"Claire's Einstein Coat....."

When attending one of our monthly Circular Sock Machine gatherings, a woman showed up wearing a long, knitted coat, which I found very interesting. I asked her about it and she told me her daughter had knitted it for her and that it was called an "Einstein Coat". When I arrived home after the crank in, I searched online for it, finding several postings about it on Ravelry, an site which deals with fiber arts....and probably other things as well, but I know it for fiber projects. After finding the information I needed, I ordered my materials, and got to work when they arrived, knitting it for Claire's birthday gift (I gave it to her a bit belated, but as she said, August was too hot for her to wear it anyway). :)

Here I am sewing together the seams across the shoulders. The only hand sewing that was needed to complete this coat, was a short distance from the top of each sleeve, across to where the collar would be attached....that's it! I did change the pattern here and knit the sleeves in the round (knit 1 row, purl 1 row), as the pattern gives directions for it being knit like the rest of the coat. If you're like me, and hate to sew finished knitted pieces together, then knitting the sleeves in the round will take much of the finish sewing out of the mix, leaving those 2 small sections only. ;)

I admit, for me, this coat was one of the easiest patterns I have ever followed. The main piece, which means the one that takes the most time to knit, is the bottom of the coat. From that piece, every other section of the coat is added by picking up stitches from along its edge, and knitting. The reason it is so easy, is that the beginning stitch of each row knitted, is slipped, which leaves a stitch on the end which is easily seen and picked up when ready to add another section to the coat. I would certainly recommend this pattern to anyone.....even a beginning knitter! In reality, the only stitch that one needs to know how to knit is a "knit stitch", unless you choose to knit the sleeves "in the round", as I did, then you need to know how to purl. Below is Claire's coat after I finished sewing on the buttons.

And here it is with her wearing it while tailgating at a Redskins game last weekend. She was pleased to point out, too, that the color of her coat matches the Redskins jerseys. :) Once again....Happy Birthday Claire!