It's finally finished. As I mentioned in a previous post, the upper body sizing was way off, so I had to rip most of it out and start over, decreasing as I went up until it was a size small at the top. That added at least two months to the project. Here's the sort of finished sweater before I cut it open. You can see I didn't knit the pattern down the middle, to allow for where it would be cut and folded over.
The steek was a scary process! I had a few choices on how to secure the stitches so that they wouldn't unravel when I cut the sweater open down the middle. Some people crochet in a reinforcement line, others machine stitch it with a sewing machine. I decided to try needle felting, since this was the ideal yarn for that. In needle felting, you use a tool with five sharp needles and punch down through the sweater repeatedly into a nylon brush that catches the needles. The end result is that the top of the sweater looks the same, but underneath the fibers have merged and tangled together (felted) so that they won't unravel. See the center area below.
I was somewhat shocked when I went to a craft store and both the needle tool and the brush cost around $18 each. Le sigh. I probably could have used a household cleaning brush, but whatever.
Now the scary part. I put a piece of cardboard between the two sides of the sweater so that I wouldn't accidentally cut into the back side of the sweater. Then, slowly snipped down the middle, being careful to follow the same vertical line of stitches.
And voila! Here I am trying on the cut sweater.
The last task was to sew in a zipper. A side benefit was I discovered a wonderful little sewing store in my part of town. It's tiny, but they have a very broad selection of notions, including many sizes, types, and colors of zippers. As expected, there was not a zipper that matched the gray-blue-lavender body of the sweater. But I found a purple one that matched the purple in the sweater pretty well.
Next I had to drag my sewing machine up from the basement. Since I only use it about once every 3-4 years, every time I have to re-learn how to put in the selected needle, wind a bobbin, and thread it. That took half of an afternoon. Pinning the zipper in, and then basting it (loosely stitching it) also took a while. The actual sewing took only a few minutes and there were no major mistakes.
I had to do some finishing work. The zipper ended at the bottom of the collar so I still had some raw edges there. I folded them over, tacked them down, and did some more needle felting just to be extra safe. Same thing with the rolled hem at the bottom. And here's the finished sweater! It's going to be very warm and toasty. 🥰
19
24 comments
Wow! Amazing. And, I got an education. Good job.ðŸ‘🤗
Thanks Paul! I figured anyone who wasn't interested in my arcane processes could skim.
The sweater looks great as a zip up. Great job on the zipper.
Thanks, it was scary but it seems to have worked out!
I am so impressed!! Your sweater is gorgeous!! And the effort is amazing. You have special skills.
Hugs!!
Thanks so much! ðŸ˜
WHEW, that's a lot of work! But it looks good, and kept off those wintery streets I guess.
The process is half of the enjoyment - although I'll admit, I could have done without having to re-knit 2/3 of the body.
Wow, that''s fantastic! The colors look so good together! A++
It turned out beautifully! All that work, it better last you to the end of days.
Well, let's face it, at this point my "end of days" is probably a maximum of 30 years away. I bet it'll last that long!
That sweater is so cool. I love the pattern. I would have been scared to cut it! (And I didn't really follow the felting; I may have to look it up. Your explanation was fine, I just couldn't visualize the process.) All of your work makes me almost want to take crocheting back up. I never did really knit, although I know I've tried it. At least with the crocheting, I made baby blankets for all my cousins. The only thing is, I never wear knitted items like this. If it was lined, I might consider it. Do you line your sweaters...maybe not the sweaters, but this almost qualifies as a jacket. Do you think you'll line it?
You could go on YouTube and search "needle felt steekng a sweater" if you're truly curious.
I wouldn't have the first idea of how to go about lining it! I probably would have had to do something different in the construction from the start to allow for that. I thought about at least putting a ribbon facing on the inside next to the zipper, but then when I was pinning everything together it just seemed too complicated and like I might mess it up.
You're right though, it would be nice to line it since it's a fairly itchy wool. I do plan on wearing it as a second or even third layer (like a jacket) which is why I decided to put in the zipper.
@smartasswoman Okay...now I get it. Lol. I also watched the crochet method just because I was there. Both methods are interesting.
As for lining, my grandmother knitted a lot of sweaters that I actually have. Some of them are lined, and it looks like she hand stitched the lining on them. They seem very delicate, but then again, they are likely anywhere from 50 to 100 years old now.
@MyNameIsKay I think hand stitching would be the way to go, probably, but I don't think I'm up for that!
You are an artist with what you create.
Thank you so much.
That Icelandic cardigan is spectacular. You can return to Iceland wearing that cardigan with pride.
Now I have to go back!!
Beautiful
Wow, great work, thanks for sharing. Always wondered how zippers were put in sweaters!
Lovely pattern work too.
Pretty much the same as with clothing I guess! I placed the zipper upside down on the right side of the sweater, with the teeth pointed away from the opening. Sewed it to the sweater. Then when I flipped it to have the teeth pointing toward the opening, that tucked the raw edge to the inside.
Very nice,,hand made stuff is soo much better,,,looks great and where you live will be used a lot.
Yes, I'll be able to wear it at least six months out of the year.