Finishing Achieved!

Finally!Finallyfinallyfinally! I have TOTALLY finished all the detailing for the cardigans for the twins!
I am so STOKED!!
I've mentioned before that intarsia is not really a technique that I'm comfortable with but I can do it, with a bit of apprehension and gritted teeth. So I am really proud I managed to complete the knitting portion of these cardigans as well as I did.(I might wish they were better but I did my best!)

Two cardigans, knitting all completed and seamed up!

Now for the secondary stage. Detail and finishing! They needed zips for the front but I wanted apple green ones and preferably plastic. After hunting high and low (admittedly mostly on the Internet. Our small town doesn't offer much by way of range.) I ordered 5 apple green plastic zippers from Zipit on etsy www.etsy.com/shop/zipit but that meant they were coming from the U.S. Bit of a bummer but it gave me time to finish the second cardigan because I hadn't started it at that point.

When they came they were much longer than I'd previously thought because I'm a ninny and forgotten that the U.S. is inches and we're cms. 24 inches is quite a bit more than 24 cms. But it all worked out for the best. I just pulled the zip down to where I needed and chopped off the extra length.

Anyway, I hand sewed the zippers in and then hand sewed over the edges (cause I hate the scratchy edges of zipper tape) with cotton bias binding and then as a final touch I sewed two squares of felt of appropriate colour to the top of the zippers so the zipper head can't escape regardless of how hard it's pulled up.

Hand sewn bias binding (I bought that. I'm not that much of a perfectionist!)

And little felt squares at the top so no scratchy teeth against skin and little fingers can't rip the zipper head off!

So all have been duly shown off to recipient Grandmother to ooh! and aah! over (all done exceedingly well!) and have since been posted off to said Grandchildren probably in time to be just the ticket for freezing inland temperatures at night. 

Very pleased with myself :) Not only did I do something for someone else but I also expanded my technical abilities in knitting. Win-win situation!
Have a great day!!

Huzzah! I've done it!!

They are finished, oh happy day, they are done! Well, as far as the knitting is concerned any way. I love how they look! These cardigans were a real trial for me since I am very uncomfortable with intarsia. But look how nice they look! And they're both the same size!
The only bit I really was disappointed with was running out of the original blue and green. Since they yarn had been gifted there was no way I could just buy more. In the end I had to plunder the stash for the closest contender. The blue was almost right but you can definitely tell where the change over is an the top of the arms. The green...wasn't even close but was the best I could do. All my other acrylic greens were too dark. So I changed the edging to orange because I wasn't having the lime green instead. Now all I'm waiting for are the green zippers I ordered to arrive and the whole project will be 100% finished! Oh joy!!