Sunday, July 20, 2008

FOs: Twin Tomtens

I'm pretty sure that the person I made these for doesn't read my blog, so I've decided to post these now instead of waiting till after they've been gifted...



Pattern:
Tomtem Modular Jacket from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears. Mods: to try and make this 3-6 month sized, I cast on only 96 stitches and made the sleeves 46 ridges long. I also opted for a wider border on the fronts and hood, rather than a thin edging. I think they're a little bigger than I'd planned, but better to have them too big, rather than too little.



Yarns:
King Cole Superwash Merino Blend DK (100% pure wool) in Olive, Kingfisher, and Wine. This yarn is great - machine washable, very soft, and not very pricey! Each jacket used 4 balls of the main colour, and 1 of the contrast colour.

I would definitely use this yarn again - especially since they now have an aran weight version. The colour selection is great, and its much more wooly-feeling than other superwash yarns I've used (Garn Studio's Karissima, for example).



Comments:
These are for my friend who is expecting twins next month - one girl, one boy. Because I wanted to make 2 of whatever I made, this seemed like the perfect pattern - very quick and easy to follow (once you're used to EZ's style of pattern-writing) and fully customizable for colour and style. Claudia helped me pick these non-babyish, co-ordinated yet not matchy-matchy colours, and I think they were a great choice. I'm now knitting myself a cardigan in a colour very close to this kingfisher-teal! :)

The pattern recommends installing a zip as closure, but I thought the toggles were much cuter - plus, I imagine that the toggles will be easier to fasten on two squirming babies! They were a really quick knit too - the first one took just over 6 weeks because it was interrupted by a trip to Europe, a thesis chapter, and a short quest to York for the perfect buttons, but the second one took only 17 days... (yikes! I didn't realise it was that quick!). :)

Ravelled: here and here.

3 comments:

David T. Macknet said...

They look great! I've the book, so perhaps the next baby sweater I knit will be one of these. :)

Anonymous said...

Those are so cute! Love the color choices too!

Anonymous said...

I think you and I would be lookin' mighty cute in matching adult-sized ones!! (I'll take red, you can take blue)

Tiffany