Rinoa Heartilly's Duster
and Armwarmers
Supplies:
Size 2 (2.75 mm) knitting
needles (I strongly recommend 14” length for at least the back
panel)
Size 2 (2.75 mm) double
pointed needles
yarn needle
white fabric paint
two small silver buttons
(The ones I used were 1/2” across)
Yarn
I used Knitpicks.com Shine
Sport in Sky, 60% Pima Cotton, 40% Modal® natural beech wood
fiber. Anything would be fine as long as it's sport
weight. For my length I used 20 skeins of yarn. Online is
definitely the cheapest way to go when buying that much yarn.
Knitpicks.com is an excellent source, and so is elann.com. Because
of the ribbed fabric, I might recommend you use a wool yarn so you
can block it flat and have it stay, but I really liked the look of
the cotton yarn.
This jacket is a size
medium tall, made to fit my medium sized 6' tall frame.
Gauge: 10 rows to an
inch, 6 sts to an inch.
Abbreviations:
CO- cast on
pfb- purl front and back
k- knit
kfb- knit front and back
p- purl
sts- stitches
The Armwarmers
CO 60 sts onto three
double pointed needles.
Join, knit 2, purl 2 all
the way around.
Continue until desired
length.
They took about one skein each.
They took about one skein each.
Cast off using whatever
stretchy bind off you're most comfortable with. I used Jeny's
Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. (Site with description of bind off
technique: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/FEATjssbo.php)
Mine were 11 1/4” long.
It is not necessary to taper the tube to fit your arm, the ribbed
pattern will keep them snug.
The Duster
The Front Panel (Make 2)
CO 16 sts on to straight
needles
knit 2, Purl 2 for 6”
start increasing here.
(if you have a preferred increasing technique, feel free to use it.
This is just the one I used.)
K2, p2 until the last two sts,
pfb the last two stitches.
K2, p2 back across
k2, p2 until the last two
stitches, kfb the last two.
P2, k2 back across.
Continue until you've
increased to 44 sts. Remember to always increase on the same side.
Make sure you're paying attention to whether you're starting with a
knit or a purl on the next row after increasing.
At 44 sts your piece should
be about 10” long.
Continue knitting without
increases until piece reaches from shoulder to ankle. This was 56 ½”
total for me. It took about three skeins of yarn.
( I am TALL. Although once
it was done I wished it was a bit longer. Make sure you adjust this
for yourself.)
I did not bind off any
pieces until I had all 3 seamed together so I could make sure they
were all the same length, since I didn't count rows.
The Back Panel (Make One)
This is a wide piece, I
strongly recommend having 14” long needles for this.
CO 16 sts each from two
different balls of yarn. to start with it's gonna be two separate
pieces, doing it like this makes sure they're the same length. (Pictures are done with different colored yarn to illustrate what I was doing.)
k2, p2 across both pieces each with their own yarn, for about three inches. so you'll have two completely independent pieces just hanging off the same needle.
k2, p2 across both pieces each with their own yarn, for about three inches. so you'll have two completely independent pieces just hanging off the same needle.
kfb/pfb depending on what's
needed on the last two sts of the first piece on the needle and the
first two sts of the second piece. so towards the inside, increasing
the pieces towards each other. keep doing this every row until the
pieces together measure about 11"-12" across together.
that's about the comfortable length to go across my shoulders. I
increased each piece to 42 sts.
to join the pieces, do one
more row of increases, except after knitting across the first piece,
instead of using the working yarn from the second piece to knit it,
carry the yarn over from the first piece. pull it tight so there's no
gap.
k2, p2 one row after the
join to solidify it. piece was 4 1/2" long, about 11"
across.
Now, you increase the
outsides to go down across your back and under you arms. Increases
must be finished when the piece is 10” long to match up with the
front panels.
Plain row means k2 p2 across without any increases
increase means kfb/pfb the
first and last stitch of that row.
plain row
plain row
increase
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
increase piece was 5 1/2" long.
plain <---- one inch
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
plain <--- two inches (eleventh row is extra to make up the length) 6 7/8" long
increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain <--- three inches, just shy of 8" long
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain <--- four inches. no need for an extra row. 9 1/8" long
increase 1 st on each side (to make sure we have a complete bar of ribbing)
plain
increase 2 sts on each side
plain
increase 2
plain
increase 2
plain
increase 2 <--- 10" long and 128 sts across.
I realize the increases are
unevenly split on the rows, feel free to change this if it bothers
you, as long as you have the same number of increases. Do not change
the last inch of increases, it is important for the shape to have
more increases in the last inch. This is what worked for me.
Again, make
sure you're paying attention to whether you're starting with a knit
or a purl on the next row after increasing. Since you're only
increasing one stitch on each side for the first few inches it's
going to be a little strange. Pay attention.
After the final
increase row, continue to knit without increases until piece is
desired length. This took about 9 skeins of yarn.
Once pieces are
done, seam together using the mattress stitch. I was very careful to
pick places for the seams so as to not interrupt the ribbed pattern.
This will be awkward if you didn't bind off to make sure that all
three pieces lined up. Once you're sure, bind off using the same
stretchy bind off you used for the armwarmers. Wash and block.
BLOCKING
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED. The nature of ribbed fabric is to pull in, so
these pieces will look small. Blocking will set the stitches and
stretch out the ribbing so it looks nice. Blocking also provides a
perfect opportunity to paint the wings on the back of the jacket.
The Wings
A few notes. I
opted to paint them on because that is how it looks to me in shots
from the game.
Looks like
paint to me.
The image I
used for my stencil can be found here:
http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=129189
in the first
response from Leradny she has a link to the image. I've included it
here just in case. I stretched the image until it took up
the entire page. That size seemed to match best to me. Also, make
sure to place the wings fairly close to the neckline, they're
supposed to go across your shoulder blades.
My method was
to paint it on with a sponge using the stencil, but this smudged the
details quite a bit. I would suggest adding a bit of water to the
paint and using a spray bottle to spritz the paint on. I have a
theory that this would go on cleaner. Keep in mind, I have not tried
this. I cleaned up my wings by mixing a bit of blue with the white
and painting in the smudged details.
Blocking is the
perfect time to do this, once it's dry, because it's all pinned down,
stretched out and secure.
Stitch the two
shoulder straps together once everything is dry. I used a basic whip
stitch.
The Trim
CO 8 sts
Knit in
stockinette until desired length.
It took two and a little more skeins of yarn for all of it.
It took two and a little more skeins of yarn for all of it.
you will need
three pieces, one long piece to go around the front and neckline of
the jacket and two to go around the sleeve openings.
once the pieces
are long enough to fit, (length will vary depending on how long you
made your jacket.) stitch the two edges together with the knit side
out. The fabric will be curling this way naturally because of the
way stockinette curls.
Sew the
flattened tubes around the edges of the jacket.
For the strips
that close the jacket in front make one more small strip the same way
about 6” long. This one will be the one you sew the buttons on.
For the strip
with the buttonholes, make another strip with the buttonholes at 1 ½”
and 3 ½”. Strictly speaking two buttonholes aren't necessary, if
you just to one, center it on the piece. For my buttons I made the
buttonholes 5 rows long. Vertical buttonholes simply involve
switching to a new ball of yarn halfway through to row to create a
separation. When I sewed the edges together on the back I simply
stitched the edges to the edge of the buttonhole on the front to
leave it open.
If ypu have a
different method for making buttonholes, feel free. This is just how
I did it.
Now you're
done! Get a black v neck tank top, a denim skirt and black shorts
and go save the world with your knight!
If you have any issues please feel free to contact me, either by commenting, or through my Ravelry account, which is linked in my sidebar. Have fun!
