I just finished my very first BIG project for someone else today! I’ve knit countless hats, mittens, scarves and toys for my family but after the Larch Cardigan, I was feeling a bit bolder. I told my mother at the end of February that if anything in my Ravelry queue caught her fancy, I would knit it for her. We browsed through all the 514 patterns together and none of them were really speaking to her, until the Swirled Pentagon Pullover from Knitting Nature. Her eyes lit up and we read through the pattern details. On a whim I clicked through to see all the patterns in Knitting Nature and that’s when my mother saw the Hex Coat, the pattern that really won her heart.

The coat is knit flat with the hexagon edging added after the body by
picking up stitches along the edge. A bit time consuming, but well worth
the effort. So, we spent a few minutes picking out yarn but in the end,
it was really no contest. Andes del Campo is the perfect weight for this project and I knew my mother would pick that wonderful blue Wharf Heather (she and I both love blue and Wharf Heather is no exception). It took me 20 days and 6.5 balls of Andes del Campo to finish this little gem.
I ordered ten balls, enough to do the full length jacket but then we
decided to shorten it, as did several people on ravelry to hip height.
Now I have over three balls left, just enough to do another fun project!

I was definitely feeling a bit nervous when it came time to attach the sleeves after the Larch Cardigan fiasco. However, the minute I started sewing I knew this sweater would be different. I have a much harder time attaching sleeves when I’m working with stockinette stitches. The fabric is so even that any mistake is instantly visible. The body of the Hex Coat is knit in moss stitch, a wonderful, nubbly textured stitch that really compliments Andes del Campo’s heathered colors and heavier weight. This also means that it was so much easier to hide any little “oopsies” or changes in tension when I was wrangling with the sleeves. However, it also posed a little problem. I knew how to do a mattress stitch between two pieces of stockinette stitch fabric, and two pieces of garter stitch fabric… but I had no idea how to stitch between the two different stitches.

I decided to go with a hybrid approach. I passed my darning needle under
the two “legs” legs of each knit stitch (as you can see in the photo above) and under the “bar” of each
purl stitch. I just went with what looked the best. You can watch Jenny’s video on seaming with a mattress stitch here to help you get started with the basic idea but I encourage you to mine the rich resources of the internet for tutorials or just pick up a darning needle and try your hand at sewing up two pieces of moss stitch fabric. My sewing skills definitely got a workout and now I feel a bit more confident attaching sleeves! I’ll make sure to post a photo of the lucky lady wearing her brand new sweater when I see her next, I can’t wait to see her in it!