Rectangle Coat

Great ideas start with that great find, for me, it was the clearance bin in Michael's. Twenty skeins, 50g each of a thick yarn-like ball. I think it was something usually used for cool scarves but I had a different idea. I needed a sweater coat, or so I thought anyway. No fancy stitches here, just knit across on the right side and purl across on the wrong side.

Supplies:

Thick yarn (mine took 20 skeins of 50g yarn)

Size 19 knitting needles

Big needle for tucking in ends

I measured my hips and added a couple inches for good measure. I divided that number in half and that is the width for the back piece. For me that was a cast on of 34 stitches. I then just knitted away until it got to the length I wanted. For the front I cast on 32 because I wanted a good overlap and knitted two pieces until they were the same length as the back.

For the arms I cast on 32 stitches and did 8 rows then I did shape them a bit so they fit at the wrist. On the 9th row and every third row after I decreased one stitch at each end until it was the width I wanted and then I knitted a couple more rows until I got the length I wanted. It's great to have an item of clothing where the sleeves are not hanging down to my fingertips!

I laid out and sew the shoulders seams. I left a 10" opening for the neck but in hindsight I could have made it 9". Find the middle of the top of the sleeve and line it up with the shoulder seam and sew it to the body of the coat. Then just sew from the cuff, up the arm and down the side of the jacket.

For finishing the neck I could not figure out how to make it work with knitting needles, and I didn't have circular ones that size so I used a size P crochet hook and did 2 rows of half-double crochet around the top.

I added a big button to one shoulder and a smaller one on the opposite inside shoulder seam to hold up the side that goes inside.

It may be hard to see but I edged the entire thing with a brown yarn in a single crochet to finish it off.

Using a large eyed needle, tuck in all the ends.