I was inspired by soniawc’s gorgeous jacket using Noro Iro for this pattern.

I should call it the “brain fade” jacket: I knitted the pieces up so quickly this summer, then it languished for months in my to-be-seamed stack. By the time I got back to it, the pattern & my notes had vanished, I didn’t know what needles I’d used, and I still don’t know which size I knitted!

Anyway, I’m quite pleased with the end result. It’s warm and comfortable, and I’ve gotten nice compliments when I wear it.

There was one surprise: although I’d carefully measured as I knit, and blocked to the mid-hip length I wanted, I discovered that after seaming the jacket lengthened considerably, from the weight of the combined pieces and the garter stitch stretchiness, I think.

I was trying it on as I finished each seam so I realized it was getting longer. Because it wound up being below my (ahem) bottom, I left a 4” open vent at the bottom of each side seam.

Likewise I left 3” vents at the bottom of each sleeve so that when I roll the cuffs they stay put. The sleeves are still a bit longer than I would have liked, but it works okay.

I used black worsted-weight wool for the seaming. Don’t even think about trying to seam with the Noro Iro!

I did some fiddling to make the left and right fronts match, not a lot, I didn’t want to go completely crazy. I knitted the two fronts simultaneously on a long cable so that I could keep an eye on the color changes as I worked.

I thought about combining the fronts and backs into one piece from the bottom up to the armholes, but decided the jacket needed the structural support of seams, and the color changes looked better in the shorter lengths.

I tried knitting the sleeves in the round using magic loop, but couldn’t get them to look right. So I knit them flat as per the pattern, also both on the same cable.

In the end, I have to admit it was good practice in seaming up, I can’t avoid seaming forever, right?

At some point I may add silver southwestern-style buttons. These would just be decorative, as the jacket fronts barely overlap without tugging. The front pieces are surprisingly narrow compared to the back …