With apologies to Apple, Speck, Razor, and Dick

It is sometimes said that names are a self-fulfilling prophecy. If this is true, parents should quit giving their children names like, Apple, Speck, Razor, and Dick. Sure, a baby Apple, Speck, Razor, or Dick is very cute, but will it be so nice when the prophecy is fulfilled, and you have a fully mature, adult Apple, Speck, Razor, or Dick standing there in front of you?

I am sincerely sorry if, dear reader, I insulted you because you or yours are called one of these names. But, if you are an Apple, Speck, Razor, or Dick, drop me a comment about the veracity of the self-fulfilling-prophecy theory.

Because, I’ve been wondering about it ever since I caught the fever of the Must Have Cardigan. I didn’t like it much when I first saw the sweater. It seemed like a box with cables, and I never cared much for cables or for wearing boxes.

Then I saw a detailed photo of the stitch pattern on the Yarn Harlot’s Must Have, and that turned me. The cables and seed stitch stood out like a soft, relief sculpture. It looked beautiful.


I started musing about how a hard marble sculpture can look like soft flesh, and soft yarn can look as if it’s carved from stone. That made me want to knit the cardigan even if it looked like a box. Luckily, it turned out less boxy than I feared.


Specs
Pattern: Must Have Cardigan from Patons Street Smart booklet, size small.
Needles: size 7 for the body, size 6 for the ribbing and waist.
Yarn: 5 skeins of Valley Yarns Northampton in Merlot Heather
Modifications: Increased the body length 1 inch. Increased sleeve length .5 inch. Knit the fronts and back on one long circular. Added waist shaping by knitting with one size smaller needles somewhere around the waist. Mirrored the cables. Cast on full number of stitches from the get-go instead of increasing after ribbing.

Sewing a zipper into a sweater

Here’s how I converted the Urban Aran pullover into a zippered cardigan.

Preparations: Divide the stitches for the front into two equal parts. Add 3 stitches to each center front. The first stitch of each row is slipped to form a turned under edge. The remaining 2 stitches will cover the zipper. Knit the fronts. Block the fronts.

Get a zipper. I recommend a two-way zipper because they’re two-times more versatile. Preshrink your zipper. You don’t want anything changing size after your zipper’s sewn in. You can add the zipper as soon as the fronts are done.

Sew it in

1. Pin the center front edges together. The edges should just meet, not overlap. I used stitch markers, and joined the two pieces every ten rows, more or less. It pays to be meticulous before any sewing happens. It’s easier to reposition stitch markers than to dig out a tiny disappearing line of sewing thread.
   
   
2. Baste the fronts with contrasting yarn, removing the stitch markers as you go. Baste with an even tension. Don’t warp the edges by sewing tight. Basting will stabilize your pieces so that nothing shifts before positioning the zipper. This step will be easier if you didn’t skip step one.
   
   
3. Turn the sweater inside out. Place the zipper face down on the sweater. The zipper teeth should match the center seam. Pin the zipper to the sweater.
   
   Note: you can see in the photo below that the zipper is buckling a little. That's because the zipper is a fraction of an inch longer than the sweater. The cables make the center a little shorter than the rest of the sweater, so I stretched it a wee bit so everything matched. It's a judgment call, figuring out if you should stretch the centers, or work in the ease. Depends on the yarn and pattern.
   
   
4. Whipstitch the edges of the zipper tape to the sweater with sewing thread. Make sure this doesn’t show on the public side of the sweater. As you stitch, look at the edge of the tape and make sure it stays parallel to the center rows of the sweater. If you see a row curving out, as in the above photo, nudge it straight with your finger as you sew.
   
   I like to whipstich before actually sewing the zipper in. It’s like basting and finishing at the same time. Get rid of the pins. Now your zipper is positioned, flat, and ready to be sewn.
   
5. Turn the sweater right-side out. Pull out the basting yarn. If you leave it in, it could cause a little wave in your seam. The whipstitch should hold everything in place.
   
6. Turn the sweater inside out. Starting at the bottom of one side, using sewing thread, start a line of stitching. Sew as close to the zipper teeth as possible while still allowing free movement of the zipper pulls—about 1/4 inch. Test the zipper action before sewing too far. Up, down. Up, down. Good job. Use whatever stitch gives you a feeling of confidence. I used a backstitch. Mind the tension.
   
7. Do whatever you need to do—fold, tuck, trim—to make the top edge of the zipper neat.
   
8. Enjoy satisfying two-way zipper action!

This is the method that works for me (pictures of the finished sweater in this post). But, if this seems like a crummy way of doing things, check out these other tutorials.

For detailed advice in determining what zipper length to use, go here. If you need to know how to shorten a zipper, go here. If you’d just like to look at another zipper tutorial, go here.

Final Caveat: Don’t trim a zipper before you create a new zipper stop. If you do, your zipper-pull will fall off. Feels like there should be a punch line here.

Monday's post

Must Have Cardigan Update
One sleeve is complete. This sleeve is also my test swatch. It is now pinned to a damp towel, working like the devil to live up to expectations by drying to the desired dimensions. I don’t have a picture of this. It is not visually stimulating.

Spring Training Update
Today was day two of week three of spring training 2008. I made some progress. I felt, for the first time this year, that today’s five mile run was no more strenuous than a sneeze. OK, two sneezes. Well, maybe three sneezes in rapid succession.

Training stats for the first three weeks

1. Miles run: 53, give or take


2. Non-running stuff: miscellaneous weights, yoga, and ab exercises. Ab exercises are totally ineffective for me, but I continue doing them out of pure lunacy.


3. Injuries: Two blisters. Weird collapsing arch and weak ankle, both cured by an afternoon of knitting with raised feet.


4. Disturbing incidents: discovered a hole in the seat of running pants—the day after wearing them. Gaggle of kids poking a stick into bushes next to running trail, one of them saying, “Don’t tell Mom.”


5. Three episodes of breaking training during week two:
   
   a. While at Fred Meyer looking for the latest issue of Interweave Knits, purchased a bag of Cadbury chocolate eggs. The eggs were later consumed at my residence, while knitting something (I forget what).
   
   b. At the Hotel Oregon, a shared order of chips with spinach, artichoke, and sour cream dip.
   
   c. At the Red Fox Bakery, inhaled a large cinnamon snail. A cinnamon snail is a hybrid between a cinnamon roll and a croissant. A cinnamon snail is very delicious.
   
   d. Baked and ate some peanut butter cookies. This doesn’t count as the fourth breakdown. Cookies are part of my training regimen.


6. Successes: met running goals despite being loaded down with chocolate and whatnot.

An Urban Aran in wine country

I took the Urban Aran for a test drive last week in McMinnville, Or.
It exceeded expectations in every area of performance. It looks great, fits great and is cozy and comfortable. It kept me warm while I enjoyed a class of Pinot Noir (or was it Black Rabbit Red?) on the rooftop bar of The Hotel Oregon.

Later, bolstered by its timeless, yet hip, diagonal cables, I remained stoic during a theatrical performance so atrocious that it seemed designed to suck out your soul, like dementors, and make you feel as though you’d never be cheerful again.

It's a great sweater pattern.

McMinnville is a casual, artsy town in the middle of the Willamette Valley American Vitacutural Area. Besides having many restaurants and stores offering “wine tastings,” the downtown has a great yarn store, The Knitting Basket.

I bought six skeins of Donegal Tweed Homespun. The rich green color doesn’t really show in this photo. You’ll just have to take my word that it is beautiful, and if I’d had a set of size 8 needles on me, I would’ve hung the “Privacy Please” sign up on the hotel room door. That’s how much I love it. (Thanks for buying it for me, Sweetie.)

Mixed results

I’m moderately happy with how this turned out. In and of itself, it looks pretty good though not great. (Update 10/26/2010: this turned out to be my favorite sweater. It's warm and cozy.)


I’m much happier with the project I finished today: the coveted Urban Aran from Patons Street Smart book. This pattern is great. I first saw it on brooklyntweed, but I’ve seen it on many other blogs, too. The ribs and cables in the chunky yarn add a lot of structure, maybe that’s why it looks great on both the lean and the curvy.

I altered the sleeves and armholes a bit. They were a tad wide and short and seemed in danger of looking dumpy. I also knit the body back and forth on one long circular to avoid seaming. I used Elann’s Highland Chunky in Spiced Wine.

I plan to wear it on the rooftop bar of the Hotel Oregon when I travel to Oregon's wine country later this week.