Medallion Lace jacket

Yarn: Queensland Collection "Cotolino": 60% cotton, 40% linen, size 8 needles, approx 650 yards.
Knit sideways from the center back. I provisionally cast on 81 stitches ( 8 repeats plus 1 of Medallion Lace from Evelyn Clark’s book “Knitting Lace Triangles”) and knit 9 inches, then put 31 stitches on waste yarn hold for sleeves, continued knitting 10 inches or so to center front, bind off. Then undid provisional cast on, knit another 9 inches in other direction, waste yarn sleeve stitches, finish front. Then seam shoulders, pick up sleeve stitches, knit in round to 3/4 length, bind off. Single crochet around fronts, bottom edge, center back.
A wearable and cool summer jacket. My cat loved the sweater, for some reason, and wouldn't leave me alone while I was knitting it! Here she is trying to get in the photo!

Pashmina Jacket

As a lover of textiles and intricate prints and patterns, I often am seduced by the beautiful Pashmina shawls for sale in midtown Manhattan. Over the years, I have purchased several of them which are beautiful, soft, warm and colorful.

Trouble is, I never wear them. In fact, I rarely ever wear shawls. Recently I was folding and admiring the pashmina shawls I have and an idea popped into my head: why not turn one into a jacket? My shawls are 27 inches wide and 72 inches ( 2 yards) long, excluding fringe.

I got out one of my favorite simple classic jacket patterns, Butterick 6474, and laid it out on a shawl which I folded in half:

If laid out this way, the fringe would be on the cuffs and front edges, but not on the back.
I cut out the pieces, and sewed them together using overlock stitch and french seaming when possible, as the weave is a bit loose and the wool is somewhat ravelly and delicate.

Here is my friend Sue Dennis ( www.suedennis.com) , visiting from Australia, modeling my jacket:

A comfortable, warm and light jacket! And Sue makes a great model.