Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Progress on the City Coat

I have started on the body of the City Coat.
So far one sleeve and the pocket welts are done.
But those alone do not a coat make.
I cannot wait until it's done but it's pretty hard work knitting bulky wool on smaller needles. Especially when you're working with 150 stitch rows.
And it's not really doable on hot summer days, but June usually offers rain and coolness here in Copenhagen, and I am now close to or at least moving towards the middle.
And I'm terribly excited, even if photos lend little to be excited about.

I'm using a delicious creamy wool with the simple name "Natur Uld".
Unfortunately the selection here is rather limited in the bulky department.

3 comments:

Camilla said...

Any problems with the edges? A colleague of mine looked in the book and commented that she thought it would be hard to get the edges of the coat to be nice and keep their shape. I think the tight gauge should take care of that, or...?

Alma said...

Actually... the edges are beautiful.
I was surprised by how beautiful and "finished" they look.
It may be the tight gauge, I don't know.
If you look at the photo in the first City Coat post you may see it....

Anonymous said...

Hello, DomiKNITrix here

Agreed, the tight gauge on City and Mod Coats is hard on the hands, but does make a very nice edge, and most importantly, no saggy rear end!

The only problem I've seen with this pattern when made up by some knitters is when knit on too short a needle. When the stitches are crowded on the needle, one tends to have looser gauge at beginning of row, then more normal tension at end of row (or vice versa).

That's all well and good until the second half is knit and loose tension moves to the opposite end of the coat, causing asymmetry.

My point is that it's best to use a nice long circular rather than cheaping out and trying to get through with tools you already own. If you are going to tough it out on straights or a shorter circ, please take the knitting off the needles occasionally to be sure your tension is even at top and bottom of coat, and be mindful of your tension at beginning and end of rows.

Oh, and to your point about the unexciting photos in the book, the pics of the Mod Coat (same design with a few mods, heh) were much cuter, but were shown in less detail because it wasn't the "base" pattern, it was the modification. Check that link above for a cuter pic.