Video tutorial on how to knit pocket included in notes! Scroll down to BOLD text.

12/21/12: I remember spotting the Sweet Pea Coat years ago but it never made much of an impression on me until my sister pointed it out. It really has a nice, simple shape and the use of the bulky yarn makes it look durable and cozy. My plan for this coat is to use it as a winter to spring jacket for those days when it is just a bit chilly out. I chose a green with a hint of gray as my yarn color just because I was inspired by this coat’s destiny! I thought the yarn was going to have more gray tint (according to the knitpicks website), but it turned out greener than expected. It’s growing on me, though!

Let’s talk gauge.

I first started knitting a swatch with the called for size 13 needles. Fabric was way too fluid. Dropped needle down to 11 which created the fabric drape I was looking for.

I casted on 24 sts and knitted until I had a piece that was roughly 6” in height. I washed the swatch by hand in cold water and a couple drops of Woolite. After soaking for 10 minutes, I carefully rinsed out the detergent and moved the swatch over to a towel to dry. Once dried I found these measurements:

2.75 sts x 4 rows = 1”

Pretty close to pattern’s original gauge of

2.5 sts x 3.25 rows = 1”

Even though my gauge is smaller than the gauge required, I am going to use size 11 needle. To make this work, I am going to use my gauge and a different pattern size. (Yeah, I love to use this trick, especially when I am so stuck on the fabric’s drape and don’t want to change needles.)

So I am shooting for a coat that has 3.5” of positive ease in the bust area. The size closest to this is the 41.5” size. Since my gauge doesn’t match the pattern’s gauge I am going to follow the directions using the next size up: size 44.75”. I plugged my gauge numbers into the pattern and it looks like I will be able to achieve the 41.5” size’s measurements.

1/1/13: Jacket is coming along at a steady pace. Been doing a number of other crafting projects at the same time so I could be much farther along if I started to focus! Where am I at? So far the BACK and RIGHT FRONT are off the needles and even though I haven’t blocked them yet, I think the measurements are spot on. Right now I am working on the SLEEVE. I’m thinking I need to buy more yarn so that’s why I skipped over the LEFT FRONT: I need to figure out how much yardage goes into a single sleeve.

The pocket gave me a headache and I spent a good part of a Sunday afternoon figuring it all out. By reading other raveler’s project notes, I found that others were having trouble with the pockets as well. But no one went into much detail. I thought I could find some info on the ravelry forums but no help there either. So what I wound up doing is… Throw caution to the wind and follow the pattern! Many parts didn’t make much sense to me but I just did what I thought they meant and it all went pretty well. The pattern instructions are a bit cryptic to those who haven’t knitted a pocket (like me), but it all works, and the pocket is engineered well.

I am going to do a major blog post on the whole pocket affair once I get to the LEFT FRONT. Be expecting that.

1/7/13: Was planning on just writing up a blog post on the pocket affair, but then thought this whole ordeal would benefit from a video tutorial. So I just uploaded a video to Youtube. Here’s the link. You can convo me here on ravelry or leave a comment there on Youtube, if you have any questions concerning the pocket instructions.
UPDATE 4-16-13: An error was recently found in the pattern and a new errata will be posted shortly on the web page above. The error is found on page 2, first column, where it says: “Work dec row every 6th row one more time – 27 (29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39) sts rem.” The “rem sts” on this line, 27 (29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39), shouldn’t be printed here. These stitch counts should actually be printed AFTER the section where the pocket lining is bound off: “Next row, BO 10 (pocket sts), break yarn…”

1/16/13: Not too much progress since 1/1/13. I’ve blocked the BACK, RIGHT FRONT, and SLEEVE. Manage to reach all the necessary measurements. (I’m still pinching myself!) I sewed up the side seam and set in the sleeve. I used the mattress seam for both the side seam and sleeve. The side seam looks great but I’m not overly thrilled with how the armhole turned out. I tried to use the selvage stitches when setting in the sleeve but there is still quite a bit of bulk on the inside. This bulk creates a ridge on the public side. This ridge isn’t “terrible” by any means, and you don’t even notice it when I wear the jacket. So I’m going to just keep it the way it is because I do think the mattress seam is the best choice in this case.

The 2nd photo from the bottom is where I am right now.

2/26/13: I’m finished! Actually, I’ve been finished since the 16th but haven’t gotten photos until the sunny afternoon we had yesterday. All the measurements came out perfectly (so surprised!) and it fits great. I’m anxious to see some warmer weather so I can wear this more often.

I’m planning on lining this jacket in the near future because I want to make it easy to slide on and off. I have lots of sewing projects in the works so I’m saving my lining for them. I’ll wait and see if I have any leftover.

I don’t know if you guessed it already, but I was trying to capture the essence of the twist collective model in some of these photos. :) Did I come close?