It’s not easy being green

blt/bpt had been finished and blocked for over a week, but it was waiting for a zipper. The green was rather difficult to match, as you can see:
blt zippers.JPG
After three orders from zipperstop, I decided just to go with the least offensive one. I had never before installed a zipper into a sweater, so it was a bit of a challenge. First I had to shorten the zipper. A piece of advice–if you need to shorten a molded tooth zipper, fingernail clippers are your friends. It’s much easier to remove the teeth if you clip off one half of it with fingernail clippers then pull the remainder off with pliers. Anyway, I sewed the zipper in with the machine but didn’t do a great job. Actually, I didn’t do such a great job on the sweater overall, but it’s comfy and is a good throw-on sweater. It turned out a bit on the large side (I think that is the result of overzealous blocking), but once I wash it, I can probably block it a tad smaller.
I decided to go with a regular 1×1 rib collar rather than the hood. Thanks to everyone’s suggestions on that. I picked up with smaller needles (about 5 out of every 6 stitches) on the right side then began the rib on the wrong side, decreasing every once in a while (usually right above a cable) to tighten it up a little bit. I continued the rib on smaller needles for about an inch then switched to regular needles. Oh, to match the front of the jacket, I had two knit stitches on either side of the front, and I slipped the first stitch of each row.
Hello blt/bpt:
blt complete.JPG

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28 Responses to It’s not easy being green

  1. Jessica says:

    Lovely! It looks wonderful.
    Damn, I need to start mine…

  2. Silvia says:

    Hey it looks great! Isn’t shortening zippers fun? I like to smash and use needle nose pliers, though am now intrigued by the nail clipper idea…hmm…What’s up for candycane?

  3. kerrie says:

    Woo Hoo – I love it. The cables look great and the colour is just so yummy..

  4. Lisa says:

    You did a marvelous job on the sweater and the collar from what I can see! High-Five sister!

  5. Cindy says:

    Love it! Color, style, cables, just lovely!

  6. Eva says:

    It looks fantastic 🙂

  7. Bethanie says:

    Looks awesome. I can’t wait till I can knit like that.

  8. SHalryn says:

    Mariko, I am in love! That sweater is just gorgeous. Did you lengthen it?

  9. Susan says:

    Congrats on your first zipper!!! The sweater looks fantastic!

  10. Lizzi says:

    Yes, it does look a little big, but cozy-big, not how-am-I-ever-going-to-wear-this-big. I do love the color. After years and years of my favorite color being all forms of blue, I’m finally moving on to all shades of green…

  11. carolyn says:

    mariko – it looks great. i think it looks totally comfy and awesome and not really ‘too big.’ i also think the cables came out great and don’t know why they looked different in that old wonky picture as they match here. you know if you email zipperstop instead of just ordering from the site they will cut the zipper to whatever length you want. that’s what i did on ribster. of course you wouldn’t want to have five cut to that length so helps if you have your color. 🙂 what next????? 🙂

  12. Kerstin says:

    It looks smashing on you, oh headless one! (I know, you’re just trying to hide the fact that you’ve lost several teeth due to high consumption of sweets in the last week. teehee) The color is my fave and the fit, collar and cables came out great. Congrats!

  13. Heidi says:

    Cozy! I like that color a lot. Kinda springlike 🙂

  14. marta says:

    neener neener! who’s a big copy cat? why that would be you! no, only kidding – I happened to use the same title on my post but at 9:44 am. How funny! Luckily, yours is a much more tasteful and enjoyable topic. Very nice Bpt!

  15. carolyn says:

    i thought i left you this comment somewhere – did i forget to? – to tell you that you can also get strawberry and raspberry fluff which is quite lovely spooned into hot chocolate. and i once made a fluff pie from a recipe off the label but it (either straw or ras don’t remember) looked like a pepto bismol pie so not too appetizing.

  16. Alysia says:

    Oh, I think it looks great! Comfy big, not over-grown big. I think you picked the perfect color zipper, and I like your collar *better* than the hood! Your cables are perfect – don’t see any weirdness there – sometimes directional lighting makes ’em photograph weird. Great job! You’ve made me want one now! 🙂

  17. Melissa says:

    Great color. Nice and comfy looking. Thanks for the nail clipper tip. I bet you will wear this sweater a lot!

  18. Amy says:

    Terrific job! Looks very cozy and snuggly. Great job on the collar and zipper, too 🙂

  19. Carrie says:

    OH HOW AWESOME!! I love the way the cables are placed!

  20. Leigh says:

    wow! Your bpt looks fantastic–you pick great colors….and you’ve inspired me to print out that pattern and get knittin’!
    Re: the green zipper conundrum–had the same sort of matching problems when choosing a zipper for Accordion

  21. alison says:

    It seems you’ve made the perfect cozy throw-on sweater! I want one! I like your collar better than the hood in the pattern, too. It would be a good sweater with pockets, wouldn’t it?
    So… what’s next? 🙂

  22. Yvette says:

    It looks lovely. I don’t usually like green, but that’s a good shade. Goes very nicely with those blue jeans you have on. Good job on the zipper!

  23. Ann says:

    My husband and son are playing an Incredible Hulk video game right now. I prefer the green of your excellent new zippicardi!

  24. Carrie says:

    Love, love the sweater. It looks so cozy and fits you really well! Zippers scare me…

  25. Meg says:

    I love it! It looks great on you & the collar’s really nice.

  26. peggy says:

    Very spiffy sweater. It looks incredibly comfy.

  27. Terri says:

    I think you did a great job with the zipper (indeed, the entire project!). I -hate- sewing in zippers. I’m thinking for my next zipper-suitable project, I might try Bonne Marie’s idea of grosgrain ribbon backing and big ol’ snaps sewn on!

  28. Lynette says:

    You did a great job on the cardy. I hope my jacket/cardy turns out just as well. I go shopping for zippers tomorrow.

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