I’ve finished a super EZ Tomten, a design by Elizabeth Zimmerman found in a couple of her books. I used the one in the Opinionated Knitter. I love knitting her patterns as you are given so much freedom in what you can do.
Take this tomten: I decided to do stripes, short-rows on the back for shaping, pockets, a hood, a button placket, and I-cord edging on the sleeves and around the front. You could choose not to do any of these. You could even knit it in the round and make it a pullover.
Also, the size is based on whatever combination of yarn and needles you use. My combo gave me a jacket big enough to fit my 5 year old, Li’l Rosi! Mind you that I never had more than 112 stitches on my needles at any given point.
The hardest part about knitting this was the striping and all the ends I would have so I wove in ends as I knit so as to have less finishing to do. I wanted to use up a bunch of Plymouth Encore I had in my stash from a previous project. But if you make this in one or two colors, it should be a snap.
Now to find some nice big buttons. They need to be unisex as I don’t like sewing buttons and I plan for G-Luc to wear this when Li’l Rosi outgrows it.
Anyone have any recommendations for me?
Tomten Jacket
Source: Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmerman
Yarn: Plymouth Encore
Cost: $5.60 per skein (used a total of 5 skeins altogether)
Size: ~5 year old
Needles: Size 9 Knit Picks Options
Started: April 28, 2007
Finished: May 7, 2007