashalonging at the moment, basically for large projects (sweater size). To that end I've started Antoinette from Rowan 39, in a few days' worth of knitting I have the back complete and have almost finishedthe second front piece. This is knitted in Rowan Cotton Rope which is a bit awkward to cast on with at times, but knits up nicely into a soft fabric. The shade is Cyclamen, discontinued, obtained for 1.50 a ball at Cucumberpatch!



I also rejoined the Rowan club and this year's gift arrived. Four balls of All Seasons Cotton and 2 patterns, a waistcoat and a wrap. After some reports that the wrap pattern is slightly bizarre, I'm wondering about snagging an extra skein and making Smooch from the ASC book instead.



I'm on the last few days of the 4-week Food Doctor plan, still going well and I will certainly maintain the basic principles of this for the foreseeable future. I'm quite possibly addicted to porridge though!