Sunrise Sunset

Remember that scene in everyone's favorite, the ultimate, original boytoy movie, The Outsiders, where Cherry Valance runs into Pony Boy, and there's a beautiful Francis Ford Coppola sunset framing her red hair, and a Stevie Wonder theme song swelling in the background? And she reminds Ponyboy of that poem - Nature's First Green is Gold, her hardest hue to hold, and yadda yadda yadda - and then she asks him, "Can you see the sunset from your side of town?" And Ponyboy nods, "well, you can see it from my side too," and she bounces back into her snobby soc world, leaving him with Soda Pop and the boys at the gas station? Well, here is the Sunrise on my side of town. Not quite the Kate Gilbert creation, but I love it, and I'm so pleased with the finished project. As you can see, I went with the funky shaped buttons. I liked the ellipse/cat's eye buttons that got the most reader response, but, because I went with a very different yarn, something very me, I wanted to keep that feel overall feel to the jacket, and went with the buttons that were just a little different.


Now, I didn't put the lovely picture of myself up because I'm trying out for America's Next Top Model (I may look like Barbra Streisand, but I'm not even ready for American Idol - completely tone deaf) -- I just wanted to show the actual length. I was a little worried before I started sewing, that the back was much shorter than the front. But, because of the curve, once the raglan seams were sewn, it all came together perfectly. As I mentioned before, I totally screwed up the hem (although, once I screwed it up, I just consistently screwed it up the same way) - my hem is half the size it's supposed to be because I didn't follow the directions (don't worry, I don't drive - the roads are safe from me!), and between the Silk Garden, and the smaller hem, I think my jacket is much drapier than it would have been had I hemmed it properly. Also, I wear a size 36 bra, so I went with the jacket sized for 37" - I've been pretty successful by going with a medium with most patterns. If I had hemmed properly, and lost another inch on each side, I think it would have come out too small. So, for anyone thinking about making this jacket, as painful as it might be (believe me, not nearly as painful as shopping for a bridesmaid's dress), I would err on the side of too big, as opposed to too small - because as we all know by now, I am gauge challenged, but I heavily blocked this to the schematic in the pattern, and it's the right size for the 37.

So, thanks to everyone for your encouragement. This is the first knit-a-long I've participated in that everyone was knitting the same pattern, and I can't tell you how motivational it was. Thanks for everyone's commnts about the buttons (even though I didn't exactly take your advice). Even though my jacket is now complete, I can't wait to continue reading the posts to see how everyone else's turns out!

Good luck everyone!