And then, I couldn't help myself. I had to swatch with the Green From MacAusalnd's. And then I did just a little bit more.
Just a little bit. It really didn't take very long, perhaps an 2 hours spread over the whole day. And I did stop at the first sign of anything even remotely like that ache that comes from overuse before you hit hurting. Each sitting, if you will, was about 5 minutes.
I had a good, long think about what I wanted this sweater to be while I swatched. Did I feel like knitting it with a round yoke. I didn't think so because of the way I wanted the collar to be. Did I want to start it in a contiguous way like my Argo sweater, or did I want it to start a little more crisply. What about a saddle shoulder. Or knitting it with a shirt style back yoke?
It is going to be used as my overcoat for winter, that last top layer before I step outside. I debated a column or two of a simple 3 by 3 cable. I debated a line of garter rib down the sleeves much like The Weekender sweater or the interesting rib and leaf detail like on Mulled Cider. I thought about the things I missed in the sweaters I have worn before as overcoats for winter layering.
What I really needed on a top layer was pockets, nice deep pockets so keys wouldn't fall out of them or to slip your phone and cards or cash into when you step out to grab that one thing you forgot from the store. I wanted pockets deep enough for my hand knit mittens to go into one and my scarf to tuck into the other, when it is hanging on the post at the top of the stairs.
Another must was that when it is worn, that it sit close to the back of my neck. I always feel a chill on the back of my neck and sometimes, I don't want to have to dig for a scarf or small shawl to wear too. Though that does give me a reason to knit more small shawls and that isn't a bad thing at all.
Should the pockets be the feature of a jacket, a nice large patch pocket that shows off a pattern of some kind or should they tuck neatly inside, where all you can see of the opening and maybe just the slightest kiss of a different colour pocket lining?
I debated starting with a more formal pattern like Undercurrent or Mulled Cider and I spent a good long while debating if I wanted my jacket to look like Elizabeth Zimmermann's Aran Coat. I really love that sweater, but perhaps not with this yarn. None of them really ticked all the boxes of what I needed and wanted. I would have been playing gauge games or otherwise sorting patterns and details and how to best make that work with the modifications I need to make for fit.
I am just going to follow Barbara Walker's inimitable Knitting from the Top and knit a fairly simple jacket with simultaneous set in sleeves. The only details I want are the seam detail that Joji Locatelli uses on The Easy Bulky One at the shoulder and deep ribbing at the collar or hood edge and bottom hem and cuffs. Clean. Smooth. Let the yarn speak. It has a lot to say.
I took a second photo that show colour so much better than the first. For an instant it seemed there was a break in the unending haze from the BC forest fires and the light was better.
It shows off the pretty very heathered nature of this lovely Forest Floor sort of colourway. The rusty browns, the soft variations in the greens from deep, intense green to lighter more muted greens. I love this dense rich yarn.
I do hope that the simplicity I am planning into this overcoat makes the knitting easy on my hands. At some point, there will have to be significant, regular knitting on it to have it ready for when the snow flies.
It strikes me that this post may not be very well titled. There isn't a lot of detail about how to knit an overcoat in it. What there is here is a lot of how I thought about knitting an overcoat and what mattered to me. That really is the first part of knitting any project, isn't it? Perhaps it isn't so badly titled at all.
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