Cabin Fever Sisters Knit

2012-02-09T14:20:00.003-05:00

I'm hoping this looks longer. I keep measuring to make sure. Just 3" left to work before the bottom border begins and I'm ready for a change. Once I get to the bottom border it always seems like it's close to being done. I like all the picking up and knitting that goes into the front borders. It's exciting to see it becoming a cardigan. Lots to look forward to. Just a bit more straight knitting to do.

-Deb

Plus-size project

2012-01-30T10:25:00.001-05:00

Enough rejoicing about finishing something. On to the next project.

Robin Hunter and I are working on a Plus-size Top Down V-neck Cardigan booklet. Yes, it's a mouthful. All the cardigans are worked with charts for multiple gauges from sports weight up to chunky/bulky. The writing is almost done YAY. I'm afraid that is why there have been long silences between posts lately. But now it's time to knit up some more samples. It begins, as do lots of our books, with a Basic Cardigan.

This one is done in Knit East by Fleece Artist, worsted weight. I've had it up before so you might have seen it then. Now I'm working up a second Basic.

Different wool and weight. This time it's Cottage Colours by Cabin Fever in Aran/Heavy Worsted weight. I think I'd like to do a collar on this one and pick a different border pattern. Lots of time to contemplate these changes as I knit.

More to come. This is the beginning, sample knitting is my life for the next couple of months. I'm going to have to pace myself because I would, of course, like them all done yesterday.

Deb

2012-01-20T16:01:00.002-05:00

I couldn't blog before I finished my mission.

Yes, done. I had to go back and add on another inch or two at the bottom since I stopped a little short the first time. It's drying nicely now and tomorrow will be ready to wear. YAY.

Mission to Finish

2012-01-13T09:48:00.002-05:00

My mission, if I decide to accept it, is to finish this pullover over the weekend (and into next week to be realistic). This message will self-destruct in 30 seconds.

-Deb

Dreams of a new project

2012-01-11T18:49:00.000-05:00

At what point in the knitting of your current project do you start thinking about the next one?
I finished the sleeves on my Braids cardigan and I can't stop myself from imagining another new sweater for me. Maybe in purple, or red with cables?

I have the buttonband to do but that's, what, an hour's work? Sewing in the ends and sewing on buttons will take a bit more time but so very close to being done.
I have a pullover on the go too so I'm trying to be true to my current projects but it's getting harder and harder.
-Deb

Waist Shaping

2012-01-06T13:56:00.001-05:00

Dpn lovers seem to rule in the comments from the last post. Who knew!

I've been working on shaping my Take It From The Top .

I thought this pullover was a little big across the top so I took it in under the bust. I worked a decrease before and a decrease after the two imaginary side seams, work straight for 1" and did it again. Then I worked straight to the waist. At the waist I worked a set of increases at the imaginary side seams. I have boxy hips so I worked another set 1" further down so that I get a flare right away. I worked 2" straight, worked another set of increases. I need to try it on once more to see if I need a 4th set. Probably depends on how long I want to make it.

The shaping looks fairly subtle from the side but it seems effective.

I think I'm there and I'm going to make it the same length as this T-shirt. Yay, only a couple more inches to go.

Have you experimented with shaping that's not in the pattern? How did it go?
-Deb

DPNs and me

2012-01-05T09:39:00.003-05:00

Sometimes it's a little thing that is blocking the progress of a sweater. Not that knitting a sweater isn't hard enough. It's a BIG project after all and takes quite a bit of perseverance to get to the end. A small road block can turn it into a UFO. I find that usually I overlook the little voice in my head that's trying to tell me something and try to push through. But this time I listened. I started knitting my Braids Cardigan sleeve again. The little voice shouted ' I hate this needle'. It needs to be very loud for me to hear it. I probably didn't pay attention for the first inch or two and then I listened and even did something about it! I know, shocked me too. I got out my double pointed needles, the really old plastic ones that I love. Finished the first sleeve in a flash and started the second one and am looking forward to finishing it up too.

This is Cascade 220 in Cranberry.

I'm starting to find that 16" circulars are cramping my hand. And I like using double points. I've been knitting a long time and way back, in the day, there were no alternatives. I've tried the magic loop and using 2 circulars just in case they were better. But for me the double points are still the best. Although I know you can get rid of second sock syndrome by using these methods, I always go back to my little sticks even though it looks like you're wrestling with a porcupine and always in danger of poking your eye out. We have a bond, my dpn's and me.
-Deb

UFO's: Own Up

2012-01-02T15:18:00.000-05:00

It's the new year and time to stop, have a look around at all the piles of knitting I've been moving around for the last few month and own up to a few of my UFO's. Time to come clean.

My redo of the Take It From The Top with a cable pattern down the front. I'm doing this as a KAL so thought I'd knit a new one for myself. I also did some shaping and learned a couple of things but that's for another post. Back to the UFO's.

My Braids cardigan is coming along but keeps getting bumped back in the queue. Must move it up. I could be wearing this since as I look out the window, it's snowing.

Knit but not written up. Or sort of written up but not checked and double-checked. So close to being finished but not quite there.

Plus sized version of above without buttons. I've had a think about this one and it needs some patterning on it and to be in a lighter gauge. Now a recalculation of stitche numbers and a reknit are needed. But I like the shape of the neck.

Oh my, the list is getting long. I'm stopping here since I can't face anymore. But I do have 2 more sweaters started and I don't even want to think about all those second socks. . .
Note to self: finish something!! Hope your list is shorter.
-Deb

2011-12-31T11:16:00.001-05:00

It's a winter wonderland here.

Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR. It's almost time to make some knitting commitments for the winter. UFO's show your faces, it's your chance. I know I have a few around somewhere, ha, ha.
-Deb

2011-12-26T10:53:00.000-05:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS to everyone. I hope now that the major festivities are over that you get some time to knit for yourself. Here's hoping this next week is relaxing and that you get some 'me' time.

2011-12-20T12:59:00.001-05:00

This is my adaptation of my own pattern the Take It From The Top. I added a cable down the Front which adds quite a bit of interest to the knitting. Cables pull the fabric in so on the first round after finishing the short rows I increased 4 stitches across the cable panel, 2 sts for each cable crossing (cable crossing on the right side and cable crossing on the left side makes 2 sets of crossings, at least that's what I figure). At the bottom I'll decrease 4 sts so that the bottom edge won't flare out.

This a little big due to my slightly looser gauge - because swatches lie! I seem to relax as I knit and revert to my loosey goosey ways. To correct this I'm knitting 2 more inches to the bottom of my bust and then I'm going to decrease at the imaginary side seams to get the body a little smaller, 1-2" less or 2 sets of decreases. I love the top down for this. I can adjust as I go. Each time I knit myself a sweater I get a better idea of how to make it look a little better on me. Fingers crossed on this one.
Deb

2011-12-12T10:15:00.002-05:00

I've been a bad blogger. I'm not absent, just knitting on several projects at the same time. I'm running 2 KALs (knit-a-longs) so thought I would knit both of these sweaters for myself.

The Braids Cardigan is coming along really well. I'm now on the first sleeve (which makes a very awkward photo so I'm waiting until the sleeve is done). I'm enjoying visiting this pattern again and can't wait to have this one to wear.

My Take It From The Top pullover with the added cable in the Front is really fun to knit. I love that cables keep me moving forward, ticking off each crossing. I almost have it sorted out where I have to cross next so I can lose the cable directions.

I have also been working diligently on the Plus Cardigan book. One sweater done and working on two more. They are my secret projects which will be revealed in January when I get them finished. Lots and lots of knitting going on here. Time to get back to it.

Knit on,
Deb

2011-12-02T16:38:00.001-05:00

I'm starting a new KAL (knit - along) on Ravelry for the Take It From The Top pullover, Cabin Fever pattern#602. http://www.ravelry.com/groups/take-it-from-the-top-kal

You can knit it just as it is or do some design work on it. That's what I'm going to do. I've knit this a couple of times and since I noticed that the pullover I've been wearing has a mysterious hole in the front (zipper mishap I think) it's time for a new one.

I'll be showing how to size it for yourself and put a design down the centre front if you like. It's time to play with this pattern. Join me?
Deb

2011-11-17T17:51:00.001-05:00

I knit a lot as you can tell. I really like knitting full garments. I'm fairly fast being a continental knitter but as Brenda (in the comments) mentioned we had tried to get into a Stephanie Pearl Mcphee class called 'Efficient and Speedy Knitting'. A tip or two never hurts. Here's a video of Stephanie doing her stuff.
Lever Knitting

What boggled my mind is that she is using a different finger to guide the yarn. Check it again to see. I tried this one whole weekend on a pair of socks but I'm not an English style knitter and am not ready to switch. It makes me look at my knitting differently though. What if I changed the finger that guides the yarn, would that make purling faster? Food for thought.

2011-11-16T09:10:00.001-05:00

Purple seems to be the colour of the moment.

Finished the knitting but there is all that tidying up still to do. Purple colour of KnitEast wool by Fleece Artist.

And this yoke is awaiting further design decisions. It's the Plum colour of Regal by Briggs and Little.

A slight departure from the purple theme into Cranberry by Cascade220 for the Braids KAL.
But now I'm departing the purple realm entirely to go green.

It's Tadpole Naturally Nazareth by Kraemer Yarns and is more yellow than this photo shows. Anyway, green for the next one.

What colours are catching your knitting eye these days?
Deb

2011-11-15T10:38:00.001-05:00

I'm knitting sleeves and more sleeves.

Good knitting, round and round, calming, progressive and has to be done right? I'm deciding what to do with the rest of the sweater. Lots of options after working the plainish yoke: patterned cuffs, patterned front bands, A-lined body with some vertical patterning? So many options, so many decisions. Part of the fun.
Deb

2011-11-11T08:29:00.001-05:00

And now to get going on our own Cabin Fever Retreat, only 7 more sleeps. I'm writing up class notes. First we have to measure.

I'm working through a lot of literature with different opinions on this vital subject. What to measure and how to use it has become a hot topic as more knitters want a sweater that really fits. It's still a trial and error operation to figure out what you need for a well fitting sweater.

And some of it is personal preference. What is your major shaping challenge for shaping a sweater?

I'm really short and mostly have that figured out. Now I want to get the added hip shaping just right. I want some shaping to avoid that upside down Vgap in my cardigans. I don't like my sweaters tight so I tend to add too much especially when I knit a hip length sweater. On a long, below the butt cardigan there is much more room (ha, ha) to get close enough.
-Deb

2011-11-07T18:42:00.003-05:00

I was retreating over the weekend.

It was lovely. There were lots of knitters cabling with Fiona Ellis and the next day we were picking up around the armhole with MaryPat. There was great food and a swim in the indoor pool. I roomed with Diane of Georgetown Yarns and had a visit with Elizabeth (who was knitting those very mittletts which are on her blog). Debbie of SheepsAhoy runs this great retreat and I wanted to send her a big thank you.

And that means the next event is our own Cabin Fever Knitting Retreat. It's coming up on Nov.18, soon, very soon. Have you been on a retreat? What did you especially love about it? Yes, I'm looking for ideas to make this retreat lots of fun.
-Deb

2011-11-01T11:27:00.001-04:00

Success.
I should know better. I don't know many times I say that to myself! Once I change my mind about how I'm going to do something I should NOT try to jimmy what I started with. I should take a deep breath, rip out and begin again fresh (maybe the next day). Note to self.

What do you do when your knitting mojo has taken the bus out of town?
-Deb

2011-10-31T14:06:00.001-04:00

What a lovely day Karen and Brenda of Grey Heron store put on for their Knitfest 2011 day. I taught a class on top down knitting and then we added in patterning. A jump for most of the knitters but they were terrific sports and I hope the stretch in their knitting abilities takes them further on their knitting journey. I'll let Brenda tell you about it on her blog http://brenda-bjhf.blogspot.com/

I'm having a lovely day knitting, ripping, knitting some more and ripping some more.

Frog pond casualties. Are we having fun yet?

2011-10-28T11:14:00.002-04:00

Progress on the hand-painted. I'm working stockinette stitch and I just can't leave this alone. A little bit of colour makes a big difference I guess.

I'm on the bottom ribbing but have to abandon it for a few days because . . . I'm teaching an all day workshop in Collingwood with Grey Heron shop . It's based on the

and we are going to knit a basic baby top down cardigan and then we are going to knit a second one and play with it by adding stitch patterns. A little bit of ~~designing~~ (not that scary d-word) creative knitting which everyone will be able to do. I'm looking forward to it. I need to knit up a couple of small samples to show one or two techniques and then I'm ready to go!
-Deb

2011-10-25T19:18:00.001-04:00

I did make a little tiny sweater out of the new cotton/acrylic fingering weight yarn Saucon we're now carrying. It knits up really nicely.

This is the basic top down out of the Need A Baby Cardigan? booklet . A simple knit which looks great in fingering. I knit it with a 2.5mm needle and could have gone up a size quite easily. Next time.

Went button shoping today so these sweaters will soon have buttons, soon, really soon.

If I write it enough times buttons may actually happen. I do want to wear both of them. And then I just have to write up the patterns. Piece of cake. Really big piece of cake! I've started so one step at a time and it will happen. (One button at a time doesn't really work!)
-Deb

2011-10-23T17:44:00.001-04:00

Big sweaters, little sweaters, lots of sweaters. I finished knitting a sweater which now needs buttons, knit a little newborn sweater (no photo) and now have started another sweater.

It's done with hand-painted wool. To stop the pooling of colours you are supposed to work with 2 balls, 2 rows with one ball and then 2 balls with the second ball, carrying the yarn up (or in this case down) the edge as you work. But that makes all the carries on one edge. So I'm using 3 balls, one row each. This has me carry yarn down both sides of the V-neck. I thought this would be really awkward but it's not too bad. I keep 2 balls in my knitting bag separated by a book and then put the 3rd ball beside me. I keep the wool from the two balls untangled by changing how I pick up the yarn when I start using it. The 3rd ball I untangle as I need to. Sounds complicated but it's not bad at all.

The colour is nicely distributed. This is KnitEast wool, a 1 ply softspun from Briggs & Little, dyed by Fleece Artist. I'm loving it. It still has the little bits of vegetable matter in it because B&L don't do an acid bath to burn it out. They try to keep the chemicals down. It's nice and soft and the colours are fun.
-Deb

2011-10-17T17:46:00.000-04:00

It's official, it's a sweater. Now I can go button shopping. And the next task is to get out my calculator and do the math since I made so many changes my original layout is not going to work now. But I have a sweater for myself!! Good timing since today I had my winter coat on.
-Deb

2011-10-13T10:00:00.000-04:00

Don't you love this moment? The moment when you're garment actually looks like a sweater.

Even to a non-knitter it's apparent what it's going to be which is not the case in the early stages of knitting. To me it always looks like the finished garment right from the start. It's as if the whole garment is there in outline and as I knit I'm filling it in. But for the non-knitters it's a complete mystery. Maybe that's why we're a little difficult to understand, doing this knitting thing with such enthusiasm.
-Deb

2011-10-07T17:33:00.000-04:00

When I've been away I come home and have to clean something. Is this some sort of nesting thing? My mom will be laughing because I'm a dreadful housekeeper and unless I go away I do almost nothing all the rest of the time. I tackled the junk drawer, actually 2 junk drawers because I was looking for pantyhose. I don't wear them but I keep several packages around for this time of year. I cover the furnace vents with the cut-off legs because it keeps the mice out of the house in the fall. I live in a very old house with a crawlspace underneath and this really, really works. In the first junk drawer was what I would expect: shoe laces, take-out menus, warranty pages, fuses, birthday candles, etc. The second drawer was the surprise. I took out 12 handfuls of used twist ties. Not those neat rows of twist ties that come in the garbage bag package, they were there too. These are all used, 12 handfuls. I'm not sure what rainy day would require this many twist ties but we are prepared!!

I'm working on my square neck cardigan. I'm doing a size for myself first to see if it's going to work.

So far I'm liking it.

I want to see how it blocks out on the back and if I like how it looks. I have another plan if it doesn't work like I hope it does. I'm get some more knit tonight. I need the sleeves done to really see it.
Deb

On the way home

2011-10-03T07:15:00.000-04:00

We're on our way home. Somewhere in New Brunswick. It was dark and very wet. Somehow we did manage to find Debi in her new store, Wool Inspirations, in Harvey Station. I think we've trained the car - or the GPS - to find us yarn shops. Unfortunately, again, completely forgot to take a picture of her cute little shop. Wonder if we could train the GPS to take photo's?

Today Deb and I will make the run right across Quebec (and try not to get turned around in the construction around Montreal) and into Ontario with tomorrow seeing us home. Yea!

-Lyn

The Road Trip continues to continue ...

2011-10-02T08:11:00.000-04:00

We set out on Thursday to visit more stores. We stopped to see Helene at the Wool Emporium in St Stephen’s (and I completely forgot to take a picture, my apologies) and what a blast it was to walk in and the first thing we see is our books out on display. It's still such a pleasure.

After that we paid a visit to the local Tourist Information office for some directions and had a chat with Michelle of Fondle Knits's, Dad! It's a small world isn't it? Dad is very proud and Deb tracked Michelle down at the show later and had a lovely chat. Then we were off to St John to visit (another) Trish.

Trish of Trish's Crafty Corner

It's the kind of place where you just want to sit down and knit ... and guess what happened?

Cyndi, Deb & Alli

Having had a lovely break at Trish's shop we booted it back to St. Andrews. We'd been warned about driving in the dark as moose are a major driving hazard. Sadly we didn't see a single moose but we did see two white-tailed deer the next evening driving back to our hotel (we were driving, not the deer).

Up bright and early on Friday to set up for the show.

Ta da!

After setting up the show opened for 3 hours. There were a lot of seriously happy knitters! Anticipation was high for the weekend. There was a reception in the hotel after the show preview and we met up with our friends Elizabeth & janie h and inspected their goodie bags which were full of amazing stuff. Said "hi" to Lucy (Neatby) as she did book signings with Stephanie Pearl McPhee and Cat Bordhi (If you don't know Lucy, she's the one with the hot pink hair).

Donna, of Cricket Cove, is amazing. The show was beautifully organised and she gave us a wonderful welcome and a great position for our booth. We've had a tremendous weekend so far (it's now Sunday morning), Deb took a class, I watched a dye demo by the Hand Maiden (daughter of Kathryn) we got caught up with Kathryn (the Fleece Artist), we hung out with Amy of Good Karma Yarns (great yarn) and Diane and Susan from Lucy's booth, we've eaten lots of fish and tried out the various local beers. We'll be at the show till 3:00pm today, pack up the booth and make one more store visit on the way out of the province. Whew!

-Lyn

East Coast Road Trip continued!

2011-10-01T07:55:00.000-04:00

But the day isn’t over yet (I'm still working on Wednesday)! We jump back into the car and arrive at St Andrews by the Sea, in time for a quick look before the sun sets:

Deb at sea ... tee hee

Thursday morning we head over to see where KnitEast is going to be held ... lovely place isn't it?

-Lyn

East Coast Road Trip

2011-09-30T07:37:00.002-04:00

Deb and I set out on Monday to begin the drive to New Brunswick for the KnitEast show. Monday was Ontario, Tuesday was Quebec, Wednesday was New Brunswick. By Friday, we feel like we’ve been living in the car for weeks although it’s only been a few days. But you know we couldn’t resist visiting yarn shops on our way. Our first stop? Yarns on York in Fredericton, NB.

Trish’s shop is in a lovely old part of the city with tall ceilings and great window displays.

Then off for a wonderful lunch up the street and back into the car and on to visit the two John’s at the Briggs & Little Mill.Check out these two handsome men who work with wool all day long – how could you resist them?

Deb and I have been knitting with this traditional Canadian wool for years (our first patterns – back in 1998 I think - were all in Briggs & Little yarns), but we’d never been to see the mill till now. It was extremely interesting to see the mill in action and the processing of the fleece from it’s arrival in the mill through to the finished product.

John & John’s newest product

is Soft Spun, beautifully hand-painted by the Fleece Artist (Kathryn) another Maritimer.

But must run - more tomorrow!

-Lyn

2011-09-28T22:25:00.001-04:00

I got an answer to Julie's (from the comments) question. I thought I knew the answer but then I started wondering if maybe it would work in stocking stitch. I wanted to knit it up to see. And what I see is that bubble thing which isn't going to work.

Why did I need to use Garter Stitch for the 'back of neck square' I was trying to fill in?

Garter Stitch works because the gauge of the ridges is the same as the stitch gauge. As I worked this square in stocking stitch, I knit down from the shoulder, worked the increases at the raglan line which turned the stitches 90 degrees, work horizontally across the centre back, work increases at raglan line and then work up to the top of the shoulder where I join the stitches to the neckband and turned.
The stitches, as I approach the shoulder, are running perpendicular to the neckband so I'm attaching rows to stitches. Since garter stitch knits to 3.5 sts = 1" and 3.5 Ridges = 1" I can attach ridges to the stitches of the neckband with little distortion.

Now I need to make it look a little prettier.
-Deb

2011-09-25T11:42:00.000-04:00

On the Road Again, you can sing along if you like. We're off to New Brunswick to the Knit East show. Should be a fun trip. I've got sweaters to work on and socks to knit. Lots to keep me busy when I'm not driving. Lots to think about even when I am.
My new sweater, which I thought would work out fine, did not. But I have a solution which I'm happy with and it almost works. Almost meaning some very slight adjustments are still needed and then we're good.

The front is the square I had envisioned. And now the back is a filled in square.

It's going to sit really well on the shoulders with this filled in back. The numbers work only with garter stitch so it's staying this way. I'm going to knit the full sweater on the trip. Hmm, now to decide what colour?
-Deb

Division of Labour and a BIG THANK YOU

2011-09-22T08:19:00.007-04:00

When there's only two of you in the entire company, division of labour is both essential and encouraged. Deb is off working away on our newest book and also working on the course program for our Knitting Retreat on November 18th (if you've not gotten the info and wish to have it, click here.

I'm still unpacking and filling orders from back to back shows (the Knitter's Fair and our own trade show KnitTrade) but I need to step that up as I'm supposed to start packing up for our trip out to KnitEast as we'll leave for the show early next week.

Here's how we looked minutes before Knitters Fair opened:

And here's what it looked like about 3 minutes later!

You can't do a show of that size without serious help. Here's our team - they were tireless and cheery and we couldn't do a show without them!

Barbara, Zelda, Dana and Carolyn

Al and Paul were a huge help last weekend at KnitTrade (sorry, didn't manage to take pictures of our guys lugging tables and boxes about) and that may have been the only time they saw us all weekend! We also had terrific help from Dylan (Deb's son), our sister Heather & husband Mark, Sandy (intrepid guild member), Glenda our book keeper, Dana, Carolyn and Barbara (yes, those three were hard at work two weekends in a row). Barbara was actually at both shows to represent her company Denise Interchangeable Needles but she volunteered to help and was pressed into hauling boxes, setting up displays and packing, unpacking and packing again both weekends. Oh, and Brenda! from Grey Heron (one of our stores) came and helped me out in the Cabin Fever booth!

So, although I started this blog saying it was just Deb and I? Well, it really isn't. We have amazing help and support from our friends and families (and yes, both guys are helping me pack orders and our trailer over the next couple of days).

-Lyn

2011-09-16T18:07:00.001-04:00

I told you it wouldn't be impressive but there it is. A rectangle of knitting is the answer.
I want to make a sweater like this with a square neck on the Front and Back. But everyone who tried on the larger size hunched it up at the back.

So I'm going to fill in the rectangle at the back of neck with a rectangle of knitting.

The Front will be square and the back will have a square filled in so it will be up against the back of neck. This is the square worked first, break the yarn and then with new yarn cast on the Front, shoulder, pick up around the square and cast on the other side the same. At a designer get-together I was asking for advice and Fiona Ellis asked if it was possible to have the 3 sides of the rectangle be open stitches so you wouldn't have to picked up. Yes, it is possible.

So although I totally screwed up the numbers at the beginning (it is not an assymetrical front), this is it starting with the neckband, work the rectangle at the back and then work all the way around. Still some way to go but I'm getting there.

Onward.
-Deb

2011-09-15T19:46:00.000-04:00

If you try a sweater on 3 people and they all hunch it up at the back of the neck so that the sweater points at the back then you, or that would be I, have a design problem. That's where I was earlier in the week (and I sewed all the buttons on and everything!). I went to my monthly designer get-together with my problem. We stood in the coffee shop with 2 different people trying the sweater on and discussing the problem, with much hand gesturing to the delight of fellow coffee shop patrons. No apparent solution came up but some good suggestions were made which made me think. I think on the 1 1/2 hour GO train ride home, I think all day yesterday, I think last night, and today while I was driving on another errand altogether, I thought of a solution. I almost drove off the highway! I pulled over and got the pattern out, because who leaves home without their work in progress in their purse, and still I think I have the answer. I can't tell you how excited I am. I know it won't seem so stupendous to you but this is what I live for. Now I just have to give it a shot and see. There are a couple of hours of the evening left. I'll keep you posted.
-Deb

2011-09-12T18:39:00.002-04:00

To answer tc's question:
The buttonholes are worked the same on both buttonbands. You sew the buttons over the holes on the appropriate buttonband (the left buttonband for women) and close the hole as you sew the button on. That ensures that the buttons and the buttonholes always line up. Is that terrific or what?

This sweater has a raised back of neck using short rows. They do a good job and are really easy to work in Garter Stitch.

But I had an idea for a short row adjustment as we were discussing the sweater so the neckband may be coming off, snip, snip. I'm happy with the fit though.

Let me introduce Barbara from Denise Needles who is very kindly modelling this sweater (even with only one sleeve completed).
This is their new product of which I am a proud owner.

These are going to be perfect for top down knitting. When I need a longer circular needle I just add on another length of wire. The wires can be used to hold the sleeve stitches too.

I think I'm almost there with this one. One more idea to try out and that should be it.
-Deb

2011-09-10T19:33:00.000-04:00

I redid the bottom and added . . . wait a minute, what are those discs up the front? They couldn't be BUTTONS on a cardigan that is not even finished! I appear to have undergone a personality change because this is a first for me. I doubt it's permanent.

Adding on the extra button seems to have made a big difference. About 5" to go on the sleeve and then I'm in search of a model. Is this why people cross the street when they see me coming with that glint in my eye?
-deb

2011-09-09T18:56:00.000-04:00

in the a.m.
I'm almost finished 2 versions of a new sweater. I'm working on the final pattern check and trying to finish up the Plus size sweater.

I've added bust shaping to this plus size version. Starting at the underarm I have added in extra fabric for the bust by working increases on the Fronts ONLY at the side seam. It's easy to do and makes the sweater fit better because the Back is slightly narrower than the Front. Also the full bust measurement is not reached at the underarm but an inch or two below where the largest part of your bust is.

in the p.m.
Minor glitch.

(Beware of walking into our shop when I need a model. Thanks B.) The sleeve is good. The yoke depth is just as I wanted. The total length of the sweater - not good ! I've ripped back 2" and tonight I'm going to knit it longer and add one more buttonhole and then knit the Bottom Border again. I hope it's sunny tomorrow morning so I can get a photo.
-Deb

2011-09-01T09:45:00.000-04:00

It's the Labour Day weekend so I'll be labouring over my new sweater, not a hardship at all of course. Today it is raining like crazy and dark, dark, dark so I'm afraid there is no photo of my progress although there has been some. After the weekend there will be more!

Have a great weekend. Hope your weather is stupendous and you enjoy some knitting and relaxing.
-Deb

2011-08-25T11:31:00.000-04:00

Today I'm starting something new. This sweater I had already knit but hadn't written it out yet. So I got at it and while I was there decided to work a Plus sized version too. So I've written this pattern twice, one for adult sizing 36" - 50" finished and the same pattern for Plus sizing 46" - 61" finished.

It's a simple Top Down jacket. It's easy and quick at a chunky weight gauge of 14 sts = 4". I'm going to use 2 strands of DK weight (gauge of 22 sts = 4") held together throughout to get the same gauge.

And to make it interesting I'm using 2 different blues (denim and electric blue) to get a subtle tweedy look.

I love tweed and manufacturing it myself is sort of exciting. I'm knitting a Plus size with some modifications from the Adult size. When I get there I'll have photos.
Deb

Mini Road Trip

2011-08-23T13:08:00.000-04:00

Eliza’s Buttons & Yarn, 110 Little Ave, Unit #8

Barrie Ontario L4N 4K8

Phone 705-725-8536 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 705-725-8536 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Web site http://www.elizaknits.com Email eliza@elizaknits.com

I've just gone on my shortest yarn store road trip ever! It wasn't much more than blocks from my house. My visit yesterday was to Eliza's Buttons & Yarn, Barrie's newest yarn store.

Elizabeth Fallone, designer & passionate knitter, opened her shop earlier this month. She's done a great job with the shop as you can see from the picture (I had to chase Elizabeth around the shop to get her in the picture - that's her on the right). The store is bright and airy and has a lovely selection of yarns and a very extensive collection of unusual buttons (which we know are hard to find). We're very pleased that Elizabeth has the full line of Cabin Fever yarn & books.

Her Hours are:
Monday Tuesday 10:00 – 6:30
Wednesday 12:00- 8:30
Thursday Friday 10:00 – 6:30
Saturday 10:00 – 4:00
Sunday CLOSED

-Lyn

2011-08-18T09:28:00.001-04:00

I did do some knitting on my holidays.

I'm working on V-necks at the moment and this is the smallest plus size. It's 44" across the chest. I put some cables around the waist without compensating for how much they pull in and the waist is now 35". There are 4 stitch cables with 2 stitch twisted stitches in between and 2 purled stitches separating them all. Between the cables and the ribbing affect they pull it in a lot don't they.

I also put in short rows for the bust darts which added several inches to the length of the front but ended up too low down.

The real problem is that the yoke is too deep which threw off my butst darts. So back to the drawing board with my calculator.
-Deb

P.S. The deck was fun to build even though we are not very adept at it. That's the beauty of cottage building, it doesn't have to be done really well, just well enough.
The best book I reread was The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham. I love his books.

2011-08-16T09:25:00.000-04:00

Back from my holiday at the cabin.

What did I do on my summer vacation? I didn't knit!! Can you believe it? I know for many that is the time you knit but for me, when knitting is my job, it was great to have a good break.

We drove 800 km across the top of Lake Superior to go to a folk festival in Red Rock, ON, near ThunderBay.

It was fantastic. Wonderful hot weather and great music.

My husband, daughter and I, built a deck.
We entertained lots of friends who were passing through. And I read 8 books. Yay. A good time was had by all.
Now it's back to work.
Deb

#091 The Crescent Scarf

2011-08-15T13:05:00.000-04:00

I was off to visit friends in the historic town of Manotick (just outside of Ottawa) this weekend and decided to try out Deb's new Crescent Scarf as a car project. Rather than taking a paper copy of the pattern I thought I'd try it on my Kobo book reader and was very pleasantly surprised at how clear the pattern was even with the reasonably small screen.
I think you can see how clear it is from this little image. The chart was easy to read and the written instructions were clear as a bell. One less bit to keep track of with it on the reader. It's on Patternfish as a downloadable pattern.
We drove through Algonquin Park, which was a little distracting with so much to look at, so I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped and I must admit to a bit of a snooze coming home after a busy weekend on the river (we went in our friends boat up through the locks on the Rideau River right into Ottawa to the Parliment buildings - a great trip). I'm working with our hand-dyed superwash merino "Inspiration" yarn in a soft green which is looking lovely.
Deb's version for the pattern is in our hand-dyed Silk & Silver yarn in a very pretty blue. I'm finished the lace part of the shawl (Deb put the lace in both a chart format as well as line-by-line instructions) and I should be able to whiz through the stocking stitch with short-rows pretty quickly. I'm really enjoying the pattern and think I might try to get one done with some cashmere yarn I've got - guess I better get on it and get it dyed!
-Lyn

2011-08-03T14:17:00.001-04:00

A blowy day on the North Shore of Lake Huron today. Knitting is still going strong.

If you stop off to visit though you may have to be a model . . .

it's a camp requirement. Hope to get a few more inches done this weekend.
Deb

2011-07-27T20:21:00.000-04:00

I know that this doesn't look like much. It's another top down beginning which looks like lots of other photos of beginnings. But this one is very exciting because it's the first experimental prototype for the plus-size pattern book. Aren't beginnings wonderful? I see such potential in this little bit of knitting. I'm doing the smallest size and I'm going to put all of the bust experiments into it and see what happens. I do have to knit a little bit more before that all comes into effect but it's there waiting. Non-knitters never see that.
-Deb

A-Line Cardigans

2011-07-22T11:40:00.000-04:00

When Deb wrote "Morgan's Cardigan" for our Teens & Tweens book, we had no idea how popular that cardigan was going to be! Morgan (Deb's daughter) was more than pleased with her cropped sleeve version and I loved wearing the largest size to shows. However, at every show I wore it I kept on hearing "oh, love that cardigan but I'd need it in a larger size".

"Morgan's Cardigan" (largest size)
and the "A-Line" Cardigan (small).

So, after me repeating this to Deb several times, she re-wrote the cardigan in adult sizes - and it's lovely! It's called the A-Line Cardigan #624 and here it is on the left. It's in worsted weight yarn so a fairly quick knit and very versatile.
I can tell you, from personal wear, that this is a terrific cardigan and I wear it a lot! You can wear it with jeans, with nice pants or a skirt for a dressier look and it looks great over a dress as well.
I'm just starting a second one for me in a lime green merino from Abuelita Yarns (I like this yarn so much we're going to be carrying it ourselves).
The three-quarter length sleeves, as shown, work perfectly for me but you can have it as a cap sleeve or a long sleeve - whichever you prefer! The lengths are written as petite, average or tall but, again, you can knit whichever length suits.
It's on Patternfish for download.
But that is not the end! Deb got quite a number of emails asking about re-sizing the cardigan to Plus sizes.

Here is our friend Jennifer, in her cardigan
that Deb knit for her.

After doing some research and talking to a number of interested knitters in the plus size range, she's re-written the cardigan to Plus sizes from 1X to 5X. The A-Line PLUS Cardigan #625 has the same sleeve and length options along with additional fitting options for the fuller figure.
You can download the pattern from Patternfish here.
I believe there's a KAL (Knit-A-Long) being organised for the A-Line PLUS but I'll let Deb fill you in on that.
Deb's been doing (as you know if you've been keeping up with the blog) a lot of research on plus sizing and has been getting a lot of input from Julie. It's been really interesting to hear her work through the fitting options and design challenges. Look out for the results next year in book form!
-Lyn

2011-07-21T15:53:00.000-04:00

I finished my deep V-neck prototype pullover. Hmmm. Some of it works and some of it doesn't.

I like the deep V very much. I cast on at the edge of the rolled neckband and then used my short row system over a 4 row repeat which I liked knitting but I think it needs some work. I shaped the bottom by working increases at the sides to widen the hip area which works on me but my model is toooo skinny to fill it out.
I have done a sample to see if the short rows work any better without working the neckband first.

I worked the V-neck shaping and then picked up stitches and worked the neckband.

Nope, still not satisfied. It's a little too messy. Back to the drawing board but first a couple of days off due to the heat. Hope you're staying cool.
-Deb
-Deb

Road Trip

2011-07-19T09:19:00.000-04:00

Sigh. Well, Deb & I are back from holiday facing a mountain of orders and various things to look after. Happily our office is cool because - baby, it's hot out there! Hope everyone has a cool place to knit in!

Before my holiday at the cottage was quite over I had planned a road trip to see two stores. Mom & Dad decided they'd love a day out so now there were three. First stop was The Match Factory in New Liskeard, north of the cottage. I consulted Al's GPS and it said something around 6 hours and 40 minutes ... I knew that couldn't be right so I then checked with Mapquest and they said a much more reasonable (but still seemed long) 5 hours and 30 minutes or so. So, to be on the safe side, off we went at 7:00 am. It was a sunny and warm day (but not too awfully hot) so perfect for a drive. I love driving in the North as the scenery is fabulous and there's so much to look at. On the way, on Hwy 64 I think, we had to slow down to a near stop to allow a baby bear to decide which way on the highway it was going to go ... a little dithering as it looked at us and then it scampered off across in front of us and disappeared into the bush. I was keeping a leery eye out for Mama Bear as she'd not be quite as cute as baby but that was fun to see.

We arrived at New Liskeard about 11:30 so a mere 4 hours and 30 minutes - and that was with the various slow downs and stops for construction! Bea's directions were helpful (ie the little set of shops behind the PizzaPizza) and we found her, mom Mary and her cute little shop.

The Match Factory

Bea Demarce

17 Wellington St North

New Liskeard, ON

705-647-5899

Yarn * DMC * Alterations

The Match Factory is inspired by an old family story about an individual leaving the North ready to set the world on fire but always being drawn back, “Looking for more matches.”

Bea is a busy and accomplished seamstress who decided to endulge her love of yarn and knitting by including a little yarn shop in her work environment. Way to go Bea! If you're in the area, travelling through or cottaging (great location for a holiday and tons of resorts, camps and other places to stay) stop by and say "hi" to Bea. And Bea will be having felting classes this fall using our Northern Lights yarn and felting patterns!

After a lovely visit and lunch, back in the car and off to Sudbury to visit Paulina at Sweet Yarns. The drive back down to Sudbury didn't have the excitement of seeing a bear but we were treated to a view of a Heron flying quite low over the van. We see them along our waterfront but they're usually walking along. Those birds are really, really big!

We had an excellent visit with Paulina, and her husband Simone, and of course Mom and I just enjoyed looking at the great selection of yarns and bags and other knitting goodies. Paulina wanted her picture taken in front of our yarns : ) and she now has all the colours in Cotton Tweed and Northern Lights. A great shop to visit if you're touring Northern Ontario or holidaying nearby Sudbury, as Paulina has a fabulous selection of yarns in a warm and comfortable set-up - just the place to settle in for a good look around and maybe do some knitting! She does lots of classes so check her Facebook listing for updates.

Sweet Yarns

2354 Long Lake Road

Sudbury, ON

705-586-4648

Simone recommended a great Italian restaurant nearby called "Ripe" and it was terrific. After dinner it was time to get on the road and home to sit for a bit on the deck. Life is good.

-Lyn

PS On our last day of holiday, Al & I were sitting down at the waterfront and a little family ducks - Momma duck and seven babies - came right up to us, practically on our toes. Momma kept on looking into the bush area behind us, up on her tippy toes, then hustled the babies off back into the lake and away. Just a few minutes later a beautiful sleek little animal came scampering down and starting jumping around on the rocks and in and out of the water about 20 ft away from us. We later went and looked it up and think it was a young mink. It was a great way to end the holiday!

Mom's newest

2011-07-13T18:56:00.000-04:00

I'm up at camp and Mom showed me her newest projects. Her neighbours, Nan & Dave, are expecting new twin grandbabies and asked Mom to knit them each a sweater, so here they are and excuse my feet!

Mom used the new book "Need A Baby Cardigan?" (which we'll start shipping next week) and the "Need A Hat?" book for the hats.
-Lyn

2011-07-12T17:31:00.000-04:00

Technically I am on holidays this week but I have done a little knitting. Although it is stinking hot here! I'm knitting sleeves on a wool sweater, somehow this seems wrong. It's difficult to get excited about finishing.

I am also teaching beginners once a week at a local resort. I have one hour. What can a knitter do in one hour? I have them knitting I-Cord bracelets.

This can be finished in one hour. Big yarn with big needles. My knitter today was very pleased with herself. Her first knitting project, finished! I started her on fingerless mitts to take home with her. It was a bit confusing, as you might guess, to change from sliding the stitches along the needle for I-cord to regular back and forth garter stitch knitting but she got it. It took about an hour and a half altogether.

Do you have a great, quick beginner project?
Deb

Where to Measure

2011-07-06T10:35:00.000-04:00

The measurement we base all of our knitting patterns on is the measurement of the fullest part of your bust. Wrap a tape measure around your bust at it's largest point (it doesn't have anything to do with your bra size). On our sweater, ease is usually added onto this measurement for the Finished Chest Measurement of your sweater. Some sweaters are worked with negative ease so that the sweater around the chest is smaller than the person's actual body measurement.

For a better fit for your neck and shoulders the Upper Chest measurement (wrap a tape measure around your chest at the armpit level) is a better measurement to use, then add in some ease here too. That gives you a better Front/Back measurement which doesn't include your cup size on Front. But that would mean that you, the knitter, would have to accommodate your own bust and know how to do it. It does explain why sometimes negative ease sweaters look great because they fit in the neck and shoulders.

The question is: Can we use the bust measurement we are used to using in a better way?

How can we get the neck and shoulders to fit better while accommodating many bust sizes? What if you took the actual bust measurement we usually use and working Top Down, work the neck to underarm based on that number without any ease added on at all. Then added the amount of ease, say 3-4" worth, on the Front only.

My own measurements: 39" bust actual measurement
39" bust + 3" of ease = 42" Finished
Traditional method of width of Front/Back being equal:
Back 21" wide
Front 21" wide

New Method of Front/Back distribution: 39" bust + 3" of ease = 42" Finished
Back 19.5" (half of 39")
Front 22.5" (extra ease added between the underarm to largest part of bust)
The extra ease on the front can be decreased below the bust to give you a nicely shaped bodice.

This gives me a much slimmer Back and enough room on the Front so that the buttons on a cardigan won't gape. What do you think?
Deb

2011-07-02T18:45:00.002-04:00

Happy Your Country celebration weekend. I spent the morning at the Farmer's Market, this afternoon finishing a book and tonight I'm going to knit outside if it cools down. Aaah, holiday weekends, aren't they great?

And what would a holiday be without some knitting. I'm below the waist of my experiment pullover. It's moving along nicely.

At each side seam, which isn't there because it's worked in the round but you know what I mean, I've decreased twice and increased twice. At the safety pin I decreased 2 sts, 2" below that I decreased 2 more sts. I knit straight for 2" to my waist, at my waist I increased 2 sts and then increased 2 sts again an inch later on the last round. That makes my sweater come in about 1 1/2" at the waist. Even this little bit will make a difference to the fit.

I'm working an inch between increases because I get wider quicker below my waist. I'll also keep increasing until the hip is a couple of inches wider than the top of my sweater. You guessed it, because that's what my figure is. No point in fighting the way it is.
On that note, have a great weekend,
-Deb

2011-06-25T19:09:00.002-04:00

No bust darts here. Instead, I've added extra instructions for short rows to be worked at the bottom of the cardigan before the Border. I've decided that on a looser fitting garment it's easier to add a couple of inches at the bottom of the garment if the wearer has a larger bust and suffers from Front pull-up. The shorts rows are worked over the outside 3" on either side. The knitter will have to decide if it's necessary to work them for the recipient of the cardigan. Hopefully the recipient is knitting it which makes all the decisions easy.

One very dark and dreary day today but there it is, the A-Line cardigan with 3/4 length sleeves, drying on the spare bed. The patterns all ready to go. Now I just have to find someone to model it because what's a pattern without a cover photo.

-Deb

2011-06-23T18:31:00.000-04:00

I was playing just a little bit with darts. Not the pointy ones but the knitterly ones.

They are very interesting and I'm not finished yet, not by a long shot. But as I'm working many questions come up. At what cup size does this problem occur? The problem being pull-up on the front of your knitted sweaters. Where should the short rows begin? Should they begin at the underarm and slant down towards your bust? Should they begin below the largest part of the bust and slant down toward the waist (when you are finished they look like they slant up from below)? Can the knitter place them themselves? We all know that the bust is in a different place when you're 20 than when you're 50. That extra 30 years on the planet has an effect! And why are we trying to duplicate woven fabric at all? If the front of your sweater needs to be a little longer maybe short rows could be worked anywhere, like near the bottom edge (?), in order to extend the front for an inch or two.
-Deb

2011-06-20T12:31:00.001-04:00

Today I'm doing another edit of the baby book but also beginning the next big project - V-neck pullovers.

This is my first one. It starts with the neckband with increases on the centre front to form the V. Then I worked short rows for a deep V.

The bottom of the V is even with the great Divide (where you place your sleeve stitches on spare yarn). This involves a 4 row repeat of the short rows and I definitely need a cue of some sort to tell me which right side row I'm on and what to do with it. The problem with 4 rows repeating is that the 2 right side rows do something different at the end and I can never remember by the time I get there which one I'm on. I can't be alone on this short term memory thing!

I've done it, as usual, with markers. It works for me so I'll write it out in the pattern.

I also realized it might be better to have an odd number of stitches on the front. The even numbers I used results in an SSK and K2tog next to each other at the bottom of the V.

I think it would work better to finish off the V-neck neatly with a centre post double decrease (slip 2 sts together knitwise, K1, pass both slipped stitch over). I have to try this but it just makes sense to close up the very bottom of the V neckband with a point of 1 stitch. With these changes in mind I'm trying to decide if I want to finish this sweater as is for myself or start it again. Decisions, decisions.
-Deb

2011-06-18T10:11:00.000-04:00

Back from TNNA and after a couple days of rest and relaxation I'm ready to get going again. We came home with some goodies.
Briggs and Little have taken their Softspun one step further and hand painted it. It looks terrific. They were giving away 2oz. skeins, enough to tease the curious so of course we picked up a couple.

I picked up some wool from a small mill in Michigan, Stonehedge Fiber Mill, which was recommended to me. Shepherd's Wool is springy and the colours I chose are slightly heathered which I really like.

Over the weekend I was working on a top down using Hempwol from Hemp for Knitting . It's a lovely worsted weight, easy to knit and feels great. There's also a DK weight which I have yet to try but it's on my list.

I have to string a second circular needle through my knitting before I get a photo since I'm at the bottom of the yoke and it looks like a large blob. I will do that tomorrow since I'm interested in seeing how it looks too.

-Deb

Our Knitting Retreat in November

2011-06-15T09:37:00.001-04:00

We're back! Deb and I arrived back around 3am yesterday (Deb crashed at my place for a couple of hours and Paul came and got her early on Tuesday, so Deb'll feel like she didn't get home until much later). We managed to beat our arrival time by an hour. We had flight delays on the way because of storms so we didn't get into Columbus until 2am. Happily the airport is very close to the hotel so we got to the hotel and promptly fell into bed. We had a great time at TNNA, which I'm sure Deb will blog about (and show you the yarn we bought/got), but we're very glad to be home.

I wanted to mention our upcoming retreat we're planning for November this year. We're quite excited about it as it'll be our first and it's at the beautiful Fern Resort just outside Orillia. There is also a quilting getaway weekend there at the same time and we're trying to arrange a joint event with them (they're lovely people, also from Orillia).

Knitting Weekend – Nov 18^th to 20^th, 2011

Deb & Lyn Gemmell of Cabin Fever welcome you to a weekend of Top Down Knitting at Fern Resort.

Liberate yourself and come and learn the techniques of Top Down sweater knitting. No seams! No sewing! No finishing to do!

When you knit from the top down lots of adjustments are possible for that special figure (and aren’t we all special?). Knit a Top Down for yourself or for a new little person!

Deb & Lyn Gemmell have published nine knitting books and over 125 individual designs. They’ve been hailed as the “no-sew knitting sisters” throughout North America.

Workshops:

Workshop #1 with Deb Gemmell: Top Down Sweater Blueprint: Map out a raglan sweater just for you. Using the fundamental elements of Top Down Knitting, your measurements & the “fit” options for your figure, you will construct a sweater blueprint with all the information you need to begin knitting your own sweater.

Workshop #2 with Dana Gibbons: First Time Top Down: Knit a baby sized raglan cardigan from the neck band down to the bottom. No seams to sew! No finishing to do! Try some new increases and learn some extra tips & tricks.

Workshop #3 with Deb Gemmell: Jazz up a Basic Pattern: Take one basic pattern, add a stitch pattern and see what you can create. Working with a baby sized, top down cardigan makes this quick and easy.

Friday

7:00 pm - Dinner

8:15 pm – Welcome & coffee/drinks

– Marketplace open

Saturday

8:00 am – Breakfast

9:00 am to 4:00 pm – Workshop #1 OR Workshop #2

12:00 pm – Lunch

4:00 pm – Marketplace open

6:30 pm – Dinner

8:00 pm – Evening social event & Marketplace

Sunday

8:00 am – Breakfast

9:00 am – Workshop #3:

12:00 pm – Lunch & Farewell

1:00 – 3:00 pm – Marketplace open

We have a building all to ourselves and all rooms have a fridge and a fireplace; we also have a common room to gather for chat and knitting when we're not in class. Meals will be in the main building.

Booking is directly through Fern Resort at 1 800 567-3376 but if you have any questions, please call or email me.

We look forward to seeing you there!
-Lyn

We're off to TNNA!

2011-06-09T12:40:00.000-04:00

Deb and I are off to the TNNA show today with our new book: NEED A BABY CARDIGAN?

Super cute baby in a pretty cardigan! This new book is the third in the "Need A ... " series of books. The first two were Need A Hat? and Need A Sock? This series is a "multi-gauge" approach to each topic. So, for example, the new Need A Baby Cardigan? provides you with a range of cardigans (with colour, textures & lace) in 4 sizes (newborn to 18 months) in NINE (yes, 9!) gauges from sock yarn right up to chunky weight.
We'll be providing support and taking orders with Barb from Up North Fiber Arts Supply, our U.S. Distributor. Here's another shot of the cutie from the book:

-Lyn

2011-06-08T10:12:00.001-04:00

Ta, da !

One Plus-size A-line cardigan, finished. Yay. It's soaking in the washing machine right now. I'm going to spin it out and block it as soon as I finish here. It has capped sleeves which I think I will extend to 3/4 length sleeves when I get back from TNNA. Then I need a good photo and the pattern will be finished too.

Now it's time to get ready: pack, buy some medical insurance, pick some samples to take, watch my A-line sweater dry (hopefully quickly), clean out my knitting bag this time so that I'm not caught at security with 18 circular needles in my bag which caused some suspicion to fall on my person. You know, the regular pre-trip scramble. I'm taking a deep breath, ready, set, go . . .
Deb

2011-06-07T10:01:00.000-04:00

We're off to the TNNA (the national needlework assoc.) show in Columbus Ohio on Thursday. This is one of the samples. Ahem, OK, it's not done yet but I'm progressing.

I got a little further last night and am starting the bottom border. I think it's going to have to have capped sleeves for the show just to get it done. When I get back I'll put the 3/4 length sleeves on it because that's what I really want. The A-line shaping is starting to show in the bunching up of the stitches on my needle. Can't wait to see how it comes out but that will have to wait until I cast off now.
Deb
P.S. t/c I'm a continental knitter. I learned that way from a girlfriend who learned from her German neighbour. It's a great way to knit and you're right, it's quick.

2011-06-05T10:55:00.000-04:00

My upsize sample is coming along. This is the second size for a finished 49" sweater.

I'm trying to get far enough along to try it on a couple of people so I can see how it looks. I'm also trying to get it done to get a photo. So today I am knitting, knitting, knitting and because of a quick trip to the library yesterday I have several audio books to choose from to keep me company. Yay. -Deb

2011-05-31T11:10:00.001-04:00

Laurie (from the comments) brought up the topic of short rows to shape the bust. The reason to work short rows is to put more length on the Front of your garment so that it doesn't pull up at the waist. If your bust has taken up enough of the vertical length you will be left a couple inches short at the bottom.

It works by making a wedge of fabric just under your bust and really works wonders for the fit of your sweater. This wedge can be added into most patterns you're working on. This is the best tutorial I found on the subject Bust Short Rows by Knotions. She works it from the bottom up starting with long short rows which get smaller and smaller. I would differ on how to do them from the Top Down.

From the Top Down it could work like this: Work your sweater down to the underarm. Work straight to past the largest part of your bust. Working from the side seam, knit across the first breast to the second breast point + 1", Wrap & Turn. You can imagine this by looking down at your chest and reading this at the same time to get the idea. With the wrong side facing, purl back across to 1" past the other breast point, W&T. Now continue to work the short rows, working the wrap and stitch together when you come to it and knitting 1 or 2 sts past, W&T at the end of each row. You are working closer and closer to the side seam and the short rows are getting longer and longer. When you have enough rows of fabric you would resume working the sweater as before.

I'm no artist but I hope that gives you some idea of how it works. How much fabric do you need? In the tutorial Knitting Notions measures from the shoulder down to the waist Beside your bust. And then takes the same measurement Over the bust. The difference is how much extra fabric you need. I thought that was a very good way to work it out. How much fabric you need, worked out to the number of rows needed, will tell you where you have to start and stop. If you need 3" of material worked in short rows then working from the bottom up you need to start them at least 4" below your bust points. Working from the top you would start 1" below where you measure the largest.

I know Laurie has tried this and although she didn't get them in exactly the right spot they did make a terrific difference to the fit of her sweater. So even if they're not perfect they do work. Interesting, eh?

-Deb

2011-05-30T19:33:00.000-04:00

I've made some progress on the Liesl and tried to take a photo of myself.

How do people do this? They probably have longer arms and pay more attention to the T-shirt they were wearing underneath. But there I am.

I switched to a size larger needle for the last 3" since I thought I might need the room. It's a very nice knit and right now I'm trying to decide if I want to do the sleeves or just cast them off here. I can only find 3 of the double-pointed needles I need for the sleeves, that's part of the deliberation.
-Deb

2011-05-26T12:43:00.004-04:00

I have been giving a lot of thought to fitting the raglan to the plus sized figure. I measured several of the women at our knitting guild meeting last night. Why can't there be a standard body for each size ?!!! OK, I'm over it.

I've been talking to different people for the last 2 years, gathering information and peeves about plus size sweaters. One pet peeve was right on the money. Why do plus size sweaters make the front and back of the sweater the same width? Most of us carry more weight on the front than the back. I'm not discounting the back carriage but that's further down the sweater so I don't have to consider it yet. It makes sense, the Front of a plus size garment could be wider than the back.

I am currently knitting some top downs by other people and making this change when I separate for my sleeves, making the Front wider than the Back. I did this on the Liesl by working across the number of stitches for the Front, one size up from my size, put the sleeves on spare yarn, worked the number of stitches for the Back, one size smaller than mine, put the second sleeve on spare yarn, and worked the Front, again one size bigger. It worked out perfectly. (I did check all the numbers first on my calculator to make sure it worked with the number of stitches I had on my needle.)

It's really difficult, for me anyway, to anticipate everything that might ensue from one decision until I act on it. Problems which I didn't think of crop up. You may have worked this out already but making the Front bigger means that the fabric above my bust line is also wider. I don't need extra material across my upper chest. In this pattern it won't matter because the lace will compensate but it's definitely a consideration. We need the extra material at the beginning of our bust and below, not above.

Food for thought. Any ideas?
I have a solution which I have been working on. It should work, I think, maybe.
-Deb

2011-05-22T20:49:00.003-04:00

I don't know where the week has gone. On reflection I did spend quite a lot of time editing the baby book. Several hours with Bernice on Tuesday and then again on Thursday with Mary, our tech editor. With all three of us going over the pages with different colours of ink I can see that we all catch different things. Three sets of eyes should catch everything. Lynda and I had spent an afternoon last Friday rewriting some awkward bits so that they say exactly what we want them to. Next Thursday we do another day and then I think we're pretty close to what we want. The colour photos still have to be sorted out. Lots of work yet I'm afraid.

I have been working on another project. An upsize of Morgan's Cardigan from the Teens & Tweens book.

I've resized it already to adult sizes A-Line cardigan #624 .

Now I have had a request to make it in Plus sizes. This is terrific because I am going to start working on a plus-sized book next. I'm very excited about this project. A book will give me a chance to incorporate all the techniques I've worked on and read about, to make the 'fit' correct. Upsizing this pattern will get me started. I went out today and bought Knitting-Plus and is it packed with info! Wonderful stuff. I have also had an email chat with Julie from Knitting At Large blog who is an amazing resource on sizing for ample women. She gave me some excellent advice which I will follow to the T. At the moment writing the pattern involves my calculator, pencil and a BIG eraser. I even had to go and buy a new calculator, I'm a happy camper.

-Deb

2011-05-17T17:44:00.003-04:00

I'm back to multiplicity again and loving it.

I'm done the body of the Top Down 3-Button Jacket and about to tackle the sleeves. It seems like it's flown by and now is almost done, except for those pesky buttons that have to be sew on. I can only blame myself since the pattern had 3 buttons on it (obviously) and I wanted it to button to the bottom. But once you have the sewing needle and thread out, what's a couple more. It's getting it out in the first place that's the problem.

You know you've been working on one project too long when you're looking forward to knitting a second sock. This is the second waffle patterned sock out of the Need A Sock book. I still really like working this pattern stitch but it's a problem with the Portuguese method of knitting, all those double pointed needles seem to be in the wrong place. I feel like a beginner again and tend to quickly switch to my best knitting method, continental knitting.

And just to fill up my knitting bag because there was still a tiny bit of room in it, I've started the Liesl pattern by Ysolda. I'm experimenting with doubling up the Cotton Tweed in Just Navy. Two strands worked together become a chunky weight yarn worked on a 6.5mm. This is a nice pattern to try it out on.

I've worked out how to make the YO in the Portugese Style of knitting. It's working out really well. The little thingy the yarn goes through on your chest (see last post) just needs to be a hook of some sort. So I took a large hook & eye fastener I had for a coat and pined the hook side to my shirt. It's not particularly pretty but it works.

Tonight I have all these projects to choose from. I'm happy, happy, happy.
-Deb

2011-05-13T17:08:00.000-04:00

Just back from the chiropractor, you know what's coming right? Yes, I'm supposed to rest my arm, HA, HA, HA, like that's going to happen. Apparently my iron grip on the needles is causing me problems. Then I remembered a conversation with a victim of carpel tunnel who couldn't knit for a year. She said she now knits in two different styles, continental on the knit side and english throwing style on the purl side. The change of action is helping her continue knitting. On my walk back home I thought I could benefit from this advice. I would just change how I knit, easy.

Now for something completely different. Look at me, I'm knitting Portuguese style. It's working and it's lots of fun.

I'm not knitting so fast it's blurring the photo! My husband took this. In this style the tension is not maintained by my hand so my grip on the needles is looser. So far, so good. I learned by watching this video. It didn't take long at all. Wouldn't you count this as sort of resting? It works for me.
-Deb

2011-05-13T16:48:00.000-04:00

We're almost there. This is the last baby sweater I knit.

It's been fun. Tomorrow Bernice and I are going up to Huntsville to work on the very, very last one. Phew. I think we have a lot of baby sweaters. I've lost count. I think I'm going to be very surprised when we get the stack of sweaters back.

Time to do something nice and adult-sized.

This is the 3 - Button Jacket from Classic Elite's Curvy Knits series of books. I'm exploring plus-size Top Down sweaters to see what other designers are doing with them. I worked the neckband and then the short rows, ripped it back and redid the short rows in my own way, worked down to the bottom of the yoke then ripped it back a couple of inches and did my own finish to the yoke to get the number of stitches required for the size. So although I started with this pattern and tried what they did I usually ended up doing it a slightly different way in the end. But I learned a couple of things along the way and that was the point.
Deb

A Snug Shrug!

2011-05-05T18:33:00.001-04:00

Now that I'm back from the NENA (New England Needle Work Trade Show) in Sturbridge, MA, and Deb's back from doing the Knitters Frolic in Toronto, I thought I'd better get caught up on posting Deb's new pattern!
It's called #626 The Snug Shrug and it's a super cute little shrug just perfect for the evening over a summer dress or top or to cover up in cool air conditioning. You can download it from Patternfish and we also have it available on our site as a pattern or kit. There are two versions:

The version on the left is worked with two strands of superwash yarn. One strand is a hand-dyed fingering weight yarn in light and dark blues and the 2nd strand is Sterling (63% superwash, 20% silk, 15% merino & 2% silver) in a solid black (the silver adds a lovely, subtle, sparkle!). Kits are available in blue with black as shown and a lovely, rich, brown with black.

The version on the right in white is a soft, fluffy merino superwash boucle which is worked on a larger needle than the ball band calls for to make it very soft and light (this kit is available in winter white as shown, grape heather & blue heather).

-Lyn

2011-05-03T09:36:00.001-04:00

I went to the Knitters Frolic on Saturday. A great day and good work by the Downtown Knit Collective. The Frolic is a show put on by one of the Toronto knitting guilds. It has a market on Saturday and lots of classes which run for two days. It's a real accomplishment and run expertly by Joan. Thanks Joan.

I had help, yay! Brenda and Dana both came to help out in the booth. Thanks to both. It is so much fun to have company. I could write a blog about it but Brenda wrote an excellent one with pictures too. Go Brenda.
-Deb

2011-04-29T11:30:00.000-04:00

This is a new experience for me. One project. My bag looks very empty. Maybe monogamous knitters have smaller knitting bags.

Usually mine is filled with about 3 knitting projects, plus the obligatory 2 books just in case I get stuck somewhere, run out of knitting and need a book to read. Along with working on several knitting projects at the same time, not exactly at the same time you understand, I also read multiple books at a time too. I am currently reading a novel, a marketing book, a book of essays about artists and a book about writing. And although I am knitting the last baby sweater I also have a scarf in the queue right behind it, along with an adult sweater in chunky cotton and the second brown waffle sock. I'll work on all three of them over the next couple of weeks and finish my books too (I should mention that I don't have cable so don't watch TV at all).

Is this multi-ness normal?

-Deb

2011-04-26T10:42:00.001-04:00

I'm knitting my last little baby sweater for the new book. At least I'm going to shortly cast on and then I will be knitting it. I've saved one of my favourite stitch patterns until the end, the waffle stitch. It's easy, it's effective, I think it looks great.

Waffle Stitch:
Row 1: *K2, P2; repeat.
Row 2: *P2, K2; repeat.
Rows 3 & 4: Knit.

This cardigan is from the Teens and Tweens book and then we did an adult version too.

I've also used it in the Need A Sock? book.

Waffle Stitch: 'in the round'
Rounds 1 & 2: *K2, P2; repeat.
Round 3: Knit.
Round 4: Purl.

And now this same stitch pattern is going to adorn a baby sweater. I can't get enough of it.

Do you have stitch patterns that you love to do? Which ones are they?
-Deb

2011-04-21T19:47:00.003-04:00

It looks like I came home from Ottawa and then disappeared off the face of the blog. I did but I was teaching in Midhurst last weekend so it's been a busy teaching couple of weeks.

Last weekend I taught a beginner lace class over 2 days for the Simco County Arts and Crafts Assoc..

They made this crescent scarf in DK weight yarn. It was a quiet class with much counting of stitches under the breath. But they all did very, very well.

You begin this scarf with the lace work. That entails many, many stitch markers, one for every repeat of the pattern. This Oatmeal one is in Cotton Tweed.

And then I knit this bright one in fingering (sock) weight yarn but it's a little short.

So the blue one I'm working on now has 4 more repeats of the pattern on it.

I'm still enjoying knitting scarf no.4.

-Deb

2011-04-14T09:13:00.004-04:00

I had a wonderful weekend in Ottawa teaching all sorts of Top Down classes.

The first one was an exploration of what you could do with a basic pattern.

And all the students showed me that you can do a lot. How about a fancy cable down the back with a lovely fancy cable bottom border to match. Laurie is going to pick up around the neck and make a matching collar. It looks terrific with her choice of yarn (makes me think of watermelons).

By Monday night at the Ottawa Knitting Guild meeting quite a few little sweaters were more than half done. Even those students who had to go home and give their project a rethink to get their pattern placed exactly how they wanted it to be had the finish line in sight.

Back in the classroom we tackled V-neck shaping on a teddy bear sized sweater.

Lynn brought her very well-dressed teddy to the guild meeting. Adorable. We finished the classes with some solutions to 'fit' issues which I hope will enhance their future adult-sized projects. A great time. Thanks Ottawa knitters.

I also got the chance to have lunch with Liz who happened to be spending the day in Ottawa. Note to self: It's good to get out of the house sometimes. It gives me a chance to see people I usually email. She has a brand new pattern out Perth Cardi available on Ravelry. It looks terrific.

And more news from the Ottawa area. The Eastern Ontario Needler's Retreat sign up is opening soon. If you're in the eastern Ontario area it's a great time. I'm checking my dates because I would love to go again.
-Deb

2011-04-06T21:17:00.002-04:00

I’m on the road again and it’s coming up soon. If you’re in the Ottawa, ON area the Ottawa Knitting Guild is hosting me for a weekend of workshops on April 9 & 10. Ottawa Knitting Guild

On Saturday I’m going to be teaching “Designing for the Faint of Heart” which is based on our upcoming baby book. This should be fun with lots of creative juices flowing. On Sunday we’re going to throw all the rules of the raglan yoke shaping out the window and see what we can come up with. Always a favourite class for me because I love to play 'what would happen if '. And then we’re doing a 'Top Down that Fits' class. I have lots of ideas for that and some adult sized samples with some of my experiments.

After sewing on about 25 buttons I have a stack of samples to take and only one puncture wound to my finger. That's pretty good for me.

I think I'm done for tonight.
Deb

2011-04-03T13:29:00.003-04:00

Could the numbers I had worked out for the Baby booklet work for an adult sweater? I decided to knit an adult size and see.

I think it turned out very well. Using chunky weight Northern Lights I worked the numbers for the newborn size in sock weight yarn. I did some calculations to decide that that size would give me the neckband measurment I would like. I made some modifications. I cast on 3" at the underarms, put in waist shaping and made it short sleeved. Now I have to find some buttons which match this gorgeous new Apricot colour of Northern Lights.

Isn't gauge a wonderful thing? With a change of gauge you can take the numbers for a sock weight newborn sweater and make an adult sized sweater, amazing.
-Deb

2011-04-01T15:51:00.002-04:00

Here's the Ridgeway Lite sweater with a slight change. Janell took out the vertical patterning on the front at the request of the guy she was knitting it for. I think it turned out very, very well. Nice fleck to the yarn too. The ability to make adjustments to patterns really frees you up to make a garment that you might like better than the original. After doing this a couple of times you will be able to look at a pattern photo and see the possibilities that slight changes might give you. It will take you somewhere new.

This pullover is knit from the bottom up 'in the round' with Elizabeth Zimmermann's nalgar shaping in the yoke (raglan spelt backwards). In the Nalgar shaping you set up 4 markers just like a raglan yoke but the twist is that you work increases instead of decreases at these points. It's fun and weird and wonderful. You can read about this shaping in Knitting Workshop by Elizabeth Zimmermann, an excellent book and in Vogue Knitting Magazine Winter 2010-2011 in the article MEG SWANSEN ON: THE FOUR TOPS: For the final installment of her EPS yoke series, Meg spells "raglan" backwards.

It's a cool yoke shaping and can totally stump your knitting friends if they're not familiar with EZ's work. We have to get your jollies somewhere, right?
-Deb

2011-03-30T11:03:00.002-04:00

Enough about what I'm doing. Here's what they're doing at Sweet Yarns (facebook page) in Sudbury, ON. Lots and lots of felting.

These were knit with the Sheepstrings Big Bag and Sheepstrings Felted Purse patterns using Northern Lights chunky wool. Both of these patterns are for an unadorned felted bag. I love the embellishments!

This is a beautiful rendition of the Tote Stripes bag. Very rich looking colours.

And why stop at bags?

Felting is lots of fun and it's great to see the creative additions added in.

-Deb

2011-03-28T19:11:00.001-04:00

I think it does take some time to be comfortable taking a step away from the pattern. But it is fun when it works out.

I got one more sweater done despite the barking and sneezing of a cold. Don't you hate a spring cold? Yuck. But I must say that knitting a little sweater in chunky weight yarn sure goes quickly even with a fuzzy head.

On Wednesday we're doing a group button sew. Sure is nice to have the company. We're going to have a huge pile of sweaters when we're done. I have a couple more to do before then. I'll be busy knitting tomorrow.
-Deb

2011-03-18T15:30:00.001-04:00

I didn't hear from anyone who wanted to stand up for all the knitters who like following patterns. I like to follow a pattern too. I do it when I'm learning something new, when I want to relax, when I've been asked to make what's on the photo (how else does someone choose a sweater for mom to make), when I like the design and won't be designing anything close to that garment myself.

A knitting pattern can be likened to a recipe. Sometimes you just want to follow it exactly and get a good result. You know it's going to be a good meal. I find it's really relaxing to follow a pattern. And knowing that it's going to turn out really becomes important when you are knitting something for someone else.

The book we're doing is like a recipe. The first section will the the main recipe. The second section will be saying you might throw this in or substitute this ingredient for that ingredient and it will be slightly different and good. If you sub in chicken for beef in your dish it's altered without too much change in the preparation of the meal. We tried all the substitutions and they all work, there will be photographic evidence. Then we get to the last section where the substitutions are a little more involved and may hopefully lead you to try even more substitutions which take you further away from the basic recipe. I like this gradual approach. The basic recipe is still there and can be worked over and over until you feel the urge or occasion to try one of the subs again.

A sub into the basic cardigan.
-Deb

2011-03-12T10:57:00.004-05:00

This is a newborn size with a small front panel running alongside the buttonband and this back panel. It's fun to try different combinations of patterns for the back panel and see if they work. This one is a keeper for the book.

The intention of this book is to take you one step away from the pattern to a place where you can combine the stitch patterns offered into something that is your own design. I'm trying to set it up so that you're comfortable doing this. But stepping away from the pattern is a little risky. What you come up with may not turn out exactly as you had envisioned it. A good reason to start with baby sizes because they are quick to make, quick to frog and try again. This is an adventure and the thrill of getting a combination which looks just right is wonderful.
Why do you knit a pattern exactly as written? Do you often go off on a tangent to the pattern and end up with a different design? Do you do this elsewhere, in cooking, sewing, another art form?
-Deb

2011-03-11T10:40:00.002-05:00

I am still writing out the last section of the book. The first section has been corrected by our patternchecker and is now pristine. Not much knitting is getting done on my side, lots more pecking at the computer keys. But Bernice has been working hard with her needles. You might like to check out her progress. It's a sneak peak into the 'pick a pattern and design it yourself' sections of the book.
-Deb

2011-03-07T19:22:00.003-05:00

One more sweater done. We have quite a collection now. They all need buttons so a big button sewing day is in order. I'm trying my best to do some boy's sweaters. Some knitters don't have any girls to knit for and find that books mainly feature styles for girls. Boys' sweaters can be fun to do too. This one was a nice knit in Perfection by Kraemer. Although I really wish we could extend the colour range available for boys. It's still very restricted mostly, from the comments I hear, because of the baby's dad. Loosen up guys!

I have sent the first section of the book, the Basic Cardigan, to our pattern checker. That means that I'm pretty happy with it. Yay. In a couple of days the second section which deals with patterned borders is going too. This brown sweater is in the Border section. We have several sweaters knit for this section already. The last section is working with panels of pattern. Bernice and I have come up with a list of patterns we like. Now we're working on combinations and Bernice has knit some up. But I haven't seen them yet because she's keeping them a secret until tomorrow. It's time to stop writing and try some combinations myself.
-Deb

2011-03-02T08:40:00.002-05:00

I'm on a single track now. It's all book, book, book. My husband asked if I dream about it since it's the last thing I do at night and the first thing I do in the morning. I'm a fun gal to be around! Apparently there is a point in a project where for me it is all consuming and I'm there now. This would explain my problem with committee work. What do you mean you have to go home? We haven't made all the decisions yet. What do you mean we have to wait until next month's meeting to make the rest of the decisions. You have a life outside of this committee? What is that about? Lots of fun.

But it is fun for me. I'm loving this. We're rolling downhill now instead of pushing the book uphill which we have been doing for the last couple of months. Soon we'll be running to catch up with it. More samples are coming off the needles.

And the last section of the book is on the table. And I think this morning I got another idea for doing it. Don't you find that solutions pop into your head first thing in the morning? I do. I guess I do dream about it.
-Deb

2011-02-28T15:40:00.003-05:00

We have finally started doing some knitting for the new baby book. Yay. This is one of the Basic Cardigans in Heavy Worsted weight yarn. I'm laying them out to be blocked.
We have quickly moved on to some variations.

The Blue Jean sweater in regular worsted weight yarn. An easy variation.

And a very nice cabled cardigan in worsted weight yarn.

With the pattern on both front and back. We are working on a bunch more.

We've made good headway the last couple of days and 36 pages of the book are written up. Whew. I think I can see the end now. The sweaters should be coming off the needles at an alarming rate. I finished the sleeves on all of these today and tomorrow I'll start another one. But I need to get some more yarn for a boy's sweater. Onward.

-Deb

2011-02-18T17:10:00.005-05:00

I don't know if I have to feel too jealous of Lynda being in California since here it was like a spring day. I hope it was where you live. It was above freezing and I went out without my boots, wool socks, hat or mittens on. I felt so light on my feet!! What a difference wearing shoes makes.

I have one more partial sweater.

Not finished of course. I'm afraid this is the way it goes for a bit. I think I'm up to 3 partial sweaters now. They'll all get frogged or pitched. I don't know why but the sleeves are giving me grief. The finer weights of yarn are great and work fine for the 12 & 18 month sizes. But the thicker yarns don't want to fall into place. This morning I had another go at it and I think I have it all fixed now. I'm going to do the knitting to see if that is indeed the case. I hope to be doing the happy dance tonight.

That finishes off the plain cardigan. I need a name for it, anyone? All I have now is Basic Cardigan.

I've started to write the section in the book where we indicate where you can do some designing of your own. It'll be fun and I'm anxious to get going on it. Bernice and I are working on some examples to show you what you can do in different sections of the sweater. We've worked out a couple of stitch patterns to try. Lots more knitting to go.
-Deb

Stitches West

2011-02-16T09:44:00.001-05:00

Karen and I arrived in sunny San Francisco yesterday afternoon ... and the sun lasted for about 30 minutes then clouded over. Lots of rain since. However, much, much warmer than what we left! We'll be heading off to the warehouse this morning to pick up our boxes then off to the airport to pick up Don & Buffy of Shelridge Farm and then the conference centre to unload and begin setting up our booths.

Cabin Fever is, if I remember correctly, in Booths 617-619. Right next door to our friend Lana of Hemp for Knitting. We only see Lana at the shows as we live at opposite sides of the country.

If you're coming to the show, do stop by and say "hi". I got a couple of emails asking if I would be bringing some more Silk and Silver (yes) and SweaterKits mulberry silk (also yes). I have Deb's new shrug and a "shrawl" that Karen and I have done (just finished the black/silver sample as I was leaving for the airport). I'm still knitting one more Fern Kerchief in a lovely blue I just dyed so must finish that up tonight.

Karen's Mom, Diane, turns 70 this year and our Mom, Edith, turns 80 so we're both going to keep our eyes open to see if we see anything they might like. Being as they're both terrific knitters and we're at the biggest knitting show going ... we're hopeful :) Mind you, that means we have to be able to get out of the booth to find something - not always an easy task as the show is very busy.

-Lynda

2011-02-15T10:34:00.001-05:00

Thanks Liz (from the comments). I have another pair on the go now.

These are the Waffle socks from the Need A Sock? Book . This is one of the variations based on the Basic Rib sock. It's easy to knit and a lovely texture. These are for my husband so they'll take a while to finish but I'm loving the colour so no problem hanging out with them for as long as it takes.

A couple of other projects are shaping up.

I'm teaching a Lace class in April at the Simcoe County Museum through SCACA. The class isn't up on their website yet. I've got the chart done and am just getting the last bit of writing done while I knit this second one.

And still the book work continues. Writing, editing and knitting of course.

We almost have the basic sweater done. This is much more work to do in a multi-gauge way than the smaller projects I have tackled so far. Hats and socks don't have quite so many variables as sweaters. Bernice and I have to make the final decision on the sleeve decreases and then we need to get going on adding in some stitch patterns. That will be fun.

-Deb

2011-02-07T09:29:00.002-05:00

The beginning of a book is rather s-l-o-w. Writing out the pattern is work and figuring out the charts for the multi-gauge is fun but all of it is slow. Then I had a week of looking at it and thinking it was cumbersome, awkward and just plain messy looking. But yesterday I had a moment, that ah-ha moment and now it has a new format which I think is going to work. Yay. Nothing revolutionary, just a way to deal with the charts so they aren't hanging around all over the page and messing up the written pattern. So I'm relieved, happy, thrilled actually. I'm sending it out to get this section test-knit and see what comments I get back but it's fine tuning now because it works as is.

As I was fretting about the formatting I finished my socks. Isn't sock knitting wonderful when you're in that place?

I'll need to cast on another pair because I'm not finished the book yet and there will be another fretting period but they'll all be smaller now. The big fret is over, yay, yay, yay!
-Deb

2011-02-03T18:25:00.002-05:00

Still fussing with numbers and charts and decisions. . . decreases for the sleeves, buttonhole placement, 3 buttons or all the way down the buttonband (?), you know, the regular decisions for a sweater. But we're close, really close to having the first baby top down sweater write-up done. Yay.

Otherwise I've been working on a Lace workshop project. I've decided on a crescent scarf.

It starts at the bottom with the lace section, perfect for a workshop. To finish it off some simple short rows are worked. It's done in DK weight yarn for a quick project but can be adjusted for finer yarn. I think this will fill the bill. This is a local event. The class will be run through Simcoe County Arts and Crafts Association in April. You can come and see demonstrations of the various classes and other heritage crafts at the Celebration of Arts and Crafts on March 6 at the Simcoe County Museum in Midhurst, ON. I'm looking forward to it. I'll have another try at spinning that day too, yay.
-Deb

2011-01-31T10:37:00.002-05:00

I'm setting up my day of work on the book. At this stage the book doesn't look like anything but a pile of papers but Bernice and I made some decisions on Friday which I am going to put in. We've added one stitch to the buttonbands so we can work a slip stitch at the edge of the garter stitch bands to neaten up the edge. Task 1) 1 st to be added to any place where the buttonbands show up starting with the Cast On.

While we are working on getting the plain garter stitched bordered sweater done we have to remember that we are going to put stitch patterns in this sweater. Since this is a multi-gauge pattern which starts with sock yarn and goes up to chunky weight yarn, the extremes are the places to check. Does the largest size with the finest yarn work? Does the smallest size with the heaviest yarn work? In this case the chunky yarn in the small sizes needed some tweeking. We had to decide what the smallest number of stitches we could work with on the Fronts. That took a bit of discussion and working out some stitch patterns we would like to use. Task 2) tweek the numbers on the 2 small sizes with the heavier yarns.

We also made a large decision to fit into the constraints of the book. We have a certain number of pages available to us. That was a decision made some time ago. It's actually one of the first decisions. I wrote out the plain sweater for each size individually because I thought it might be easier for the knitter to work but it takes up too many pages and we won't be able to get to the designing part. Task 3) Right up charts with all 4 sizes on them.

There, a days work at least and here we go . . .
Deb

2011-01-27T17:30:00.004-05:00

It's Thursday already. Where did the week go? The shrugs have gone to the photographer, that pattern is written up so it's back to thinking about baby sweaters for me.

The new book Bernice Vollick and I are working on this winter is a multi-gauge Top Down baby cardigan book. I've knit 3 of the sizes in chunky weight yarn to check the necks. Now we're talking button placement, buttonband width and anything else that comes up. I've done the charts for all the sizes and gauges and Bernice has set up spread sheets so we can manipulate the numbers if we need to. I've written up the first 10 pages of the book with a basic pattern using the charts. If you've seen our Need A Hat? or Need A Sock? books you know what I'm talking about.

The format for the book and figuring out how to make it user friendly is the first and biggest part of our book writing. How much information is too much? How can we make it understandable? What are we assuming the knitter knows that they might not know (that's a tough one). Does it all follow smoothly or do we have to move this information onto the next page? Have we put too much information on any page? Does this sound like fun yet? Actually, it is. I love this stage of the game. Once we have all this figured out the rest just falls into place believe it or not.

If you knit every size in every weight of yarn there are 36 sweaters so far. There aren't any actually knit up yet but the potential is there. I've knit 3 partial sweaters and Bernice has also be working on a couple. There will be many, many more by the time we're finished. The designing of the sweaters comes much, much later. Right now we have to get the bare bones worked out. Tomorrow we take a look at what we have so far. I'm excited.
Deb

2011-01-17T14:32:00.003-05:00

Sizing is always on my mind but I'm ready to move on. Thanks to all for your comments. There are some very interesting thoughts there if you haven't read the comments from the last couple of posts.

Today I finished writing out the Shrug pattern and sent it away to the pattern checker. Now I need to finish up the test knit I'm doing with the finished pattern which will give me another check on it. This is a different size and a different yarn than the blue one I had posted earlier.

This is a boucle by Diamond. It's so soft, you can't imagine. I had to rip back an inch when I decided to make a change and it rips and knits up again wonderfully. I'm very close to finishing the cap sleeves and then 5" of body to do and I'm done. It's a quickie.
-Deb

2011-01-13T17:26:00.002-05:00

I've been writing patterns which means I don't have any photographs to show you. I have started a testknit but it's not very far along either. So...let's talk.

Sizing, of course, comes up on the other side of the pattern too. How does the pattern fit the body you are making the garment for. I find I have to adjust everything I make. I'm 5'0" tall (that's about 4-6" shorter than average) so nothing I pick up is right for me. Some petite clothes work well but even some of them are too long. Usually I estimate 4" less length on a sweater and I leave the sleeve length alone since I am quite used to very long sleeves on everything I wear. Sleeves down to my knuckles seem normal. I also like my sweaters on the loose side even if a tighter fit would look better. It's personal!! Waist shaping really helps to make a better shaped garment even if it's a little big. I work it out for myself as I go. I find all of this adjusting easier to do on a Top Down garment which may explain my facination with them.

How does the sizing issue come up for you? Do your sweaters fit right from the pattern without changes? Do you check the schematic and make alterations?
Deb

Comments:
Liz, gasp, no raglan?! They are a sizing challenge, I totally agree, but that's part of their charm for me (the knitter who has 2 calculators in her knitting bag).

2011-01-11T11:16:00.002-05:00

Sizing is a challenge to designers writing patterns. And I agree with Sharon (last post comment) that a plus sized pattern should include bust darts, etc to make the fit better. The added challenge for working from the top down is to get the number of stitches needed for the body without huge sleeves and a deep yoke. I have been experimenting with these ideas behind the scenes for a while and am almost convinced I could take on the challenge. I have been working up to it and now have a couple of plus sized women who will help with the sizing and garment knitting.

I get asked about resizing, especially for childrens' patterns, quite often. Generally I suggest a change of yarn. Working the sweater in a different gauge of yarn will make the sweater bigger (thicker yarn) or smaller (finer yarn). This works if the size needed doesn't stray too far past the size the pattern is written for because the change of size is proportional. If the change of gauge makes the sweater body 10% bigger then it is 10% bigger everywhere. The sleeves, neck opening, cuffs, etc are all 10% bigger. Up-sizing for plus sizes this way doesn't work as well. The change of gauge doesn't account for the smaller changes in the back of neck measurement and the sleeve width as you work the larger change in body size. Complicated! That is why I think dedicated patterns for sets of sizes work best and the up-sizing of smaller patterns doesn't work as well. But that brings us back to the small number of plus sized patterns available. Around and around we go. I'll use this as a push to get some of my ideas fine-tuned and down on paper.

Have you had success up-sizing patterns?
Deb

2011-01-07T11:38:00.002-05:00

Again the sizing question comes up. I only want to deal with 6 sizes so what kind of range should I use. Brenda and Liz both think younger women will want to knit this shrug and I agree. But if I go down to a 33" finished size I am chopping off quite a few larger sizes that some young women might need. So I have decided to write up two patterns. One which will go up to the large size and then I'll rework the pattern in a finer yarn which will take me down to a 29" finished size, great for some 12 year olds. The finer yarn also makes all the details of the garment smaller too which is a bonus and will make it look better for some petit women. It means there will be two patterns available for the same garment with some overlap of sizes.

In the Ample Knitters list there was a topic about magazines not catering to the larger sizes. I totally sympathize. How frustrating is it to buy a magazine where your size is not included. I think it's partly because of the limits of size range of a design but it may be the market that the magazine to geared for. Size range is complicated. What do you think?
Deb

2011-01-03T10:48:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year. Here we are at the start of another year.

Today is my first working day and it's time to organized my work for the next month or two. I have several projects on the go.

This Little Tumbler sample from the Baby V book needs finishing because it is going to the Stitches West show in February. I think there are a couple more samples which will need knitting up so this one needs to be done quickly to clear the queue.

This shrug cardigan needs to be written up from my little squiggles on the back of an envelope (my normal pattern writing method) and then photographed. I still have to decide on the size range for it. Right now I have it starting with a finished bust of 37" and going up to 52" finished with the overlap of the front bands. There are 6 sizes in total so if I want to go a size smaller I'll have to take off the biggest size. What do you think?

I've also almost got the idea for the next book figured out. I'm still working on how best to present the charts for the multi-gauge baby sweaters. They have to be easy to follow and fairly straight forward in their application. I hope this book will encourage knitters to add in their own stitch patterns to make the sweaters their own design. It's coming along.
And I am still knitting socks. If you are too I hope you'll join us at our Sock KAL and show off your knitting. I'd love to see it. You can blog along with us by emailing me, it's all there on the KAL blog site.

It looks like the winter is going to have lots of busy knitting in it. Have you made any plans?
-Deb

2010-12-24T10:51:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. I hope you have a great one. We have lots of snow and the kids are home and there is only one more sleep. Tonight we have our big dinner so I have to get going on my turnip casserole. Everyone else in my immediate family hates turnips but my parents and I love it so the tradition stands, yum.

Have a happy, merry day,
Deb

2010-12-21T20:05:00.003-05:00

I finished up the shrug with the sparkle. It's easy big needle knitting (6.5mm/US10 1/2 needle). The sparkle is great and unfortunately doesn't photograph so you'll have to imagine it. I held one strand of black and one strand of hand-dyed blue together throughout. I like the tweedy affect it makes. It can easily be worn without closing the front or a stick can be put through the front to close it up. I am going to see if I can get someone to model it soon.

I've also, in lieu of Christmas knitting (and my sympathies go out to those of you who are under pressure to get it all done), been finishing up a couple of projects that have been languishing in my knitting basket.

This was a gift which Lynda gave me about 18 months ago and because it's knitting for me it usually gets put to the back of the knitting queue. I love the shape of it and the colour shading is amazing. It's by Candice Eisner Strick.

And because I'm like the cobbler's children who have no shoes except I guess I'm really the cobbler who is shoeless, I made myself a new pair of mittens in Northern Lights wool.

In this climate it is quite often necessary to wear two pairs of mittens and the inside pair were knit so long ago I can't remember when and every year I say I'm going to make an outer pair and now there they are. My hands are going to be toasty this winter. And a good thing too because I think it's going to be a doozy.

Hope you're not lost in a snowdrift or stalled in your car or stuck in an airport somewhere but snug at home knitting over the holidays. Have a very merry,

Deb

Comments:
Thanks MommaBear, I'm liking the collar too.
Liz, I too am drinking lots of tea as I enjoy some non-work knitting.
Brenda I see you got some of your Christmas knitting in the mail already. Good going, I'm cheering for you.