Jan 10 2006
Zipping Right Along
Raglan Zipper Cardigan
Started: 12.12.05 / Finished: 1.09.06
Pattern: Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson
Yarn: Handpainted Yarns Handspun Bulky Wool in colorway
Date Palme (discontinued)
Needles: Takumi Clover Bamboo circulars size 10 for body and yoke; Brittany Birch double pointed needles size 10 for sleeves
Notes: Less than a month for this baby! Granted, I challenged myself to have it ready by Kris’s birthday – but that came and went on 12.26.
I officially finished the knitting on January 8th – my best girl Heather was over at my house for a fun knit-in… so she got a sneak peek! (and I got to see the start of her lovely cowl sweater she just started too!) The weaving in ends and blocking set up for the zipper installation the next day. I did manage to get a pic pre – zipper though… (look at that smile!)
DPNs make the perfect closures!
I recommend Handpainted Yarn, but be aware that it is really thick and thin in some places. I think this adds to the overall attraction of this particular sweater (the rustic look), but it may not be a good match for something that needs an even texture or a spot-on gauge. As for the dyelots: you can see the stripes (slightly) in the knit above. I bought the same dyelot! The kettle-dyed yarn is just this way… so I accept it and move on. I am trying to convince myself that for this particular knit, it adds character.
I made the smallest men’s size (39" chest) for Kris, and this called for 8 hanks of yarn; purchasing one extra ball really was a good decision, I used about 100 yds of the 9th hank to yoke and the collar.
More notes and pics (including zipper installation) behind the cut – check it!
Saturday night: I was a midnight yoker. I was on a roll. I moved the body to the larger 36" circular needles, and added the sleeves to the knit. The underarm stitches were left on stitch holders until the end when I did a Kitchener stitch bind off to secure them.
Lovin’ the raglan decreases. The rib pattern really shows them off too.
I wet blocked the cardigan overnight, and had it all ready to go for zipper installation on Monday. The blocking did not make a big difference – ribbing will always look smaller, but the important thing is that it fits Kris so perfectly!
My mom, who was gifted with some amazing sewing skills, came over to my place for a zipper tutorial. I initially thought I would go with a hand sewn zipper install, but I began to see that the cardigan would need something more stable and durable; so a machine seam was definitely the way to go.
I got a little eager, and instead of going with a custom zipper from one of the online sources, I went with a zipper from the craft store. The length was perfect, and I am very happy with the way it turned out – remember the one in the original pattern zipper was fire engine red! – so the khaki color was a pretty good fit. Maybe next zipper install, I will give the online store a try – I would like a custom zipper sometime that matches the color of the garment exactly.
Zipper alignment – perfect fit for a 30" zipper, although the pattern called for a 27". (I did add 3" to the torso)
We used regular sewing pins to secure the tape to the knit before running it through the machine.
Mom put the zipper foot in my sewing machine – this made the sewing go so quickly!
Mom’s expertise in all things sewing really saved me on this project. I would have made a real mess of it without her help. Thanks to mom, my interest in sewing has been rekindled, and I hope to be able to install my next knit zipper easily with the skills I learned this time!
Attached and ready to go. The machine seam was strong, and will withold more wear (hopefully not tear!) from Kris.
I am happy with this project, and best of all, I think Kris is too. He was willing for me to call him for fittings and measurements throughout the whole process. I extended the body from 15" to 18" and I extended the arm length to 21" – the small size called for only 18". I am so glad I did this – it fits him perfectly, and he is very comfortable in it.
All in all, a great project – and the other thing about it?
It fits me too!
WOW! Great job, Lolly! And you both looks nice in it!
it looks fantastic lolly! well done!
What a fabulous sweater! Those zipper installations can be tricky.
looks great lolly! everything about it is perfect, Im glad he loves it (and now you have a new sweater to steal as well!). Ill have to knit this one soon
Looks awesome!!
Love the look of yarn and the color and it does fit him perfectly.
Judging from the smiles, he LOVES it.
And it fits you too, what a cool sweater.
Your mom rocks. You’re so lucky.
AWESOME!
It looks terrific! I can’t wait to see Kris wearing it in person!
Hey…we need to talk zippers! hehe
It’s nice to see this sweater as a finished product — I made it for my husband and he thought the neck was way too big. It looks like that’s just how the sweater is, though (not my fault!) I really like the color you chose.
Congrats on such a great job, Lolly! I’m very impressed with the zipper. It looks great on Kris.
It looks incredible!!!
Gorgeous! And if you’re anything like me, you’ll wear the sweater more than the hubby! Hee hee.
Wonderful sweater!! How cool that it fits you both
I know you will both get a lot of wear out of a sweater as nice as that one!
Looks fabulous! Thanks for all the in-process photos, too. I’ve been drooling over that sweater in LMNG, but Christer will not wear sweaters. Not any sweaters. So maybe I’ll have to make one for myself–because it looks good on you too!
Fabu job Lolly! And what cute models for the sweater! I really need to figure out machine installation for zippers. I’ve got a few zippy cardis planned.
Yay! It looks fantastic! (On both Kris, and you.) The pics of the zipper installation were great. I love zippered sweaters, but I am no seamstress, so I have been VERY AFRAID to try one. Seems like it might be a good knitting goal. For 2007.
Looks great! What a nice gift. And thanks for the zipper photo shoot… I have a feeling I’ll be referring back to that at some point…
Excellent! Nicely done! Zippers scare me.
Kris’ sweater looks great on him and equally good on you. I’ve been too afraid to try zippers. I want to make a Ribbi Cardi and decided I’d just take it to a tailor to get it done once finished. My Mom sews so I now see I can enlist her help instead!
What a great gift for Kris! Thanks for sharing the details of what it took to get it all put together!
Woo-hoo, Lauren! The sweater looks great on both of you! xoxo
Hi there! I was having the same color crisis as you with the kettle dyed yarn. I am making a shawl out of Maribrilo, and here is my crisis ( http://fiberfish.blogspot.com/2006/01/is-it-as-bad-as-i-think-it-is.html ). I made the same decision as you – it’s a feature, not a crisis, right?!
I love your sweater – and the color is awesome!
That looks great! lucky you for having your mom help!
great sweater, i’m sure he loves it. my better half is still trying to get a sweater out of me – not until we are married i tell him!
And one other thing lolly… how would you rate the difficulty on this one if say… I showed this to my hubby and he says that he wants one now? (hubby’s need to learn how to knit)!
Fantastic work! What an excellent gift (especially since you can borrow it, too – shhh)
Great sweater Lauren!
hehehe – midnight yoker.
I can only imagine the softness! Good thing it fits you – I think a sweater invasion is in order – soon enough it will be all yours. Bwahahaha!
The sweater is gorgeous! You do good work, girl! I think you picked the perfect yarn! Sweater envy………
The sweater looks great! I think you did a wonderful job!
There are few things better than a husband sweater that fits you, too! It looks great!
It looks fantastic! Great job with the zipper installation too.
It’s beautiful, Lolly!!! Congratulations on such a quick knit! From the smiles, it certainly looks like Kris is enjoying the sweater!
It looks great!! I love it. Hmmm. I wonder if Jason would like it?? I’m almost at the point of putting a zipper into my Ribby and not looking forward to it. My mom, who’s a champ at sewing hates zippers but if I beg she may help me.
Hey Lauren – the sweater looks wonderful on Kris. How nice to have a sewing SME (Subject Matter Expert) available to teach you zipper installation. Congrats on a great project!
What a wonderful sweater. Kris looks great and I love the color. Yay for moms who help us sew!
Looks fab, Lolly! Love the color. =)
You’ll have to share your zipper tips sometime! I did Jim’m zipper on the machine and had to rip it out about 15 times to get it “right”. Sometimes stretchiness is not a good thing! I was amazed how well knitted fabric holds up to ripping though
First of all, I think you need to post more pics of Kris from the back
Secondly, the sweater looks realy fab, I hope that you both get a lot of wear out of it. I may have to tempt Cobra with it, hehe. You may have to give me some zipper notes, I’m interested inhow your method compares to the one in my new book. Here’s hoping for some cooler weather so Kris can wear it out!
Wooohoooo congrats! I have such a big zipper phobia! I have two zippers to install (one of them for a Christmas gift from 2004) that I haven’t tackled yet. Well, it’s basted on, just nothing has progressed since that. I hope Chris gets a lot of wear out of it! It looks great on him!
It looks fabulous! On both of you!
Lol, That sweater looks great. I am missing cold weather while I am looking through your blog. You should be proud of yourself. It looks great. Yeah for Momma’s help…
Love You
wow, totally impressive, and it looks great on both of you!!
Great job! The color looks great on him, too. I see that you have one of those CSHWLLHS’s like I have. (Cute Skinny Husband Who Looks Like He’s Sixteen) My husband is 41 now and people still occasionally ask him if he’s out of college yet. I hate his guts. (in a good way)
Bravo!
I love the look the handpainted yarn gave the sweater.
Great sweater, great job!
Great job my dear! It looks great on both you and Kris. I wonder if my hubby would wear something like that. So good looking.
Good work and you both look fabulous in it.
Looks good! I really like the yarn color.
Love it! The colour is great…on both of you!
Oh wow, it looks wonderful! And what a bonus that it fits you too! Woohoo! I had to have help from my mom on sewing in a zipper into one of my cardigans too. I’m pretty confident I could do it on my own now. Great job Lolly!
Yay! You did it! Of course you did. Kris looks great in this cardi, and so do you.
You were smart to call in the pros for the zipper installation. I did my Mariah zipper by hand… it’s very sturdy and well reinforced, but it took HOURS. I must say, too, that Kris is such a good sport for all of his modeling and posing for pics. What a success!
How convenient that you can knit your husband a sweater and wear it! You can knit more things for “him” that “you” can wear! My husband is 6’6″ and I’m 5’4″ so I can’t be as clever as you! The sweater is great and it looks great on Kris (you too). Don’t you just love completing big projects and especially in a timely manner!
What a gorgeous sweater! I really appreciated your zipper tutorial, since I’m about to start my own zipper sweater. I can only hope my comes out as beautifully as yours.
It looks great! And Kris looks so thrilled with it too. Definitely a bonus when the giftee loves the knit.
Wow! It looks great!! I like the zipper you chose, it’s much nicer than the red one in the original, I think.
You are right, having a sewing machine and knowing how to sew really save a lot of time. I am still struggling with the hand sewing of the zipper!
Another great knit Lolly!
cute!!! it looks so great on both of you. congrats!!
I’m impressed that you got it done so quickly – and it looks great too!
Looooovvveeee that Handpaintedyarn.com!!
kudos to you lauren! it is amazing!
It’s always nice when a fit for your man is a good fit for you too! You did a great job and the sweater fits Kris so nicely. I love it!
!! It looks SO good, Lolly!
Great job. .. you give me inspiration to get moving on my finishing project!
Amazing thing this cardigan. But also your post in real-time. I felt like sitting next to you wathcing the progress of sewing in this zipper. These details are very encouraging, thanks. I wish you BOTH a lot of fun wearing it!
Woohoo! It looks awesome and he looks like he loves it – fits to a T I would say! Great job Lauren!!
Looks great on both of you!! Thank heaven for moms-although mine has no sewing skills at all-but good thing your mom does! A really, really nice knit. Good job Lolly!!
That is always the best type of sweater, the one that will fit the one it’s intended for, and yourself as well. Double duty knitting, nothing better.
Fantastic job Lolly !!! I love this colour. You can both take turns to wear this cardi with pride. Well done.
Wow! Looks fantastic! I bet your hubby is stoked
Wow, the sweater turned out great. I love it. I have not done any knitting that involved zippers. They scare me, I think. LOL!
It looks so fab!! I may have to try that one for Philip. He doesn’t like sweaters, but I feel a little bad being a knitter and not knitting a sweater for my husband!
Lolly — Great Cardi!
And…for the future — don’t forget that you have pals in NYC within walking distance of custom length zippers in a variety of colors (double ended zippers too!)
Cheers! And Happy New Year!
It looks great and it seems you had nothing to worry about with the instalation of the zipper. Fab!
Hey Lolly, did you geht my comment from yesterday? I really wnat to get in touch again but lost your email. I still want to knwo how you did the increases on this sweater. And your version lools cool, makes me hurry up with mine
Great job! I like the way it turned out.
woot! it looks fabulous, lolly! kudos to you for conquering the zipper.
You know, you really do AMAZE me. Not only are you a prolific knitter but you are able to do some STUNNING work! Congrats on yet another FAB, FAB, FAB knit!
d00d!!! Less than a month! That’s amazing. It looks great & Kris always looks like such a good sport.
Lolly, what a great sweater! And to have it look good on both of you … you gotta love the versatility!
Wow! What a great fit. Congratulations Lolly! It’s really fabulous.
Truly beautiful work Lolly. Despite your misgivings about the yarn, I think it enhances the texture of the sweater.
The hubster certainly seems to appreciate it, as well he should!
It looks FANTABULOUS! Way to go!
It looks really great on him! It’s so nice to see a project from “just yarn” (yeah, like yarn is ever “just yarn”), to finished project. You’re an inspiration.
Happy New Year, sweetie! Kris’s cardigan looks FABULOUS!! You did such an awesome job with it!! And fantastic job with the zipper installation, too. That definitely looks tricky and a little stressful, but it’s great that you had your mom to mentor you through it. The color is so rich and gorgeous, too- I bet Kris just loves it! Being one for gender equity though, I’d say the cardigan is fair wardrobe game for you. Especially when you look so good in it, too.
I’ll be back soon to catch up on all the posts I’ve missed….take care! 
Yes, indeed. THe sweater turned out great! I had fun putting the zipper in and spending time with you and Kris. It does look great on both of you. I am excited about starting my first shawl! XXOO
Beautiful!!! I’m sure Kris will wear it proudly . . . and you too!
Congratulations on a great sweater! It looks like it fits him to a t!
I’m also very excited to see you at the sewing machine. Could this be a promising relationship?
I loved your post, too-cute.
The cardigan looks great!! You’re a fast knitter!!! You did a great job on it!
Great job, Lolly! & I can’t believe you finished in under a month!
Looks just great! I’d love to knit that for my BF but I’m not sure he’d let me
lolly, it looks fantastic! great, great work. very impressed with the zipper installation. and he seems happy with it!
hey you finished that quickly, and it looks fab on Kris!!!! love the color of the handpainted yarn
the zipper looks really good!
huge congrats on getting that done. It looks fab (on both of you!). I have always loved that colour you chose.
Thanks for comment too!
Great job on the sweater! I love pictures of happy husband in their lovingly handknit sweaters! What a bonus that you can wear it too!
It look great! Great job. It makes me want to knit up a cardigan lickety split.
You’re such a rockstar!
Damn! You have 95 comments! Kris’s sweater is awesome! What great and fast knitting you did! I would much rather machine sew in a zipper. I really don’t like hand sewing them in. Seeing as I don’t have a sewing machine though, it makes it kind of hard to do that.
Awesome! Congrats on another beautiful FO!
It looks wonderful Lolly! I can’t wait to finish mine now for Scott. I, unfotunately, am going to be doing the zipper by hand… fooey.
Awesome sweater! you both look great in it.
Ooh!! Great job! Awfully sneaky of you to knit a sweater for your hub that *just happens* to fit you as well!
I am about to sew a zipper into a handknit, and am SCARED but your post has helped me. I think I will feel more confident and will also try to machine stitch instead of handsew.
Fantastic! Oh, I’m not sure if I can refrain from starting one. But will you come over and install the zipper? You did a stunning job. love it love it.
Great job!! Kris looks great in his new sweater, you did a terrific job. I love the colour, a real rustic look.
I’d knit one for myself.
The sweater looks great! He looks adorable in it. Now as long as he wears it…a lot. lol
Awesome L…Kris looks so handsome in his new sweater!!! What a great fit!!! All your projects are looking great girlie!
Nice sweater! Don’t you just love moms with mad sewing skills? Mine unfortunately didn’t pass many to me (I watched a lot, but she would never let me touch the darn thing), but my little sis is all about the sewing machine so I make her do all my stuff for me. Ah, there’s nothing like deligation to get a project done quickly.
HI, Just wanted to visit your site, I linked over from your link on my site after you linked me from Ei’s site wheeew!
I love your knits. YOU do wonderful work. Its so nice to see a couple that love each other. May you always be that happy!
Blessings
KnitWit
Great job on the sweater. Kris does look very happy with it. I have yet to try a zipper installation on a knit.
It turned out great! I need to learn how to install zippers…
Oh, lawdy! You’re already such an accomplished knitter! I’m flattered by your comment on my cabled iPod-Sock! Looking at your blog and all the blogs you’re a member of….well, I need to really get myself onto knitting socks! And then cardigans!!!!
woo hoo! i absolutely love it! fantastic work and fit – both kris and you look great in it. way to go!
Nice job! I like that color and thanks for showing the info on the zipper.
Hey Lolly,
Kris’s sweater turned out great! I love the look of the hand dyed yarn and the style of the cardi….way to go once again! xo D