Bohemian Jacket - NaBloPoMo#5

I made this Bohemian Jacket from Hip to Crochet at the beginning of the year and I never blogged about it. I LOVE IT. I was worried the motif on the back would make it less warm but it quite cozy. I used it for the rest of the winter as my coat.

It's my first and only wearable. Except for the motif which took me several tries to figure out what I was supposed to do, it was fairly easy to complete but I enjoy an challenge. If I started it today it would make more sense because I was still new to crochet when I made it. There were few errors that I caught. In one instance it said to ch5 where usually you would ch3 so that's what I did. I needed to add an extra chain to the starting chain for the tunisian crochet lapel and for the cuffs to get the correct number of tunisian stitches for the pattern grid shown in the book. Hey, maybe I'm the one who is all wrong.

Here it is almost ready to sew together:



a close up of the sleeve


Speaking of tunisian crochet, this was a new technique for me and I learned how to do it to complete the jacket. The lapel and the cuffs use. Then the flower design is cross stitched using the grid of the tunisain stitch.

Here's a close up of the tunisian crochet:


The motif on the back:


It took me about 2 weeks to make, working every moment I could and staying up late nights. (Kids? what kids?Husband? what's that? ) The yarn for it cost me about $60-70 or so. I had lots left over. I used Plymouth Encore instead of the MUCH more expensive yarn suggested. The jacket has pilled some but still looks good to me. So far it's the only thing I have made from Hip to Crochet. I do have a few other things I would like to make: the tapestry bag(s), the caplet looks cute, and the linen baskets.

I need a better picture of me in the jacket.
I look a uncomfortable with the sun shining in my eyes.


Can you tell purple is my favorite color?