tbird's Felicity Jacket

Having taught myself how to do Tunisian crochet, I've been spending my summer making Carolyn Christmas' lovely Felicity Jacket. You can purchase this pattern on E-Bay -- Carolyn's daughter Whitney runs a store called Whitney's Whimsies which sells Carolyn's Easy Tunisian and Gourmet Crochet patterns. You can also often find them at Annie's Attic.


Finally finished: Photos 31 Jan 2007

I don't remember precisely when I finished this, but here's what it looks like: I wear it all the time. It's actually being shown on my dress form, which (obviously) I've edited out. It's a little too big for me, but I love it.

Update: 7 August 2006

I'm almost done! I've finished the entrelac trim around the center opening and bottom of the jacket, and there's only the trim to go on the collar.

This photo shows the right front of the jacket, and the first bit of the collar. I really wish I'd done a practice swatch for this. As it is, the largest part of the entrelac taught me these lessons:

1. From what I can tell on "normal" Tunisian, folks are most likely to have a problem with the piece distorting on the right edge, because that's the part that gets jostled and stretched and abused the most as a row is worked. For these little triangles, though, the bit I have had to watch the most closely is the final loop into the edging. If I make that stitch as tight as I can, the entire appearance of the trim is more regular and stable. Alas I didn't realize that for most of the "main trim," so my triangles are a bit wobbly. Luckily the colors I'm using for the contrasting trim are close enough to the main yarn -- predominantly terra cotta -- that it doesn't show up much.] And I'm hoping that as the jacket is worn, everything with settle into a shape (go gravity) where the wobble doesn't show much. But if I was using yarns with more dramatic contrast I'd be frogging a lot.
2. Probably because of the looseness in its foundation, my edging seems a little less stable than I assumed it would be. Depending on how the first couple of squares go for the collar, I may use my M sized hook for the squares, so they'll be a little tighter than the N as directed.
3. Again, possibly because of this "last stitch looseness," the rhythmic triangle and square shapes were not quite as defined as I wanted. So when I did the last round of single crochet around the entire edge, I frequently skipped one or two stitches in the "bottom" between two squares, basically making the entire single stitch edging the first round of a ripple afghan.

A closeup of the collar and top front right. I still have to do the final row of single crochet around the collar, and the cuffs.

For the collar I did watch the looseness in my foundation triangles, and I did use a size M for the squares. I've cleverly photographed these shots to minimize the difference in appearance between the front and collar trims, but it will probably be more visible when I get the "it's done!" pictures together. I do like the way the collar looks better.

 

I'm using a boutique yarn blend from the ever-fabulous D.J. Runnels, E-Bay seller ID Life's an Expedition, called Toasted Coconut. All D.J.'s yarns are limited editions, and I don't think I left enough for anyone else to use the same, but she's got a spectacular eye for blending. This one's mostly cotton fibers.

Silver and copper -- one of my favorite color combinations -- how could I resist? Here's how it looks worked up into Tunisian simple stitch:

And here's the body of the jacket, which I finished last night.

Last modified: tbird 31 jan 2007