Photos of the Tomten

I finally have photos of the finished Tomten, complete with zipper and all. It's been a while since I finished it, but I have not been able to take a photo. First the kids were sick, then the parents were sick and when we were finally all well again, the snow was all gone (I'd hope to get a nice outside photo).




When it came to putting the zipper in, my mom came to the rescue with a link to a Knitting Daily video, showing how to prepare a zipper for attaching it to a knitted garment. You use a knitpicker, and put stitches on the zipper.



This is a bit fiddly, and time consuming, but boy, oh, boy. It's a great way to attach a zipper to a knitted fabric. Sewing a zipper in a machine is hard, because you tend to pull the fabric out of shape. Handsewing the zipper in is better, but it's still a bit awkward, and stiff. By running these stitches up the zipper, the knitted fabric isn't restricted as much as for a sewn-on zipper.

First I marked the location of each garter with a permanent marker (sharpie) and then I made the stitches run up the zipper (using black einband (Icelandic lace weight yarn), which is stronger than the plötulopi) . Then I used crab stitch (reversed single crochet) to attach the zipper to the jacket, using one strand plötulopi and one strand einband, and to outline the hood while I was at it. I think it looks great and I'm very happy on how the zipper is attached.

The younger daughter wants one too, in pink. Oh my, oh my. There is no way a pink jacket is going to look nearly as good as this one. I have the yarn, had planned to use it for a pink dress, but she´d rather have the jacket. Wow, now that's a compliment. Just that she'd prefer this jacket over a DRESS, is saying a lot about it. Of course, she'd also just want what her sister has!