Thinking about it

It has been quite some time since I finished the knitting on the Lichen Vest for Mr. Needles. July 6 according to Ravelry.  And ever since then, as is my wont to do, I have been thinking on it.

This vest needed a zipper.  It just had to be that way for it to be worn.  If he doesn't like how it looks, it will never be worn and my beautiful knitting would have been wasted.

I had seen the tutorial by Eunny Jang about making the zipper a knittable thing, but once it was knittable, just how do you put it into your garment?

If no ribbings were knit, its an easier thing, but I already had my front bands and collars.  My steeks were all stucked (Does steek have a past tense?) There wasn't any going back.  How do I get that nifty thing to work for me.  

I wanted to put the zipper right at the edge and all I could see was trouble.  So I thought on it.  And thought some more.  

While doing my chores today, I knocked the stack of finished but not blocked projects down.  I did that several times through the day and finally moved the stack to my study.  The strings sticking everywhere irked me. They irked me so much that I started to weave the ends in on Folklore.  I do not look a gift horse in the mouth.  Ends it was.  All the ends on all the projects that were on the stack of things needing blocking are now woven hidden and tucked. All the buttons are sewed on too.  And it was only 4 o'clock.

So I got daring and stopped thinking.  This happened.

   I marked the zipper to my gauge as shown in the video.  Then I started installing it.  I caught one stitch right at the edge, pulling a single strand of yarn from the front through to the back side, where 

I caught the loops on a needle.  

And here, if you look closely you can see the right side, the side without loops, the side with just a single strand of yarn laying tight and hiding along the last row of corrugated ribbing.  If you look carefully, you can see that most stitches are crossed by that single strand.  You can also see that every few stitches, I skipped one.  No one but you and me will ever notice that.

Once I was done getting loops set, I started knitting the live stitches held on the needle at the back side of the work.  

I knit enough rows to hide the steek stitches and then sewed it down on the backs of the picked up stitches for the corrugated ribbing.  

You can hardly see any sewing at all, front or backside.  It turned out so incredibly well. 

I still have one side of the zipper to do and the requisite facing for the steek and then a bit of facing on the collar and this one will be done and finished crisp and clean and neat.  

The perfect warm sweater for  crisp fall days outdoors.  Perfect for deep cold winter.  Just right. 

I am content.