Friday, December 28, 2007

Zipper Anyone?

With so many people busy with family and holidays it's been a quiet week for me. I've given myself a bit of a break and taken a slower pace of dyeing this week and am feeling well-rested and ready for the new year.

I had hoped to take advantage of the quiet and get lots of knitting done this week, but a migraine put me out of commission for a while, so I didn't get nearly the knitting time I would have liked. I did get a good start on the scarf requested by one of my bowling friends though.




The yarn I chose is a 4-ply merino with 3 plies in dark evergreen and the fourth in an almost-white shade of light gray green.


The pattern is super-simple, from the Yarn Harlot. It's just the same row repeated over and over again, but it creates a nice texture and a little bit of a ribbed look, although not actually ribbed. I thought it was a nice choice for a man's scarf, as the texture roughs it up a bit and the fabric is a bit sturdy and has a little structure to it, so it doesn't have too much drape and flow. Overall, with the tweedy look of the yarn combined with the textured stitch, I think it has a reasonably masculine appeal. I'm about two thirds done with it now, so it will be off the sticks soon.

In the meantime, I finally sewed in the second sleeve of the zipper-front sweater that I've been working on for 65,382 years now. Next is a bit of crochet edging and then the sweater is ready for a zipper. (I've hunted everywhere and for the life of me can't find my little bag of crochet hooks. Must keep hunting!)

Now for the zipper dilemma. I got a recommendation for someone to put the zipper in for me, but it's a good half hour drive from where I live. I may need to nose around a bit more or it might just be that this sweater sits stagnant for yet another month or two before I get around to making the drive to get the zipper done. What I do still need, however, is the zipper itself. Does anyone have any websites to recommend for a really good quality zipper? Perhaps with various options of zipper pulls? I have no idea where to turn for this, so any guidance would be most appreciated. The only fabric store near where I live is Joann's and the zippers I found there were very cheap and flimsy. After spending so much time on this project, I really want a good quality zipper.

That's about to report here. Stay tuned for news soon on the release of the first of the "Virtues" sock yarns. I also have several new Laceweight Merino colorways to introduce at the same time, so there will be lots of new things to see soon.

Everyone have a great weekend!

3 comments:

~Tonia~ said...

The scarf looks great and oh so manly.

As for a zipper. I have heard of people using The Zipperstop. http://www.zipperstop.com/

They seem to be pleased with them.

Micki said...

I second the recommendation for Zipperstop. You can't beat them for color selection. They don't really have a lot of different pull options, but the prices and service are fantastic. It's worthwhile to buy their color card too.

To prevent that unsightly zipper "belly bump," be sure to choose a zipper that's a bit shorter than the opening of your sweater.

DragonsChest said...

I like that scarf, as well. Could you give us a hint as to where the Yarn Harlot has that pattern?

Also, I've been wondering, have you ever thought about dyeing self-striping yarn? I bet you would rock at it!

cheers, Suzy