This is the Ella Coat from Noni Designs: a simple, shaped sweater-style coat that can be as long or as short as you like it. There are some fabulous variations out there, including rainbow-striped coats, sage-green coats and coats with crazy ruffles that look ultra cosy. 

And why am I sharing this with you? Because the lovely folk at Noni are starting a worldwide Knit-a-long using this pattern. It officially starts with cast-on on the 16th of January, with updates, improvements and ideas posted each week on the Noni Blog (http://blog.nonipatterns.com/).

This week was 'swatch' week. Here's mine:

I really like purple, so I've opted for a solid purple heather coat with a variegated ruffle. The coat is going to be done in Stylecraft Special Aran with Wool in Blackberry which knits up to gauge perfectly. The ruffle is going to be done in Sirdar Escape DK in 'Ecstasy' which is a mix of purple, red wine, deep purple, yellow and burgundy. I'm also hoping to do an additional inner ruffle in Rowan Kidsilk Haze (the fluffy pink yarn in the top left, there), but I'll see how it knits up first. 

I think the colours work really well together! I haven't chosen buttons yet, although I may opt for the same wooden buttons that I used for the Baby Ugg Booties I knitted up this weekend, or I might go bold with hand-painted floral wooden buttons that should be well on their way to me by now (I ordered a large button stash last week!).

Here's one last look, just in case you were enjoying the colour as much as I am. The yarn knits up well, creating a comfy soft fabric that is stiff enough for a coat, but soft and comfortable enough for a cardigan. It was more heathery than I had expected, but I think that adds a lovely touch to an otherwise plain colour. 

Here's a link to the NoniKAL 'Ella Reinvented' group: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/official-noni-kal-ella-reinvented just in case you want to pick up your needles and take part in the discussion!

And here's the link to the Noni Blog, again: http://blog.nonipatterns.com/ There is a really nice blog post on 

the blog at the moment about choosing colours for your knitting, and how to use the world around you for inspiration.

I hope this goes well. I'll post pictures and updates as the knit-a-long progresses so you can follow along too. I'm looking forward to it!