And indeed, we may find ourselves asking (in this 200th year of All Things Austen) - what would Jane Austen knit?

She would, no doubt, knit herself mittens and reticules. She would knit shawls and warm underthings. And she would definitely knit a Summer Pelisse.

Which, by the by, is that little blue cardi in the picture below, labelled p61. 

Who wouldn't want a Summer Pelisse? I had to look it up before I could ardently admire such a summer-time garment. 

I saw it, and I knew that it was my next knitting project.

And so, I downloaded a copy of Rene Dickey's pattern from Interweave, the Jane Austen Knits store, and I cast on.

In Fuchsia. 

I'm knitting this in the largest pattern size - 3T. It should fit a child, aged 4 or 5 (petite), the sizing says. It measures 54cm around, but is yet to be blocked so perhaps it will be slightly larger. I am hopeful, as it's for a little girl who's quite the right size but no doubt will shoot up like a bean sprout before this gets much use.

I'm knitting said Summer Pelisse in Patons 100% Cotton DK in a deep pink on 4mm Knitpro circular needles. The colourway (Fuchsia) is considerably pinker than I imagined it would be when seen in sunlight (despite the rather obvious suggestion in the name), but such is the drawback of ordering yarn online methinks. 

Still, it's rather cheery and looks almost maroony-purple in the right light.

The lace repeat is called "Horseshoe Lace", and is easy enough to remember. I'm on my last lace row repeat and am quite happy. The trick, I find, is it put a stitch marker in between each repeat (every ten stitches) so that if your stitch count is out, you can quite quickly and easily see where you went wrong. This has saved me ripping everything out at least twice!

The cotton yarn is quite heavy, I'm not sure that this was the best choice for the garment, but will see as I knit upwards towards the bodice and sleeves.