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.

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

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

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

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

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

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