I’ve lost count of the number of conversations I’ve had at events or in my sweater fitting classes that went something like this:

Knitter: “So the pattern is sized by full bust measurement?”

Me: “Yes, but if you’re larger than a B-C cup you will probably need to make the size that’s closer to your high bust measurement and maybe add some extra room with darts at the bust.”

Knitter: “Right, but I’m just an A cup so I don’t need to worry about that. But I’m confused because you said full bust measurement wasn’t my bra band size and I wear a 36A and my full bust measurement is 36 inches.”

Me: “Uh, are you sure you’re wearing the right bra size. I really don’t think you’re an A cup, I’d estimate that you’re closer to a 32D.”

Knitter: “OMG but a D cup is HUGE!”

Me: “That’s what the media would have you believe, but go get fitted and get back to me.”

2 weeks later via twitter -

Knitter: “Wow, you were right! My clothes look so much better now and my bra straps don’t fall down.”

I’m not relaying this story in a clumsy attempt to make myself sound smart but in the hope that it might help some of you make sweaters that you’re proud of and that make you look and feel awesome. Although after helping so many women try on sweaters and measure themselves it appears that my only possible future employment (sometimes I freak out about how unemployable I’ll be if people stop knitting so please don’t do that!) will be as the strict lady in the bra shop that takes one look at you and reels off a number.

Anyone who’s taken my Perfect Sweater class knows that the section on taking measurements begins with two rules:

- Have someone else take your measurements. Seriously I know it’s tempting to do yourself but if you can accurately measure yourself you’ve also figured out how to clone yourself and should probably stick with being the evil mastermind you obviously are and not worry too much about making a nice sweater. My favourite illustration of how you can’t even take simple measurements of yourself accurately is that if you put a tape measure around the fullest part of someone else’s bust, hold the tape measure loosely in place and then ask them to lower their arms the tape measure will slide further out. And, unless you always walk around with your arms sticking straight out from your sides you want the second measurement. Try taking that yourself.

- Wear the undergarments you’re going to wear with the sweater. Whether that means a push up bra, a light sports bra, a retro bullet bra (Triumph do a bunch of styles with a slightly vintage without being costumey shape that makes a big difference to retro outfits), a prosthetic, nothing at all, or binding to minimise your breasts, I don’t care but it’s going to change your overall shape, possibly including things like posture. This is different from considering the layers you might wear under something like a jacket, which can be considered when adding ease for a particular garment. I don’t care what you like to wear, but I do care that if you’re wearing a bra that it fits. If you are not absolutely, perfectly certain that you’re wearing a well fitted bra go take care of that before proceeding to take any measurements.

It seems like the people with a vested interest in doing research on this subject are the same people who want to sell you new bras but I’ve seen figures as high as 80 – 90% of women are wearing the wrong size. Given how different all of our bodies are (if you really want to see how true this is this gallery of breasts of all sizes and ages does a good job of showing how much variation is perfectly normal – obviously NSFW!), how random sizing can be between brands and styles, and how even the same body does not stay the same from 1 breast to the other or through the whole month it seems pretty hard to really quantify but there’s no shortage of anecdote (and I obviously have plenty of my own) that does suggest that large numbers of you are not really the size you think you are and that the more likely scenario is that you’re wearing a band size that is too large and a cup that is too small. Because cup size is proportional to band size – ie. a 36D is more or less the same cup as a 38C you may actually be wearing the correct size cup, but once you go down in band size the letter will get larger (uh, not that letters get larger, but you know what I mean!). One major reason for this is that there isn’t a very clear methodology for measuring your body and choosing a size, but what really doesn’t help is that the vast majority of sources give a very out of date formula that might have worked when bras were made from less elastic materials but certainly isn’t appropriate today. Any formula that tells you to measure around your underbust and add 5″ is going to cause exactly this problem.

How can you tell you might be wearing the wrong size? First of all, if you used any formula like that above. But most obviously, you’re probably uncomfortable. The band riding up or sliding around in any way is an indication that it’s too loose, and since the band will stretch out over time it should be initially snug on the loosest hooks. If it’s cutting in uncomfortably though it’s too small or sitting in the wrong place on your body. If the cups cut into your breast tissue anywhere or some is spilling over the top when they’re either the wrong size and / or the wrong shape – spacing also makes a big difference. If the straps keep sliding down your shoulders unless you tighten them so much they leave dents that’s a sign again that the band is too wide, not that you just need to get used to the straps being tight – they’re sliding off because they’re too widely spaced. When taking measurements flags such as a reasonable difference between high and full bust measurements, other measurements corresponding to a smaller garment size than your full bust would indicate, a difference of more than 1-2″ between front and back shoulder to underbust lengths, are a good indication that you should be a wearing a bra with a cup size larger than B-C and that if you are not it might be a good idea to get fitted.

So can you calculate your bra size from your measurements? Not really, no, but you can get a good indication of whether the size you’re currently wearing is wildly off and find an estimated size to start trying on. Because of all of the aforementioned factors, finding a good fit is a combination of size and particular bra, so there’s really no substitute for trying on and it helps to know what a good fit actually is which is where experienced fitters can be so helpful. This Ravelry page has a pretty good guide to use as a starting point and these guides on Bravissimo and Figleaves may be helpful too. But yes, the best idea is to get a fitting from someone who really knows what they’re doing – which obviously will not be everywhere that offers such a service. Look for a store that actually sells a full size range, in a selection of different styles – if they don’t sell at least a 28 band and cup sizes up to G (not the largest available just an indication that the store has some idea of what they’re doing) then they’re just going to try and sell you something that they stock, regardless of fit. If you can, bug everyone you know and find that magical fitter that can tell you instantly what size and style to start with, but larger chains that have fitters I’ve heard positive things about are Nordstrom in the US, and Bravissimo in the UK (solely for cup sizes above D). If you are looking for harder to find sizes both Bravissimo and Figleaves ship internationally and there are also many smaller online sellers that specialise in particular fitting areas and have reputations for great customer service, it would be extremely helpful to everyone if you could leave your personal recommendations in the comments. Wearing a bra that fits well won’t change your life, but if you were previously wearing one that didn’t it will make you a lot more comfortable and you’ll be ready to take measurements and make a wonderful sweater.

If you want to talk about breasts further, figure out bras that might work well for you and discuss fitting sweaters around your breasts the Ravelry group The Bustline that I linked to above for info on measuring might be just the place for you. I know reading posts there has been helpful for me in figuring this stuff out and thinking about the fitting issues different knitters will have when they knit my patterns. There’s also the less active Itty Bitty Titty Committee, obviously a group for the smaller breasted.

Bicycling, knitting and delicious food – even with some rain this trip has been kind of perfect!

We drew a couple of random numbers and the winners of the book contest are Terhi and Birgitte. Terhi said “Instead of knitting book I have an addiction to Veeras (100 rain) patterns. Not just beautiful sweaters but also nice to knit.”

I’ve been following Veera Välimäki’s work for a while and love how her designs are contemporary, very wearable and look like they’d be interesting to knit. As soon as I saw this cardigan I started daydreaming about outfits it could be part of, Driven.

Birgitte commented that her “favourite recently published knitting book is the Bird Collection by Amimono (Amimono.dk).” Isn’t the styling of that beautiful? Recently I knit a project for a book in Isager yarn and was really impressed by its quality, in addition to the sophisticated colour palette that I’ve found inspiring for a long time. Birgitte’s latest blog post shows her first project from the book, the Nightingale vest, in a fascinating stitch pattern that I’ve seen before but never really considered in clothing, it works surprisingly well though.

Congratulations to both winners, I hope Coastal Knits and My Grandmother’s Knitting will inspire you to make many more beautiful projects!

The comments on the last post were so much fun to read, I love how enthusiastic so many of you are to share which books you like and what compelled you to choose them. Perhaps I’ve talked about this before but one of my very favourite things, beyond just crafting, is reading craft books.

For a few years as a child, the socially awkward everyone is changing pre-teen years, books were my escape from the stressful world of school and kids who were your best friend one day and worst enemy the next. I devoured books, reading pretty much every novel in the kids and teen section of our library. Including the entire Baby Sitters’ Club series to try and figure out why my friends were so obsessed with it, I remained perplexed and returned to the Chalet School, itself kind of cringeworthy, and Tamora Pierce, an author I’m still happy to read when life gets stressful.

But I split my time at the library, and my precious 6-books-can-be-taken-home-at once allowance, between the fiction and craft sections. The kid’s craft section was small and quickly exhausted, plus it annoyed me that most of the crafts looked like an adult’s idea of how kids would draw, but I found the general craft section and spent hours sitting on the floor trying to decide whether I should spend that week reading about making beads, miniature dolls, bookbinding or carpentry. Sometimes I tried out the projects, poring wistfully over the resources pages filled with companies that sold all of the perfect tools and materials before resignedly rummaging through my own supplies for things that would do instead. Regardless of the subject matter or whether I tried out any of the ideas I’d read every word and study every illustration. And when I did craft things myself I’d narrate them in my head, carefully explaining each step and why I’d decided to do it that way. Yeah… it’s such a shock that I wasn’t sure how to relate to other kids!

Over the next few years I spent less time sitting on the floor of the library and more time with friends and much more time agonising over what I was going to do with my life and whether I was choosing the appropriate subjects in school (for my international readers, Scotland has a much more specialised high school system than many countries). But perhaps going back to what made you happy when you were ten years old isn’t the worst thing to find yourself doing as a career. I’m pretty sure at least that I’d have been excited then to see my future desk in all its (creative?) mess surrounded by craft books.

That was a very long way to explain exactly what I mean when I say I love craft books, and here are a few that I’ve recently discovered that I think are rather wonderful.

200 Fair Isle Motifs by Mary Jane Mucklestone

The British title is 200 Fair Isle Designs and can be ordered along with gorgeous Shetland wool from the lovely people at Jamieson and Smith.

It’s a stitch dictionary of 200 traditional Fair Isle designs, by one of my favourite designers (and people). The cover really says it all, except that this is perhaps the most well thought out and user friendly stitch dictionary I’ve ever encountered. They should all just copy this, I promise not to mock them for imitation, I’ll just be pleased. It begins with a short but useful guide to the essential skills of Fair Isle knitting: choosing appropriate yarn and tools, working stranded colour work in the round, yarn dominance (if you don’t know what this means and you want to try Fair Isle you should find out, it’s the biggest thing that will lead to a result you can be proud of), steeking, and then a little about colour theory and design principles for planning garments.

The remainder of the book is devoted to the stitch patterns themselves, and the way this is organised is genius. It’s split into two sections, first there’s a design selector, simply showing photographs of swatches of all 200 designs with a number and page reference, a nice touch is that the pages of this section have coloured backgrounds, effectively meaning that the edge of the pages are coloured and the section can be easily turned to.

Following is the design directory itself, showing charts for the patterns on one side with photos of the swatches opposite. The patterns are arranged in a very particular order, by number of rows and then by number of stitches. This is not just because it looks very neat and organised. It means that if you are choosing patterns for, say a jumper, and you know that the number of stitches you need is a multiple of eight then you can immediately narrow your selection down to just patterns that are worked over a multiple of 2, 4 or 8 stitches. As Mary Jane explains in the first section of the book, row number is significant because Fair Isle patterns are traditionally grouped by row number into Peeries (which literally means small, doesn’t that just sound like a word that means cute little thing?), border patterns and large patterns (which I don’t think are ever called Muckles, but it would be kind of fun if they were). Having the patterns conveniently arranged by number of rows means you could easily pick out peerie patterns to arrange between larger patterns on your jumper.

The charts for every pattern are given in several formats. First there’s a simple black and white chart of a single pattern repeat (ie. the pattern distilled to it’s simplest form), followed by a chart using the colours in the featured swatch. This is particularly useful for patterns with many rows as it shows how the colours can be striped. Then there is a suggested colour variation that illustrates how different the same pattern can look with a simple change in colour. Finally there is a chart showing a suggested all over repeat, which has been thoughtfully matched to the actual pattern in question, sometimes showing a simple horizontal repeat, sometimes also how the patterns can be arranged vertically by staggering or mirroring repeats.

As I said, this is an exemplary approach to a stitch dictionary. I only had a couple of fairly minor issues. It would have been really nice if the stitch and row counts for each pattern had been included in the design selector, given that that information is so often crucial to the selection of these types of patterns. It was nice to see such a wide example of colours in the sample swatches, but I did find a few of them difficult to “read” because the photographed colours appear too close in value to each other. On the whole though, and having taken photographs of multiple swatches and having some idea of how difficult it can be, I think they did a generally good job with the photography.

It’s a simple stitch dictionary yes, but 200 Fair Isle Designs manages to be both wonderfully inspiring and exceptionally useful.

The Principles of Knitting (2nd edition) by June Hemmons Hiatt (there’s a contest at that link, by the way!)

I’m not sure there has even been as much excitement surrounding the re-publication of a long out of print knitting book as this one, it’s certainly the only one that could give Alice Starmore’s work any competition in that contest. I happened to be sitting in Fancy Tiger’s office when their first copies arrived and may have grabbed a copy before they’d even unboxed them. And then I almost dropped it because wow that is a giant book, regretfully I decided that it wasn’t worth paying excess baggage charges for. They let me leaf through it, and I managed to find enough exciting bits that I tweeted

“got my hands on the ENORMOUS principles of knitting, already having a heated argument. My goal is not to hide that my sweaters are hand knit”.

Honestly, I didn’t mean that as a negative review, I was pretty thrilled to find a knitting book that I can have a heated argument with. Yes, Hiatt, has opinions and I don’t always agree with them, but she explains her reasoning in a way that really does make reading it feel like a passionate discussion. That tweet was in reference to a section on using the steeking technique to hide the shaping on a piece of flat knitting within a selvedge that would later be cut off, I still cannot fathom why one would want to make their hand knit garment resemble a cut and sewn mass produced one, but perhaps someone can explain. However, when I happily found an easier to carry version I could download to the iPad I discovered many other passages that made me want to buy the author a drink. I was delighted to read this, for example.

“There is nothing more important to the fit of any garment you knit than an accurate stitch gauge”

The following advice about swatching is extensive and sensible, although I didn’t find the suggestions given as revolutionary as the introduction would suggest “if you are one of the many knitters who do make Gauge Swatches, but have problems trying to match the gauge for a pattern, or are frustrated by things that still do not fit quite right, I want to reassure you that the problem does not rest with you – it is that the methods recommended for finding gauge are flawed and unreliable.” That is likely a result of the differing contexts of the two editions and, given the large numbers of knitters I meet in the workshops I teach who have not considered the factors that can affect gauge, anything that will promote more helpful and accurate swatching is an excellent thing. In addition, Hiatt’s extensive explanations of not just what those factors are, but why they can cause issues should help knitter’s to better understand their knitting and she goes through a huge number of potential swatching situations in great detail. Yay swatching!

It was also nice to see some discussion of the problems with simple top-down garments “the dimensions of a fabric change when it is dressed the first time, so trying on a garment as it emerges from the needles does not usually provide a very accurate sense of how it will really fit later.” This is certainly true, as is the argument that working a top down raglan with evenly worked paired increases along each raglan line constrains the proportions of the garment in a way that is unlikely to match the body, especially across a range of sizes. However, I don’t think it’s fair to extrapolate these issues to the dismissive “working entirely in the round from the top down imposes a compromise in terms of how well the garment will fit, although the results can be reasonably successful in a loose garment because a knitted fabric is forgiving”. The key, in my opinion, is that for well fitted garments it’s crucial that the construction doesn’t dictate the proportions.

This is the second edition of the book, and I honestly have no idea how much it differs from the first because I’ve never encountered the earlier edition. What has changed dramatically, however, is the context in which it is appearing. There are now so many resources available to knitters of all skill levels interested in learning new techniques that it’s not surprising that one of the questions I’ve seen come up the most regarding this book is whether it’s really needed anymore, beyond finding out what all of the fuss is about. Firstly, and this is coming from someone who considers a stitch dictionary bedtime reading, it’s an interesting read. Secondly, it’s incredibly comprehensive and you’ll almost certainly discover something new, and maybe something to enjoy arguing with as well. Online videos, blog tutorials and Ravelry discussions can be excellent and often far more detailed ways to learn new techniques than reference books. However, the downfall of relying only on those resources is that it can be difficult to get a sense of the broader picture, to see perhaps how different cast ons compare to each other in properties and use not just how to work each one. I often recommend to newer knitters that they use a reference book to find out what they want to learn and then refer to the internet or other knitters if they struggle to learn the technique from the short description, or for more discussion. This certainly isn’t the only general knitting reference, my most used over the years has probably been Montse Stanley’s Handknitter’s Handbook, but it may well be the most comprehensive. It definitely goes into much more detail about garment design than the other general references available. Just a word of warning, I did find that Hiatt frequently gives techniques her own name. In some ways this is sensible – her names are often much more descriptive than the commonly used one, but it might make it hard to find what you’re looking for. Magic loop, for example, is referred to as “looped needle technique”. Do you need it with all of the other resources available? Probably not, but I’m certain you’ll find it interesting. (Apologies for the lack of page references here, I haven’t yet added the print copy to my library and the page numbers in the digital one change depending on text size – ie. they’re completely useless).

Mary Jane’s book reminded me of visiting Jamieson and Smith a few years ago with her and of the yarn and knitting belt I picked up there. Yesterday evening I dug the knitting belt out, took Hiatt’s advice that “every knitter consider learning at least two [knitting] methods; three is even better” and tried practising with it – learning a new knitting style is SO HARD, but I’m starting to see the appeal and I’m going to try and take some video showing my usual knitting style and with the belt. In the mean time, here is the world’s fastest knitter using one (I am NOT that fast, don’t give up on this hobby completely!).

When I started writing this post I had a couple of sewing books sitting on my desk, but I think this is long enough for now and that they deserve their own dedicated post. One other thing I did briefly want to mention, if you’re interested in reading some fascinating knitting history is issue 2 of Kate Davies’ digital magazine Textisles which I enjoyed immensely. There are a couple of adorable patterns in addition to articles by Kate and Susan Crawford.

Have you had a chance to check out either of these books yet? I’d love to know what you think.

Books in general are pretty wonderful, books about knitting are even better, and free books about knitting might be the best of all! (Well, I’m glad they’re mostly not-free, because it means I get to eat, but you know what I mean.) Right now there are several exciting chances to win free books going on.

Last year I got to chat, and act with, the charming Wondermike and he’s put together a whole episode of his podcast, Fiber Beat, featuring our interview. Mostly we focused on Little Red in the City, so you can learn a little more about the book and the process of creating it and if you share your favourite fairy tale with Michael there’s a chance to win a print copy.

Have you seen the front page of Ravelry? They’re giving away 25 packs of 26 of the most interesting books (er, 25 of the most interesting books and my Whimsical Little Knits 3, which I do think is fairly interesting, but I’m obviously biased!) published in the last year to celebrate their newly improved library feature. Honestly this feature is so wonderful that I don’t think they need to do anything to celebrate it, apart from anything else you can now add books without patterns. Given that I can barely follow a pattern and never have time anyway the vast majority of my books fall into that category so I’m looking forward to adding them. There was also a bit of a glitch with my complicated ebook + print combos that the new library fixes. Love it! All of the details of the contest are on the Ravelry page, but essentially all you have to do is learn how to use the new library – which you almost certainly want to do anyway. If you haven’t seen some of these books yet this is also a great chance to see what’s new – there are some really wonderful titles included.

I’m particularly excited about Connie Chang Chinchio’s pretty, feminine Textured Stitches and Anna Hrachovec’s Teeny Tiny Mochi Mochi: so teensy and fun, if you get a chance to see her stuff on display at an event you should make sure to check it out.

There’s actually a second book in the Ravelry giveaway featuring one of my patterns. The Fiddler’s Mitts can be found in Larrissa Brown’s fascinating My Grandmother’s Knitting that features personal family stories celebrating the rich history of our craft as it’s been handed down the generations.

The title is also such a fantastic antidote to all of those lazy “not your grandma’s knitting headlines”, as though our grandmother’s (and grandfathers, aunts, etc) weren’t just as skilled and creative as contemporary crafters. Literally as I was writing this post an additional copy of the book showed up on my doorstep, sent due to a mixup. But… instead of sending it back I get to give it away to one of you – yay!

All of this book fun inspired me to select one of my own favourite recently published books to give away to one of you, and I chose the beautiful Coastal Knits by Alana Dakos and Hannah Fettig.

It’s been hard to miss both of these designers over the last few years so it was exciting to see what they came up with when they collaborated. The result is a gorgeous blend of their distinct styles, while it’s still easy to tell which design is by which design. The title refers to the opposite coasts they live on, Alana in California and Hannah in Maine. This theme clearly inpired the designs and continues through the dreamy photography, creative graphic design and anecdotes about the landscape they clearly love. It’s got me dreaming of moving to the beach. I clearly love the book for the escapism, but of course the designs are gorgeous too. After I stole Alana’s Wildflower Cardigan recently at Stitches West (don’t worry, I grudgingly returned it) let’s add “time to knit that” to my fantasy beach life.

For a chance to win a copy of either My Grandmother’s Knitting or Coastal Knits just leave a comment telling me what your favourite recent knitting book is and why. Enter by the 21st of March (a week from now) and I’ll draw out 2 random winners. Don’t forget to say which book you’d like!

Some designs come together relatively quickly, but this wasn’t one of them. Almost four years ago I posted the first photos of a lace shawl in progress (alongwith a brownie recipe I’d forgotten about but now cannot wait to make again – you certainly should!). I did finish the shawl, here’s a photo of it blocking:

However, my design and knitting skills were rather ahead of my pattern writing experience and my attempts at charting the pattern resulted in a headache. If I couldn’t make sense of how to chart a large stitch pattern with a constantly changing stitch count I certainly couldn’t expect any knitter to follow it. And so, I wore my shawl, and filed my notes away under “old patterns in progress”. Last summer I found the shawl in a drawer and went to look at my original chart. After dragging a few things around in illustrator it seemed pretty simple and I set out to find the perfect cherry yarn. I started off with a gorgeous cashmere / silk blend from The Sanguin Gryphon, but we found out not long before the photoshoot that they would be splitting into two companies and that this yarn would no longer be available. Fortunately Cephalopod Yarns totally came through and dyed up the same deep cherry colour in the popular Skinny Bugga base.

I love showing how different a shawl can look in fingering vs lace weight, especially since they so often work at the same gauge. For the laceweight version I choose the luxurious 2ply cashmere from Jade Sapphire in the colourway Cousin Coral, a vibrant red orange that made me think of cherries at that bright, almost ripe stage.

Do you recognise my lovely models? I accosted Melissa and Clara at Rhinebeck and had them pose for me – I love how many friends ended up in Whimsical Little Knits 3. After modelling for Saturday Treat (we did the photoshoot twice but that’s another story) it was so nice to be on the other side of the lens.

Sherilyn is part of Whimsical Little Knits 3, and I hope you like some of the other patterns in the book too, but if you’re only interested in knitting this shawl I have some good news. It’s now also available as an individual pdf for £3.75.

If I’d known in 2008 that I’d end up waiting for almost four years to see anyone else make it I’d probably have pretended the idea never existed but it was totally worth all of the percolation time. I love this bright green one that IgnorantBliss has already finished!

I can’t wait to see yours! Now, who knows where the name came from and what the connection with the “cherry shawl” working title is?

It’s probably obvious from the whole 3 books published in just over 6 months thing, but I work a lot. I love what I do, and feel so grateful that this is my work, but still it’s definitely work. And because I love it, and love releasing new things, it can be hard to take time off – even weekends feel like stolen time, and I take them rarely. But, I’m trying to convince myself of something I know to be true in the abstract, that time off to recharge is crucial to remaining creative, not to mention sane.

After Tnna I spent a week with Kristi Porter, who tech edited Whimsical Little Knits 3, and her family in San Diego.

The ocean just a few blocks away, a colourful farmer’s market full of exotic fruit and vegetables (even these tomatoes seem exotic in January!) and reading in the sunshine – pretty much doing nothing, in the most delightful way.

Now I’m in Denver, having fun with my friends at Fancy Tiger . Arriving in a snowstorm was a little shocking after the sunshine in California and Arizona (this Tnna was in Phoenix), but everything is so pretty and yesterday’s snow meant classes at the store were cancelled so I took over the space and worked on a fun sewing project

This morning I woke up to big flakes falling, but by the afternoon it was warm and sunny enough that ice cream seemed like a good idea. I ate it while wandering around the neighbourhood, where I found a brand new store full of lovely handmade clothing – Sewn.

I’m taking another couple of weeks off, starting with a few days in the mountains here in Colorado and then I’m going to spend a week surfing in Mexico. That trip was kind of a splurge for me (money that could be spent on printing!) but I’m very excited about it and given how many new ideas and projects I’ve already come up with – it might almost count as a business investment. After that I’ll be returning to Denver where I’ll do a book signing on the 17th, lecture from 7-8 and signing from 8-9. With the photobooth! Then I’ll be heading to California for Stitches West where I’ll have a booth with lots of samples for you to try on, the photobooth and I’ll be signing all five books. Five, when did that happen?! I guess it was time for a holiday!

I’ve been busy recently, so busy that it’s taken me a couple of weeks to actually write this post. The whirlwind of VK Live and Tnna is over and I’m writing this in the Phoenix airport as I await a flight to stay with friends in California, where I’m going to catch up on remaining work and then spend some time relaxing. Very excited about that! So, in case you haven’t seen, here are the two new books.

The first is Whimsical Little Knits 3, featuring more of the same kinds of fun little projects as the first two in the series.

The second is a collaboration with my friend Jeni from Fyberspates. She asked me a while ago if I’d like to develop a colour palette in her Scrumptious yarn and I jumped at the chance to choose any colours I wanted. So there are 6 of my colours now available (you can order from Fyberspates or ask your local yarn store – Lantern Moon are distributing them in the US, Fybersaptes in the UK). Of course, once I had these colours I had to work with them and the result is a book called Saturday Treat with six accessory patterns. All but one use just one skein, and it’s possible to make a few Pear Drop shawls from just one.

Both books are currently available to pre-order and a pdf ebook can be downloaded instantly. Individual, more print friendly pdfs of each pattern are gradually being uploaded and printed books should be shipping by the end of the month.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful weekend, whatever you’re doing. We gathered this week to celebrate the solstice and getting two new books to the printer. There was delicious cake, we exchanged gifts and we took this extremly dorky photo with the my tree, not that you can really see it. The matching outfits were completly unintentional! Sarah dyed, spun and knit my Damson, it’s so pretty.

We’re all taking a few days off to spend time with our families so please give us a little time to get back to any emails or comments next week. Make some merry x

The Oxidize hat pattern is now available to purchase as a pdf, on Ravelry and on the website. The pattern will be part of Whimsical Little Knits 3, which we’re working really hard on getting to press. However, since it isn’t quite there yet I don’t want to open up pre-orders. At the same time I don’t want those of you who think you’ll want the whole book to have to wait for Oxidize so I thought we’d try something new. Included in the pattern is a coupon code that will give you a 25% discount on the book when it comes out (note that this will only work if you’re using the same Ravelry account or email address).

By wonderful coincidence I’m writing this post sitting in the dye studio at A Verb for Keeping Warm, where the yarn featured in Oxidize was dyed. The blue is indigo dyed which is an incredibly fascinating process, it isn’t like any other dye. I was going to have Kristine write a little about it, but then I realised I could record video with my camera so it seemed like a fun idea to record her giving a little introduction. It’s a little dorky and poorly edited but I hope you enjoy it.

If you’re interested in this really unique yarn Verb are offering a coupon for 15% off of the Slick yarn (which does come in a range of other beautiful, naturally dyed, colourways if the indigo blue isn’t your thing). To receive your discount enter the code “ysolda15%” at the checkout. This offer is valid through the end of December, perfect for holiday gifts. If you make the shorter version in the smaller 2 sizes you can even make two from one skein. Or, if you prefer the two colour version, you can make two hats from one skein of each colour. It might be fun to do fraternal twins using a different MC for each hat.

We’re also working on something secret with the indigo that I’m excited to show you in a couple of months.