I love a classic sweater. Something that can be worn with everything and in an Aran weight yarn. The Trail Jacket fits the bill: classic styling, easy to knit, and supremely  functional. I made one and as I recall it was a process like many other handmade garments.   I went searching back through the Instagram worm hole to see if I could locate the origins of this particular sweater.

The Cascade Eco + was circa The Crooked Stitch – the first yarn shop I owned back in Virginia.  I have alway loved this wool, as it is first and foremost 100% Peruvian Highland Wool.  It comes in huge 200G skeins and at the time it was so affordable.

The first attempt at knitting this yarn into a wearable garment was this Salish jacket named Takoma from Knitty. It was stranded, but not worked in the round.  In 2011 or 2012 in my guestimation there is no way I was a seasoned enough knitter to tackle this project.  I sure did try and made it through a good portion, but it just never was at the top of my priority list for finishing.

It was eventually ripped out and became 3 other sweaters in one way or another – which leads us to the Trail Jacket. Way back in 2015, during my annual #julyisforfinishing I finally checked the Trail Jacket by Hannah Fetig off my to do list.  It was lovely and was displayed proudly in The New River Fiber Co. ( my second yarn shop)  for a long time.  It was, as finished and at that time too cropped for my overly busty and very round shape.

It was pulled back out of hiding last fall (2018), after I lost 60lbs and I was instantly so glad to have this piece in my closet.  I wore it several times last year noting only one thing that I found regularly annoying… the 3/4 length sleeves.  (This is a persistent problem and will be a theme in many many more posts.) I am not a lover of a short sleeve. I find that 3/4 length bunches at my elbow, and because of the inherent stretch ends up bell shaped and unpleasant to wear.   I prefer a bracelet length sleeve, so I can show off the cuff of my button down shirts.  That fact paired with moving out west, enjoying winters with snow and no humidity make long sleeves absolutely essential.

So one evening – I pulled out the sweater and was actually able to lay my hands on the left over yarn. I pulled off the cuff and added a grand total of 8″ to each sleeve.  It took approximately 1 evening of bed time TV viewing. An now, even 7 years later I have what feels like a brand new sweater.