Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘I-Cord’

Mary and her Tomten

Posted in knitting, knitting techniques, tagged , , , on January 25, 2012| 4 Comments »

Mary and her Tomten Jacket

Mary is happy…happy! It was a happy evening recently at knitting workshop…she completed the knitting journey of the Tomten Jacket, a Elizabeth  Zimmerman design.

She knit this garter-stitch design in Brown Sheep Lambspride Superwash. She began this sweater for her granddaughter…..time slipped away…and now her neighbors have been gifted with this lovely sweater for their newly adopted child. As you can see Mary was overjoyed  to complete this project….she stuck with it and you can see the results.

The Tomten Jacket

The detailing that makes this Tomten unique is that Mary rolled the edging back and tacked it all around. She also created an I-cord loop for the toggle button.

Yeah Mary!

Read Full Post »

The “Vested” Tomten Jacket

Posted in knitting, tagged , , , on November 4, 2010| 1 Comment »

Marsha

More creativity from Marsha!

She has been working on a Tomten Jacket (design by Elizabeth Zimmerman)…..one of my favorite children designs (which can also be knit in adult sizes). It’s simple, practical, and elegant…all at the same time. In this case, Marsha was worried about enough yarn…she was using a sock yarn that was also taking a lot of knitting time. So….in the interest of time and yarn she decided to knit the sleeves “short” to fit so that sleeves fit right into the armhole but were only long enough to line up with the body of the sweater. Remember that this design has the sleeves “set” into the body.

This design also has a hood, but Marsha chose to convert that into a collar by leaving the hood off. This version can either be a stand-up collar or roll back. Isn’t it great to be so inspired by a pattern design that you can add your own touches?

Marsha did a beautiful job of the I-cord trim. She is now looking for the right closure. Will it be a frog that she creates from I-cord or will it be a shopping trip to  Stone Mountain and Daughter Fabrics in Berkeley for the best closure. Stay tuned!

Oh…and remember the Tomten is a modular jacket…any size yarn can be used…just need to get the propotions right…..1/4 of total stitches = back; 1/2 of total stitches = 2 armholes; and 1/4 stitches = 2 fronts. This pattern is available through School House Press.

Read Full Post »

Carson’s baby sweater

Posted in knitting, knitting techniques, tagged , on May 5, 2010| 1 Comment »

Carson's Tomten Sweater

Yeah! I finally got the buttons on the Tomten hoodie, a Elizabeth Zimmerman classic design, for Carson….wrapped the present….popped it in the mail along with bracelet presents for Carson’s three sisters aka my nieces. How much fun to receive an instant message from my sister today….thought I’d saved it….but no! In the package was LaBerta’s Rudolph the Raindeer golden book from when she was a wee one her self, a baby sweater for Carson, and bracelets for Isabella, Jade, and Abygail.

The instant message…..

  • I’ve just gotten home and there is a package on my door step….
  • oh…there is a book for me….now I’ll open Carson’s package
  • oh auntie it is lovely and I love it….thank you
  • thank you xoxox Sis
  • the girls will be home from school soon and they can open their presents.

This sequence of messages made me smile…..and made me really happy that I’d knit the sweater….thanks to my knitting friend Cathy for crocheting the beaded bracelets for the girls.

The children!

As I was thinking about this post tonight, I googled “Tomten Jacket” and got many links. It was fascinating to see how many different ways that this modular sweater has been knit. I think Elizabeth must be looking down upon us and thinking “What a joy to see such creativity from my simple design.” Many different edges have been used to finish the garment…Elizabeth’s vision was I-cord…and I used that on Carson’s sweater. I then crocheted loops for the buttonholes and added the buttons on the opposite front. I even made an effort to have the buttons on the “man’s side”. Mothers tell me if this helpful or an annoyance. Some of the other choices for bands that I saw were: garter band with button holes, zipper, a rufffled edge, a crocheted edge…and as always the possibilities are endless. My choice for Carson had to do with wanting to work an I-cord edge for this garment….and then I fussed about the edging for the button holes. I knit this sweater jacket in Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fleece trimmed with Brown Sheep’s Superwash Lamb’s Pride…..both of these being two of my favorite yarns.

Tomten Sweater Jacket - the buttons!

Read Full Post »

Wrap-up on Christmas Holiday Celebrations!

Posted in Christmas, knitting, tagged , , , on December 31, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Before the New Year arrives here are photos and thoughts from our pre-Christmas celebrations. The Thursday evening Knitting Workshop knitters celebrated the season on Dec 17. While it seems just the other day, it also seems like many days ago. Truly, this is the time of year when so many things and events start to roll into one. I’ve decided next year that we will do all of our events earlier in the month. Our Thursday and Saturday knitters began to feel the demands on their schedules…and thus not all were able to join. But not to worry…we will have a New Year’s celebration in January. Stay tuned for an Evite invitation.

While there were just a few of us for our Thursday celebration, there was no end to wonderful food and to knitting creativity. Dee’s delightful college-age daughter was home for the holidays and she joined us.

Helen in her slouch hat

Helen hosted this event…thank you! She’s wearing a slouch hat that she knit with Crystal Palace’s Taos yarn.  Helen also showed a beautiful Tripled Rib Stitch Scarf that she knit…she used two Crystal Palace (Mini Mochi) fingering weight yarns held together to create a dk-worsted weight yarn.

Peg and Carol showed their “Out of the frying pan” felted mitt potholders…watch out….we are inspired and I am sure many of you will receive felted mitts during this next year!

Carol and Peg

Carol and Peg - Knit felted oven mitts

Debbie was working on her I-Cord rug for her new home near Bodega Bay. She is having so much fun organizing and decorating her home. Please note that I have linked to I-Cord instructions that many of us found very good for the Moderne Baby Blankets that we knit.

Then we have Dee and her daughter.  Besides being a student, Sabetta knits and knits!  She showed us several scarves, shawls, and a vest that she knit for her father.

Photos of Sabetta and Dee to follow in separate post…some continued problems in posting photos….go to Jan 1, 2010.

And Dee showed us the benefits of using a “miner’s” light for seeing those stitches in dark yarns. I was kinda interested as I was knitting nephew Dan’s black scarf…but I felt all wrapped up.

Thank goodness the black scarf is done. All that is needed now is to block this 3 x 3 rib…a basic scarf style for a 15-y5 old.

Enjoy!

Read Full Post »