This is the flowered jacket that appeared on the dust jacket of the original hard-backed version of Richard Rutt’s A History of Hand Knitting (1987). The pattern was published in a printed leaflet in 1984, and given away free to readers of the Sunday Times Magazine, edited by Susan Raven. The leaflet is copyrighted to Rowan Yarns Holmfirth.

A re-print of the pattern will be available after early December, by kind permission of Rowan. Requests and enquiries should go to the Knitting & Crochet Guild, email: slipknot@kcguild.org.uk. It is possible that access to the pattern may be given to members of the Guild only at first, and possibly later to non-members.

The description on the front of the leaflet is as follows:

A comfortable roomy garment with side-seam pockets designed in two sizes. The garment is made in two pieces each beginnng at the wrist and finishing at the middle of the back and at the front hem. The back seam is then grafted and the neck and bottom edge welts are added by picking up stitches and knitting on.

The pattern requires the three pairs of straight needles as detailed above, plus a 6mm (UK 4) circular needle one metre long. It also takes 7 buttons for the medium jacket, and 8 buttons for the large version.

Further measurements of medium/large sizes are: width across back 56cm/22in; 63cm/25in. Shoulder to waist 65cm/25.5in; 74cm/29in. Cuff to centre of body 74cm/29in; 74cm/29in.

Number of balls of Rowan chunky tweed and chenille: 100g each of seven colours, plus 300g of eighth colour and 400g of ninth colour.

There is a chart showing the placement of the flower pattern on part of the sleeve, and a small chart showing the flower pattern repeat.

This is a complex written pattern which also involves Tunisian stitch.

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The top photograph of Richard Rutt wearing his Estonian Floral Jacket appeared on the dust jacket of the first edition of A History of Handknitting by Richard Rutt (Batsford 1987), and the image is copyrighted to Batsford.

The second photograph appeared in an article about Rutt in the Sunday Times Magazine, 1984.