Cerys* and Cashmere

When we last left the Carys story I was about to face off against a mighty zipper. The stage was set.

YYK Zipper Meets Cerys

Looks ominous, eh? And, intially my plan was to spend a lot of time and pictures describing the whole process. But take the fact that the whole point is for the thread and zipper not to show up agains the sweater, combine with a sweater made of a somewhat shiny yarn that violently reflects my flash, and you get a lot of boring photos that don't really demonstrate anything.

Instead, I'll just try to provide a brief summary and then cut to the good stuff.

Since I didn't think my sewing machine would deal well with the uneven Shimmer 5 fabric (and because I am secretly afraid of the lovely old Singer that lives in my basement closet) I decided that I would sew the zipper in by hand. Once again, my old VK book came to my rescue. Here's the process I followed:

• pin the zipper to the edge of the sweater front with the fabric just moving over the zipper teeth.
• baste the zipper in place with a contrasting color thread, remove the pins.
• with the wrong side facing, whip stitch the edge of the zipper to the sweater.
• with the front side facing, back stitch the zipper into place
• repeat for the second side

I had to repeat those first few steps twice before I realized what I had to do make the zipper look the way I wanted to, but sewing the zipper in by hand definitely helped me understand the process better.

The finished product?

Cerys and a Cashmere Assistant**

Ski trip in the Alps, anyone?

After inserting the zipper, the collar is flipped over the ends of the zipper to give it a little more structure. I helped the collar out a little more by tacking it down on the inside (Want to get a better look at the waist shaping on the sweater?Just click here.)

Cerys in Profile...

I like the sleeves -- long enough to be fashionable and fun (and warm) but not long enough to get in the way or need to be rolled up.

...and from the Back

Perhaps the only flaw with this sweater is that right below the shoulder blades on either side there is a little more fabric than I would like to have there. This could have to do with the fact that I blocked this area a little wider than it should have been blocked, or it could just be a necessity in a bulky sweater to make sure that you can actually move your arms when the thing is zipped up.

I would never have even noticed if it hadn't been for John.

John: Hmm, not bad, I like that on you. Turn around so that I can see it from the back.

Me: Turns around. Thinking, how cool is that? A husband who actually wants to see the back of the sweater. He must actually be interested.

John: Well, it's nice except for that funny baggy thing it does near your arms. It's so well shaped in the front. Too bad it isn't as nice in the back.

Me: Sigh. Thinking: Nothing like a mixed blessing, is there? Out loud: But I think the zipper came out well, don't you?

John: Yeah, that turned out pretty well. Maybe you can put one in a sweater for me someday. But not all the way down. Just at the neck.

John is right about the issues with the back. And I was pretty disappointed Sunday night. But after putting Cerys back on and looking at the pictures from my photo shoot, I'm not really bothered by it as much. Maybe that's as a result of being overwhelmed by successful zipper insertion euphoria. Or surprise that John actually thought that I put a zipper into a sweater well enough that he might let me do it on a sweater made for him. Or just the fact that I love the front and that collar. But now I am pleased and looking forward to giving Cerys her first outing to work tomorrow.

In spite of being a big bulky sweater, there was a whole lotta learning going on in this project.

What did I learn?

• Zippers aren't so bad, and putting one in by hand isn't all that hard or time consuming. It probably took me less than 3 hours to put this one in, and that included re-doing the first side.
• The Shimmer 5 needs to be at a little tighter gauge than I knit it at. I knitted to gauge, but I must not be picking up enough of the slack between the stitches (I found it difficult to knit on 15 mm straight needles and maintain a tight gauge) because the fabric is a lot more open than I see in the Shimmer 5 and Point 5 garments that I see made up in Colinette's books. That, and I didn't have as much yarn left over as I would have expected.
• The folks at Colinette like short armholes. 8-1/4" depth just isn't enough when you figure that you're going to lose 2 of those stitches to the seam and 2 stitches = roughly 1 inch. Next sweater I'm going to change the arm hole depth just a little bit if I am working in a bulky yarn.
• Ripping and re-cycling can be a good thing. If I'd left my Shimmer 5 as Margot, I hardly ever would have worn this sweater. As a zippy Cerys, I don't think I am going to want to take this sweater off.
• The Shimmer 5 passes the low itch test. After I first go the sweater seamed up, I tried it on over a tank top and did not go into a major itching fit.

The only question that remains for me now is the "how well will this sweater wear" test. I have high hopes for the Shimmer 5 because of the viscose content of the yarn. Tomorrow Cerys will get her first real test.

*Thanks to Amy, I now know how Cerys is really supposed to be pronounced (see the comments for yesterday's post). Don't think that will keep me from from bad puns, however -- in fact, now I have one that even more appropriate: "Pre Cerys-ly".

**the cashmere turtleneck fortuitously arrived on my doorstep today just in time for the photo shoot -- I think it was meant to be Cerys partner in crime, although it wasn't ordered for that purpose. I got it on sale from Casual Corner (online) for $20 (!) And it was my husband who pointed the good deal out to me...and helped to fuel my obsession with all things cashmere this year.