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Posts Tagged ‘Tomten Jacket’

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!

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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.

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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!

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Part 2 – Stitches Journery – CocoKnits

Posted in knitting, tagged , , , , , on March 3, 2010| 2 Comments »

Karen had been to Stitches on Friday…and she purchased a dynamite pattern Liesel  from CocoKnits. This vendor/designer had models to try on of the patterns that she has designed….lovely…lovely…lovely! Karen was so excited with the design and she found the yarn specificed in the pattern,  Euro Flax Linen.  Not only is Karen H excited but so was Karen K from our Skein Lane knittng circle as well as  myself. I tried Liesel on and I felt quite trendy! I have some Euro Flax Linen in my Skein Lane inventory…it’s red and I think it will be stunning. I will embark upon it as soon as I finish the Tomten sweater jacket, a design by Elizabeth Zimmerman, for my newly born nephew, Carson Louis…..Louis is our dad’s name! Brings a tear or two!

I am pointing you to Meg Swansen’s site to learn more about the Tomten Sweater Jacket and Elizabeth Zimmerman – Meg’s mother.

Liesl

During our 4-hr sprint Karen took Connie and me to the CocoKnits booth…and we both fell in the designs…just as Karen had. Connie tried on Carlie, seen below, and she then went shopping for the yarn – Elsbeth Lavold’s Silky Flame. Her color choice was a red-orange. It’s beautiful and Connie will look terrific in it.

Carli

More to come in the next post!

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