This has been a slow year for knitting, for me. One long (though not large) secret project, still in the works. One Olympic dash (you saw that one). One small secret project, given at Christmas. And one toddler sweater, which was just right for book club, TV watching, and evening knitting... pity I kept falling asleep as soon as J. was down for the night. (Also, this was the year I made friends with my sewing machine, but that's another post.) So, progress was slow.
However, now that Christmas is over, the house is clean(ish), work is not biting my arse, and I have a little free time at the computer, you can finally see what I've been up to needlewise. First off is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Tomten Jacket, sized to about a 2T-3T. When I started it back in September 2009 (wince), I measured a Gap Kids sweater that I thought might fit J. the following winter... and I was right. Also, it's garter stitch, so it's nice and stretchy.
Full project notes are on the Ravelry page, but it's worth mentioning here that I did add a zipper. I followed the pictures at Not Martha and Fashion Incubator to figure out how to shorten the separating zipper and insert it properly (skipped the twill tape; discovered that a nylon coil zipper has to have its teeth cut off before their roots can be extracted). Definitely worth it to put the garment on a real body, pin it shut, and measure the zipper length live, as it were.
The recipient likes it very much, even with the hood up.
The yarn is part wool, so it's quite nice to have on a blustery November day. It was another one of those stashbuster projects that required purchasing one more skein to complete. Try as I might, I can't win :)
I take that back. Clearly this pattern was a win all around.
Nice work! I think how long it took is much less important than how well it turned out.
Happy New (knitting) Year!
Posted by: ccr in MA | January 01, 2011 at 10:01 AM