Blue Sky Fibers Janesville Jacket Coat Knitting Pattern

Blue Sky Fibers Janesville Jacket

What Is Being Made

The Janesville Jacket is a one-size-fits-most knitted coat designed by Jane Veitenheimer. This garment features a finished chest circumference of 67½ inches, a length of 19 inches, and sleeve length of 33¾ inches, making it a versatile layering piece suitable for both active wear and casual home comfort.

Craft and Construction Method

This is a knitting project worked in the bottom-up construction method. The jacket is worked flat on circular needles and features seamed construction, allowing for precise shaping and professional finishing. The garment is built in distinct sections: the back panel is established first, followed by sleeve cap additions, and then front and neck shaping is completed to create the finished silhouette.

Techniques Used

The Janesville Jacket employs several key knitting techniques to achieve its design:

• Seed Stitch: The primary stitch pattern throughout the jacket creates an interesting textured fabric with visual depth. Seed stitch is formed by alternating knit and purl stitches in a checkerboard pattern, requiring consistent tension and attention to stitch placement.
• Striping: The design incorporates color work through horizontal stripes, using two contrasting colors from the Woolstok palette. The pattern shows color changes at strategic points: the back is worked in one color, followed by striped sections in a second color, then returning to the original color for additional shaping.
• Increases and Decreases: Shaping is achieved through strategic increases and decreases, including knit-together and purl-together decreases for seamless integration into the seed stitch pattern.
• Cast-On and Bind-Off: The pattern uses knitted cast-on methods and bind-off techniques appropriate for maintaining the seed stitch texture at garment edges.

Stitches Used

The primary stitch throughout this project is seed stitch, created by alternating knit and purl stitches (k1, p1 repeat) on every row. This fundamental stitch is combined with basic increases and decreases, including k2tog (knit two together) and p2tog (purl two together) for shaping. The pattern also incorporates standard cast-on and bind-off techniques.

Materials and Specifications

Yarn: The Janesville Jacket is designed for use with Woolstok Worsted by Blue Sky Fibers, a 100% Fine Highland Peruvian Wool yarn. The worsted weight yarn provides durability and warmth suitable for a jacket. The pattern requires 6 hanks of the primary color (Color A) and 3 hanks of the contrasting color (Color B), with each hank containing 50 grams and 123 yards. The color combination shown features Wild Thyme (A) with Earth Ivy (B) for the green version, and Storm Cloud (A) with Midnight Sea (B) for the gray version, with 21 color options available from the Woolstok palette.

Needles: A US Size 10 (6mm) circular needle measuring 32 inches is required, or the size needed to obtain proper gauge.

Gauge: The pattern is worked to a gauge of 15 stitches and 29 rows over 4 inches in seed stitch, which is essential for achieving the correct finished measurements.

Additional Tools: Stitch holders or waste yarn are needed for holding stitches during construction, and a tapestry needle is required for seaming and weaving in ends.

Difficulty Level

This project is rated as Advanced Beginner, making it accessible to knitters with some foundational experience who are ready to tackle garment construction, shaping techniques, and color work. The seed stitch pattern requires consistent attention to stitch placement, and the multi-step construction with increases, decreases, and color changes provides an excellent learning opportunity for intermediate skill development.