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Summer Dawn – Knitting Pattern

A fingering or sport weight cardi knit top down, with contiguous set in sleeves, waist shaping and two sleeve options (elbow and full length). It is mostly stockinette to the front and on the back is an easy to work lace pattern. The cardigan is worked in a top down method called contiguous which means no seaming or sewing on sleeves later as it will all be done as one piece.

Summer Dawn - Andrea Black's designs - Knitting pattern

Summer Dawn - Andrea Black's designs - Knitting pattern

The pattern is available for £5.50 and will be delivered in PDF format.
Buy the pattern here
Or if you are on Ravelry you can buy it here.

The fit: It is designed with no ease, giving enough stretch for a light under layer like a tshirt or tank top. If you would like the sweater to be less fitted than the example, choose one size larger than your usual high bust measurement.

The example: The sweater in the pattern is the 34” size and is shown on myself with a 35” high bust measurement. Always choose the size based off your high bust measurement NOT your full bust measurement. Your high bust measurement is the width across your body directly under your underarms. This will give the best fit for neckline/shoulders, and all over body fit. If your full bust is substantially larger and would cause the sweater to be too tight then adding bust darts are the best solution to keep the overall fit exactly as you want it.

The yardage:
Elbow Length Sleeves: 815 (892, 955, 1043, 1105, 1184, 1261, 1330)yds / 745 (815, 874, 954, 1011, 1082, 1153, 1216)m fingering / sport weight yarn
Long Sleeves: 951 (1026, 1089, 1184, 1248, 1329, 1410, 1479)yds / 869 (938, 996, 1083, 1141, 1215, 1289, 1352)m fingering / sport weight yarn

High bust measurement: To measure your high bust run the tape measure around your body directly underneath your underarms and above your actual bust. Choose the nearest size (rounding down) if you would like it to fit as in the examples. Go up a size if you’d like a looser fit.

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Pull Me Over will be at Stitches South!

While I can’t be at Stitches South myself, one of my patterns (Pull Me Over) will be! Miss Babs has a booth at the event and will be selling the pattern as well as displaying a knit up example for you to see! They are in booths 419 and 518 (end of an aisle) so if you’re planning on attending make sure you drop by their table and check it out! There is a handy vendor floor plan available on the Stitches South website if you want to set out your plan of attack.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Stitches South, it is a knitting event held in Atlanta that runs from the 11th of April through to the 14th. There’s lots of classes going on and of course a market with tons of vendors selling all sorts of beautiful yarn. I’m so jealous I can’t be there myself!

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2 new sweater patterns!

I released Madison today and realised I never announced Cora (released in January) in a post here! So there are two new sweaters to mention today.

The newest is Madison. It’s an easy to wear, worsted weight cardi. Sleeves are detailed with long ribbed cuffs and a double band runs along the front and neckline, fastened shut by toggles.

Madison : Sweater knitting pattern

If you’d like to know more about the pattern you can visit the pattern page here


And then there is Cora which is a pullover pattern released in January. It’s a dk or light worsted weight cabled pullover, knit top down and in the round, with waist shaping built in and the choice of either cap or long sleeves.

Cora : Pullover sweater knitting pattern

If you’d like to know more about the pattern you can visit the pattern page by clicking here.

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Pull Me Over – Knitting Pattern

Pull Me Over knitting pattern has just been released! A worsted or heavy dk weight ribbed pullover. Knit top down, in the round, with waist shaping built in, and three different styles of sleeves.

Sleeve Options

There are cap sleeves (blue example), long ribbed sleeves with a simple BO (red example), and long stockinette sleeves with a garter cuff.

The pattern is available for £5.00 and will be delivered in PDF format: Buy the pattern here
Or if you are on Ravelry you can buy it here.

The fit: It is designed with 2” of negative ease. The body ribbing is designed to provide stretch and shape to the sweater. If you would like the sweater to be less fitted than the example, choose one size larger than your usual high bust measurement.

The examples: The sweaters in the pattern are both 34” and are shown on myself with a 35” high bust measurement.

The yardage:
Cap Sleeves: 501 (550, 631, 681, 751, 801, 873, 926)yds / 458 (503, 577, 622, 687, 732, 798, 846)m
Long sleeves: 757 (820, 911, 973, 1054, 1116, 1199, 1258)yds / 692 (750, 833, 890, 964, 1020, 1096, 1150)m

High bust measurement: To measure your high bust run the tape measure around your body directly underneath your underarms and above your actual bust. Round down to the nearest size if you would like it to fit as in the examples. Go up a size if you’d like a looser fit. I’ve written a whole post about choosing the right size which you can read here.

Get your copy here:

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Making button placement easy

As I’m nearing the end of a project I’m usually quite eager to get onto the next new shiny, and already eyeing up and possibly winding the yarn for the next project.

Mary Mary buttons When it’s time to do the finishing touches I have been known to leave the nearly finished wip in a corner somewhere trying to pretend it doesn’t exist, so anything that makes this finishing step quicker or easier makes me a very happy girl!

There are some great tips floating around that make it easier to ensure your buttons are lined up properly with your buttonholes but the method I’ve found recently takes away all the guessing and re-counting. Yay!

What to do
When it’s time to knit a buttonhole row I take a removable stitch marker and place it around the 3rd or 4th stitch (depending on how far in your buttonhole is designed to go) and then knit across before creating your buttonhole. This way, once I’m done, I just go through one at a time and replace the stitch markers with buttons. (You could, of course, do this the other way around if you need to knit your buttonhole at the beginning of the row!)

Extra special bonus point! With the removable stitch markers in place while you knit it means easier trying on because you can treat the stitch markers like buttons, pulling them through the buttonholes to hold the cardi shut.

Mary Mary - Button Placement flat example