Phildar Swing Jacket

It's finally finished! Before I post, PLEASE forgive the mess that I sometimes refer to as my bedroom, and err please forgive my bathroom/self-portrait taking photos.


Project Details

Pattern: Phildar Swing Jacket from Phildar

Yarn: I used New Zealand Naturally in 10ply , in a light grey colour.

The actual yarn is fairly rough in both a finished form and while still on the hank. It came very smelly and very "fresh from the sheep", and I actually dreaded the smell every time I opened my little project bag for this little jacket. After blocking however, the smell has somewhat subdued and only re-ignites itself when it gets wet (as with many yarns).

I wouldn't normally pick this yarn for a sweater or any project for that matter, but I needed a little bit of structure, and the yarn's rough/raw-ness ended up perfect for this project.

I managed to get gauge with this yarn, and I used approximately 3.5 hanks in total (200 grams per hank) with about half a hank left over. The yarn was fairly cheap, and the overall cost of yarn ended up at approximately $58.

For the inside pockets, I used some stash yarn that happened to be a perfect match for the lilac trimming. It was acrylic Panda Magnum 5ply.


Needles
4.5mm - I used a circular needle for the back as it was quite a heavy project, but the majority was worked on straights. For the pockets, I ended up using 3.25 mm straights.

Comments
As I have alluded to recently, this project caused me quite a bit of heartache. At first, it was because my yarn just wasn't producing the right structure fabric so I had to restart the project using the Naturally 10 ply. Following that, I had a few sizing issues, but in the end it worked out fine.


I knitted the smallest size (34 in French sizing), and it turned out a nice fit. As it is a swing jacket, it's a little bit loosish around the waist, but I like the flippy-outedness of the finished object.

The pattern itself wasn't the easiest to work with. Although the french to english translation is quite spot on, I found myself knitting 10 rows before the pattern actually said "at the same time" to which I then had to frog back 10 rows and redo the section. If anyone is planning to knit it, I recommend reading at least two paragraphs ahead just to make sure you don't encounter the same issues.

Once I had knitted it up, the biggest challenge was to find buttons and trimming to go. Boy did that take awhile. I ended up using quilter's satin trim, and had to recut what I bought so that it was perfectly sized for my jacket.


With regards to the buttons, I had absolutely no luck finding the right buttons even after 1 month of trawling. So, I ended up making my own buttons. It was my first go at polymer clay so it was a dodgy result, but my significant other says it adds to the charm and cuteness of the overall jacket. The buttons are not functional but rather, there for decorative purposes. The jacket does up with snaps.


My end comment? I'm very pleased with it, and if I were to put in an extra 6 months or so, I would reknit this in a charcoal colour with silver trimming. All in all, a nice little jacket that I wore out today and quite loved.