Planning a Knitted Jacket

The Whitby Knitting Guild this season is to explore pattern drafting and stitch techniques within the context of a modular garment to create a jacket or cardigan.

This excellent book by Jenni Dobson inspires me, and especially her Hanten jacket, where the author uses a narrow sarong augmented with gorgeous silk patchwork.

Sharion, our guild president began the knitting journey in the spring, starting with this pattern as a guide. I believe it is still available as a download through Ravelry. The original yarn is an Aran weight.

and made her own magic by mixing fine mohairs, DK and a wool blend chunky. I am looking forward to seeing what marvellous jackets and samples she has created over her summer at the cottage.

For my design dimensions, I am using the child's' cardigan I knit a few years ago as a base. This one is a mix of worsted and Aran weight yarn, using some of the fairisle stitch patterns (peerie) based on the design Jenna Louise from the book Fairisle Knitting Simplified by Anne and Eugene Bourgeois of Philosophers Woo.l This time I am making more of an indoor cardigan by using DK weight yarn.

I believe DK will create a fabric weight similar to this jacket I sewed up in a size 4 from a draft in some fleece in my stash leftover from the hoodies I sewed for my grandchildren. I believe the shape will also work well in crochet.

I checked in with my favourite children's' reference book, Style Your Own Kids Knits by Kate Buller, of the Rowan yarn company.

Rowan sizing is generous, a is a good plan, as those lovely children do grow, meaning the cardi can be enjoyed for a long time. I am making a size 5 to 6. Another thing I like about Kate's book is the clear yarn amount information.

The shape and style of the Hanten Jacket is perfect for translating into modular knitting. Japanese style skill and craftmanship never fails to please me. I posted here about the Japanese clothing  exhibit at the Toronto at the Textile Museum.

I use 4 square to the inch graph paper as it is easy to find as well as easy to use. It is also slightly heavier than ordinary lined paper, making edits work well too.

One square of the paper to one inch of the garment gives plenty of room for a child size. For adults I simply tape pages together.

To get a PDF of my draft for the child's version just send me an email with the words Hanten Jacket in the subject line.