Pattern description from Knitting in America: “The inspiration for the Girl’s Trapezoid Jacket with Mitten Motifs came from two sources: a sweater with teacups on it that Nicky Epstein (page 33) designed for Vogue Knitting, and Latvian Mittens, a book by Lizbeth Upitis (page 153). Pam was intrigued both by the design of the mittens and by the traditional role they play in Latvian culture, but she was not keen on knitting them. Instead, she used them as inspiration for this jacket, which she made for her daughter, Caitlin, who is the model in the photograph on page 12. Before starting, she swatched the border and the individual mittens many times. She also made a full-size paper cutout of the sweater and laid construction-paper mittens on top of it in order to determine the best placement for the mitten motifs. Even with all of this advance planning, after she had knit the back and front, she decided to rip back to the border on both. She felt that the mittens were too big and that her use of color was chaotic. To improve the design, she scaled down the mittens, decided to use a color from the border as a background color for each mitten, and added the snowflakes. Rather than tiring of all of this work, she luxuriated in the opportunity to continue working on the project until she got it right. often when she is working for magazines and yarn companies, her schedule does not allow for the extra time that reknitting requires. The knitting of the full-size mittens and hat that go with the jacket was successful on the first try. Pam chose Classic Elite’s three-ply worsted-weight Tapestry yarn (75 percent wool and 25 percent mohair) for this project because she likes the quality of the fiber an the color range. The pattern for this trio of garments begins on page 164.”

Materials:

• 2 1.75oz / 50g skeins (each approx 95yd/85m) of Classic Elite Tapestry in #2258 Rug Red (A)
• 1 skein each in #2226 Persian Purple (MC) #2260 Kani Teal (B) and #2280 Ibex (C) #2252 Merchant’s Eggplant (D), #2272 Goblin Green (H).
• Size 6 circular needle 16” long
• One set (5) size 6 double-pointed needles
• Size H crochet hook
• Tapestry needle

Note: There is not an “official” name/title for the hat and mitten patterns in this book.