Not Your Nana's Coat

After three-plus years on Knitters-Knitters, I have gotten to know you: some of you individually, and some of you as a collective.  I can hear you breathing; I can read your minds.  It comes upon me late at night: Frogdancer's missing the pictures of Clover.  Leslie's thinking, where did you go, rhapsodic descriptions of Noro?  And sometimes I hear your voices in unison.  At first the words are unintelligible, until the hue and cry grows louder.  The chant builds until there's no mistaking what you're saying: More Knitting, Fewer Nazis!  More Knitting, Fewer Nazis!

Olive's Spring Coat is finished!  The pattern is loosely adapted from the girl's coat in Maine Woods Woollies, and the yarn is Noro Taiyo.  Details Ravelried here:

I don't usually love cotton, but this yarn has enough satisfying bounce and crunch from the silk and wool that it was a pleasure to handle.  My changes were to lengthen the coat by about fourteen inches, use a broken rib stitch for the sleeves and seed stitch for the bodice, add a rounded garter stitch collar, and finally, garter stitch button bands with invisible button holes.  Also, instead of a seed stitch hem, I did bands of reverse stockinette stitch and--get this--a rolled hem.  No facings.  That's rather big of me to admit, don't you think?

What's that you say?  Ah; Olive looks just like your Grandma in this coat.  Your Nana had a coat similar to this one--so similar that you're thinking this might indeed be her coat.  You're wrong though; Nanny's coat had a little egg salad on the sleeve, from when things got a bit crazy after an especially spirited round of Bridge.

Olive puffy-pink-heart loves this coat.

The problem is, she especially loves the buttons.  And she doesn't just want to button and unbutton them.  She wants to pick out the threads that attach the buttons to the bodice.  She wants to hold a button between her fingers in a calipers-calipers fashion, way out in front of her, while wiggling the fingers of her other hand.  Ta-da!  It is round!  I love round!  When this gets old, she wants to hold the button upright between her front teeth and cackle at me.  There are few things more hilarious than to threaten Mommy with choking hazards.

I'm hoping that by next fall, she'll be a kinder, gentler Olive.  An Olive less interested in removing buttons and taunting me with them. 

I know, good luck with that.

Comments

[TXC]

Less knitting, more of anything else!

[kmkat]

It is good that Olive likes the coat. The buttons, well, I kinda know how she feels. Some things just beg to be freed and handled and held between the teeth.

[Paula]

She looks adorable with her big smile and obvious pleasure with the new coat. You are amazingly prolific!

[angela]

It is fun to give a child something and watch their delight. I thought it was all about the self-striping when I had finished a sweater...no, it's her reaction that always sends me looking for the next project!

I'm not sure they ever grow out of scaring us being amusing. I remember too well when I went scuba diving to the horror of my mother.

[leslie]

That is an amazing coat! Olive looks so pleased with it. I love all of your mods (especially the - gasp! - rolled hem) Those buttons do look delish - I might be tempted to take a nibble myself. Fantastic!

If I had a blog it would be knitting and Darth Vader so I'm cool with the Nazidreams/Noro combo :)

[wixer]

Yes, great buttons...maybe if you had an extra for her to handle, she wouldn't pull them off her coat? And despite the fact that you didn't think she'd need it this late, we all know that spring tends to come and go, shoving us back to winter so we don't get too complacent with warm weather.

[The Coffee Lady]

No, that's not my Grandmother's coat. It couldn't be, because it's knitted. Wind could make its way between the fibres of the yarn.

My family are utterly obsessed with draughts.

[Irma]

I was lucky to see her in person this weekend,wearing her lovely coat and enjoying the buttons.Then she played with the buttons of the jacket I was wearing.It is a new skill just learned and fun too.

[Frogdancer]

WHAT??!
You taunt me with mention of Clover and then DON'T put in a photo?
Less knitting and more Clover!!!!

[suse]

Perhaps you could sew on a fifth 'placebo' button for her to remove and chew.