Sunday, January 22, 2006 done done done! MERINO CARDI Now with a zipper! it's more green in real life I’ve had this seamed up forever, but never quite got around to installing a zipper. I think I was stalling, maybe I was even scared! The process of zippering always seemed like a daunting task, one which I could royally screw up. And I did screw up! I started off with  my tiny-cables jacket. I read (and re-read) Bonne-Marie’s zipper tutorial and followed her easy instructions...I basted the front edges together,  neatly pinned the zipper to the cardi, and then un-did the basting. Feeling quite proud of myself, I clicked the next step which said something like..."unzip to separate the pieces”. Easy enough! I unzipped all the way to the bottom and started tugging “unzip darnit!”…I grabbed the handy-dandy instruction sheet and skimmed it, looking for some kind of explanation. Upon closer inspection, I realized this zipper was the non-separating kind! (ugh! who really needs 22 inches of NON-separating zipper?!) mm hmm, it's stuck right there. (wahoo...flourescent desk lamp light is oh so flattering) d’oh!! I almost said “oh screw it! I can have a non-separating cardi!” But then I realized that’s what makes a cardi a cardi, and not a sweater…it separates! Right...so with a big groan (you know how much I hate un-doing/frogging things right?) I unpinned the zipper and tossed it across the room. The next day I went back to Jo-Anns and looked very closely at their zippers. I found the SEPARATING kind, and of course had to test out their separating-ness, just to be sure. I toted a little sewing kit, the zippers and my two cardis to J’s to occupy myself while he did geeky things w/ his computer. I was trucking along... sewing, messing up, ripping, resewing (repeat) I messed up…a lot…here’s evidence! wow. i rock. I tried it on and J said “um, it’s kinda off”. So once again I ripped, and finally, after a torturous two hours, it was PERFECT! (The finished product next time) I moved on to the merino cardi and it went super-duper fast, and came out quite lovely. So finally, about a year later, my dear merino cardi is officially finished! Here are the specs Pattern York from Noro Knits Yarn HPY’s worsted merino in Cypress (I groaned when Knitter’s Review reviewed this yarn…I just KNEW it would "sell out"..and it did! Booo∧ I’m not willing to pay $10-$11 from Malabrigo) Needles I think I used sz 8 Addis Notes I pretty much followed the pattern, I thought the arms were too tapered, so I started off wider. I made them long enough to touch my knuckles (my choice length in sleeves!) I wish I had made the body ever so slightly longer, but I’m still happy with how it turned out. Super easy knit, perfect for everyday wear! It’s so luxuriously soft and warm and the subtle color variation is beautiful. The wool handles ribbing amazingly...none of that awful mishmashed, uneven ribbing you see so very prominently in the blue cotton/acrylic cardi. As beautiful an perfect it is, it does have some MAJOR pilling issues (more on this next time) tata!

8:22 PM - 16 skeins of cashmerino - 8 words of praise - email it