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Recreating Lyra’s red sweater coat – part 1

January 7, 2008 in design, ideas, knitting, sweaters, techniques by Sarah

I have been asked if I could give any advice on recreating Lyra’s red sweater coat from The Golden Compass, and I thought that this might be of interest to more people than just the two of us.

I think there are several big issues with recreating this coat:

  • It is impossible to get a really good close look at it. The pictures online are too small and the film itself moves around too much, and no one wants to wait for the DVD so it could be paused.
  • The yarn/other materials that went into making it will be difficult to come by, and one can’t really be sure what they were. I have read (here) that the coat wasn’t even made out if yarn, but fabric strips, twine etc. This is going to be very difficult to duplicate because costume makers are just better equipped. For all my moaning, I am an amateur in the field of having materials to hand, and I certainly don’t have enough.
  • I am not sure how much yarn this will take, but I know it will be a lot. If anyone actually wants to do this with yarn, I think it will take at least 2-4lbs (1.5-2kg) to make it.

If you still feel the coat is worth pursuing and you think you have enough yarn, you should work out your gauge. I would say that you need super bulky or comparable different yarns held together, and the gauge should be around 7-8 sts to 4inches/10cm.

I will write about potential next steps in the next few days.

If you have any questions at any time, please let me know!

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Please leave a comment or email me at sarah (at) parallaxknitting (dot) com, you can also read about my cooking adventures at Bounded in a Nutshell

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A glove by any other name

Gloves can be deceiving

Josephine

Lyra’s cap

Lyra's coat

Minimalist funnel neck

Morse code vest

Pink leafy scarf

Russian princess in exile

Slouch hat

Urban rustic gloves

West wind gloves

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