Lock-Down Jacket

 My lock-down jacket is complete.

I was inspired by my cousin who made crochet tops for her sisters. I thought it would take me very nicely through this latest lock-down. I had plenty of bright coloured wool but had to buy more black. 

It`s a very simple granny square almost flower-like, edged with black. I can make four in one hour so very quick.

It needed to be, since I had to make 152. I didn`t know this at the beginning and although I had some idea of the pattern, I had to adapt it as I went along.

The layout patterns I found on Pinterest only gave me a rough idea and I changed my original plan several times and also made mistakes. A lot depends on the size of square you decide to make.

Here is the plan as it turned out.

It was an easy craft to pick up and do in teabreaks between gardening jobs. On my best day I made 18 .... a wet, miserable and cold day.

I used zig zag slipstitich to join the squares and sewed it up as I went along. Each square had 10 ends to sew in!!!

My first mistake was to make the sleeves too wide which gave it a clumsy look so I was initially pleased because I had 20 squares spare. They soon got used up when I found that I needed an overlap at the front and therefore 16 more.

I also unpicked the wrong strips!!

To finish I did a double row of single crochet right round including the sleeves.

And here it is finished off.

Some last minute jobs still waiting to be done, maybe today seeing as it is raining ....

two big wooden buttons to fasten it up and extra strengthening round the neck.