It took a serious, concerted effort the last couple of weeks, but I did manage to finish my Ithilien Brocade Jacket just in time to check it in at our state fair. My eldest daughter kept telling me that I should take that opportunity to display it, no matter what happened in the judging.  Such support and confidence must be heeded, so I submitted the entry form, without being entirely sure whether or not I could make the deadline.  It appears that I am not yet too old to pull an all-nighter! I finished steam-blocking it just in time to shower and get to work, then sewed on the buttons over my lunch hour, and took it to the fairgrounds.

But a few minutes before that, I snapped a few pictures on the easy chair in my office.  You know, just in case…

Front view

… and back view

I did wear it for a few minutes, and was gratified that it fit well!  The cabled gussets at the lower back and sides turned out to be a good way to create shaping while knitting the leaf-patterned sections in (mostly) straight panels.  The trickiest parts turned out to be mitering the cables at the front neck to form the collar, and deciding how to finish the unattached cable ends at the bottom of the front border and at the back neck.  I wonder if my sleep-deprived state made it slightly more difficult than it would have been otherwise?

Once I get it back from the fair display, I’ll take more closeup pictures and document some of the techniques I used, and share the chart for the leaf pattern.  We have a photo shoot planned, too, but in the meantime, I’m relaxing!

Oh, yes, the judging…

Best Of Show!