If I put it in writing then it's a promise, right? I'm sewing buttons this weekend. You read it here so it must be true.

These two vests will be finished on Monday.

Meanwhile on the knitting front, I'm further along on my Twist Panel from the Need A Plus Cardigan? book.

I'm starting the waist shaping now. The pattern is memorized and I'm trying to decide how long to make it.
-Deb

A-Line Cardigans

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

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

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

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