Need A PLUS Cardigan? is now available!

Cabin Fever's newest book "Need A PLUS Cardigan?" is at the printer's as we speak. I hope to be picking it up towards the end of next week. If you'd like to pre-order a copy, just drop me (Lyn) an email and you'll get one of the first ones (I'll need to know if you're paying by Paypal or credit card and your mailing address and phone number).

If you'd like a digital download version (as a PDF) I've posted it on the Patternfish site. I'm also working on a "mobile" friendly version to work on mobile devices such as iPads*, phones and tablets and hope it will be available within a few days.
(* the current version does work fine on an iPad.)

If you've not been following Deb's blog entries over the past year (actually she's been hard at work on this for the past 18 months and Robin Hunter has been involved for nearly a year) this is a terrific book for knitting Plus sized cardigans from the Top Down. As one of the first people downloading the book from Patternfish said:

"At last..a much needed book/clear tutorial on raglan cardigans for the Ample Plus size community!
Very clear step by step instructions on how to make modifications for sleeve width/length,hems and ribbings,collars,waist/hip and bust shaping ... all the options are clearly presented.

OH! DID I MENTION THAT THE CHARTS ARE ALSO WRITTEN OUT FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE CHART CHALLENGED?????

Thanks Deb for another fine publication."

Cheers & have fun,
-Lyn

PS If you're a store interested in carrying the book - in Canada just email me, Gemini Fibres or Infiknit; in the US Barb from Up North Fiber Art Supply is our US distributor along with Unicorn & Royal Publications.

Liz  pointed out what I consider one of the fun things about looking for lace patterns for top down garments - you have to turn the Stitch Dictionary upside down! When you knit starting at the top, the lace pattern will be upside down when the garment is worn.
As I'm knitting the lace looks like this.

When worn, it will look like this. A subtle change but one you have to take into consideration.

In the top photo I seem to see the pattern the holes make and in the bottom photo the line of the stitches is more prominent. How about you, what do you see?
deb

Ta, da, one and a half pattern repeats worked so far.

It's HOT or at least it is for some part of every day. Oh, right, it's summer, got to get over myself! It is coming along.
- deb

I'm trying some lace inserts for the sides of the vest. I've settled on 4.

I'm liking the second, third and fourth stitch patterns. But I'm going to try working the second one from the top. It's pretty and will go from 14 to 18 sts quite easily without changing how it looks. In this pattern the underarm cast on will be either 14 sts or 18 sts and that's where the stitch pattern is going to go. All the stitch patterns work great at 14 sts but the other three would take quite a bit of twitching to get the same affect at 18 sts.



I have my fingers crossed that this one will work fine and look terrific. Here goes . . .

There may be a vest theme going here. I'm working on my redo of the green vest in worsted weight. I'm almost to the Great Divide. I've made a couple of small changes and am now ready for some lace work.

The green vest has ribbing down the sides. In the blue version I'm going to work a lace pattern down the sides. This is the fun part, looking through stitch dictionaries on a sunny afternoon. Do you have a favourite lace pattern that's 14 or 18 sts wide? I'll be strolling through Barbara Walker's Treasury books looking for something fun.

Deb

Julie from the Knittingatlarge ravelry group  has published a vest pattern just for plus-sized women (48" - 64" finished). Carnation Vest 
I have been reading her blog for quite some time and owe her, and the women who participate on her site, a lot for all help I have received about knitting for the plus-sized woman.

She said she could design a sweater a day in her head so I hope we'll see some more.
Deb