Once again, too many projects on the go.

The sun is coming through the leaves of my maple tree onto the vest I'm just finishing. Now I have to go over the pattern a couple more times, oh and get some buttons.

The lace pattern down the side came out very nicely. This is knit in Shelridge Farm W4 .

This one is almost done. It's the Lace Frock with cap sleeves from the Need A Plus Cardigan? book . We've started a Debs Need A Plus Cardigan KAL if you want to join us and knit a cardigan with lots of help along the way. Oh, and this is also in Shelridge Farm W4. I love it.

This is next in line. I'm going to make a shawl in two yarns which Lyn dyed in the same dye bath.

As you can see they took the dye differently. I'm going to try garter stitch stripes and see how that looks. Could be interesting or a disaster, fun, fun, fun.

There is the baby cardigan from the last post too. I can't forget that one. Also I have a pair of socks almost done somewhere around here. And a scarf I started, just to knit on when I have a spare moment, ha, ha. Does this sound familiar? Tell me I'm not going crazy!
-Deb

I'm trying out our new yarn Saucon Fingering in Canada (Saucon Sock in the U.S.). It's a blend of cotton/acrylic/nylon. It's making a terrific baby sweater from the Need A Baby Cardigan? book.

The Twist pattern shows up really well.

I can think of several more projects I would love to do in this crisp fingering yarn. Have you used  a fingering weight yarn for sweaters?
-Deb

I had a lovely class at Yarn Forward and Sew-On in Ottawa, ON last Saturday. The knitters still look undaunted after a long day of working top down increases and patterning. They are holding the beginning of their second cardigan of the day. What a terrific group.

A brave group of knitters tackled this challenging class and did Fantastic!
Thanks everyone.

We're shipping!

The paper version of our new book, Need a PLUS Cardigan?, has arrived and we're just finishing up shipping all the advance orders. A really large shipment went down to the US this week for our US distributors.

The "mobile-friendly" eBook version has also now been posted on the Patternfish and here's a direct link if you were waiting for that to be available: http://www.patternfish.com/patterns/12076 . I've tested it on my iPad, my Kobo reader and my android phone so I'm hopeful it will work on most mobile devices (frankly I was astonished at how readable the book was on my phone).
Cheers
Lyn

Teresa asked a very good question - Can you reproduce stitch patterns when working from the top down?

This is a leaf pattern which is knit from the Bottom Up. The two leaves hang down.

When you follow the exact same written instructions for the stitch pattern, working from the Top Down, the leaves will be pointing up when you wear the garment. To change the leaves so that they point down when your top down is worn would take some engineering and understanding of lace principles.

I would strongly suggest that the easiest way to tackle choosing lace patterns to be inserted into a top down garment is to hold your stitch dictionary upside down.

That way the pattern you are attracted to is oriented in the way it will be seen when your top down garment is worn. Try it. The patterns all look a little different from that perspective. Different patterns will catch your eye. It's fun, especially in a public place where people will look at you oddly!
-Deb