On sweaters and zippers

Since I had a very busy day of errand running today, the time is ripe for a Wednesday Night Bullet Post...

• There was an anonymous comment on yesterday's post about not having heard much about Box Tops for Education lately. The Box Top collection at Neatnik's school is an ongoing concern. I continue to collect them and send them in to school when our little collecting box in the kitchen gets full or when they are having a contest.



• The contest prize is usually that the class which collects the most Box Tops gets to pick a non-gym day to wear their gym uniforms.



• I had 35 Box Tops in our box. Then, while walking in the mall with Number Guy on Tuesday, I found a Box Top on the floor, so we now have 36 Box Tops in the box.



• Hey, you'd stop to pick up a dime, wouldn't you?



• Temperatures here have been in the 20s and the wind has been howling for days. This is why we have been walking in the mall rather than outside on the highways and byways around town.



• I prefer walking outside for a bunch of reasons:
  
  
  • Fresh air
  • Varying sights
  • Running errands
  
  but if the fresh air is so cold that it steals the very life from your lungs, it isn't worth it.



• Completed last night:
  
  
  • One cardigan collar
  • Ends woven in
  • Zipper pinned in place
  • Sweater modeled for Number Guy


• Discovered last night:
  
  
  • Zipper approximately one inch too long
  • Zipper installation more stressful than steeking
  • Yarn intended for next sweater is cabled


• Neatnik decided she wanted pigtails today.



• Have I ever mentioned that short-cropped me isn't really good at braiding hair?



• I gave it my best shot and my child went to school this morning channeling Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls.



• There are worse looks.



• This afternoon, I bought a zipper for the steeking project.



• Positioning the zipper was infinitely more stressful than cutting the sweater in the first place.



• The slightly felted fabric tended to bunch when I pinned it to the zipper.



• Solution:
  
  
  • Place a pin in the end to hold zipper and fabric together.
  • Start basting by hand.
  • Remove pin and continue to baste zipper into position (carefully!).
  
  
  
  Be sure to use contrasting thread!


• Machine stitch zipper in place and remove basting thread. You may wish to run a second line of stitches to ensure that the zipper will not part company with the garment during normal wearing.
  
  
  Success at last!


• I cheated a little bit with this picture.



• I'm holding the back bunched in my hands to make it look less boxy.



• Show off the "buff"!

Well, that's my mid-week round up. Some knitters will tell you that cutting the knitting is stressful. I think that the follow up task of installing the zipper is far, far more angst-inducing.

Did I happen to mention that I bought a zipper for my cable/rib cardigan?

Perhaps I need a wee lie down before contemplating that.

Or maybe even a full night's sleep.