I’ve been hinting a little over the last few months at another medium size project I’ve been working on.  It’s a pattern collection called ‘Scrumptious Knits‘ in collaboration with Fyberspates using their aptly names ‘Scrumptious’ yarns.  I’ve done a few individual designs using Scrumptious before but the range of yarn weights and colours available really begged for a more substantial collection.  Jen (who owns Fyberspates) is busy expanding the business with a new American distributor (Lantern Moon) as well as rolling the yarn out in many UK and Irish shops so it seemed like the perfect time to put the collection together.  The fact that Jen is so much fun to work with makes it always a good time to work with her :)

So, now the knitting is finished, the test knitters have finished and the tech editor has done her work.  A few weeks ago I had great fun doing a photoshoot with Joe downtown in Cork.  The photos were taken in Fitzgerald’s park by the skate park and on the shaky bridge and below UCC by the Glucksman gallery.  (In case you’re wondering, the shaky bridge really is shaky…we had to wait for people to pass between shots as it bounces so much!)  The final steps are now out of my hands, Joe is putting the final layout together and then its off to the printer!!  I’m both excited and really nervous about getting my first booklet printed as its a bigger money investment than I’ve done before.

Because of that I’ve got it up for pre-order while the layout is being finished.  This should bring in enough funds that the printing won’t involve the credit card :)  For anyone thinking about pre ordering I’ve put a nice package together for you, you not only get a reduced price but also an exclusive bonus pattern ‘Ignus Junior’.  This offer will expire once the full ebooklet is released in mid-December.

To buy a print version of the booklet please visit Fyberspates.  A 20% discount coupon for a print version will be included with your electronic purchase.  This will also apply if you buy a hard copy of the booklet first, you’ll have a single use coupon for a discount on the electronic version.

Yarn shops may pre-order this booklet also, find all my distributors on my wholesale page (Fyberspates, Lantern Moon and Deep South Fibers).  If you’ve got a LYS that you’d like to see the booklet in tell them to get in contact!

I’ll leave you with a few shots from the book but you can see a little more descriptions on the Scrumptious Knits page or the ravelry page.  I’ll blog a little more about each pattern over the next week or two so you can read about the design and construction process.

After Iced was published this Summer I began thinking about a baby/child version.  I wanted to keep the basic structure and feel of the cardigan the same but make it more suitable for a smaller body.

It’ll still be top down raglan construction with a large double breasted front band but the yarn weight I used is an aran weight so there is less bulk for a child.  I’ve put a fairly extensive size range together from 3 month up to 10 years.  The body will still be short as in the original but I’ve lengthened the sleeves and added a large garter stitch bottom band.  The whole cardigan is designed to grow with the child, the wrist bands can fold back when they’re small and then be unfolded when older.  The double breasted front can be fastened on the second set of buttons to also extend its useful life.

We met up with Tracy yesterday and took some photos of her beautiful 5 week old.  I think he looks just adorable in his Iced baby set!  The yarn was kindly donated by Jeni of Fyberspates, and the set took just two skeins of Scrumptious Aran (in Cherry). I’ve also knit a larger size for my niece for Christmas in Sarah’s (AKA Babylonglegs) Radiance Aran and the multi-colored yarn looks pretty wonderful in garter stitch knit in different directions!

I keep calling this set Iced Baby (cue the Vanilla Ice song) perhaps I should go find a new name?!?

This pattern should be up and available in the next few weeks, it is such a fast easy knit I think that I may be a little addicted to it (just finished another  hat for my 4 year old!)

Ok, so I think that I’ll have that pdf finished in the next few days. The cardigan will be called ‘Ripley’…see if you can figure out why! Here are a few photos until you can get the final pdf.
This cardigan started out as an idea that I test out on a mini-cardigan to see if you could make the front for a cardigan and collar all one piece.

Mini-Trilo

I really liked the end effect so went on to try it in an adult size with Elann Incense in Navy and this was the result.

Trilo in Navy Elann Incense

Now I love this cardigan so much that I wanted to see what it would look like in different yarns, Sue worked a pink version in Manos del Uraguay, very pretty don’t you think?

Trilo, Pink Manos del Uraguay

Finally a few weeks ago I finished an Olive version with Fyberspates Scrumptious kindly donated by Jen. This yarn creates a super lightweight cardigan that just floats.
I enjoyed knitting the second version as much as the first (very unusual for me!), it has a good mixture between fast easy knitting with some interest thrown in so you don’t get bored. I think the Olive version was knit in less than two weeks!

Trilo, Fyberspates Olive Scrumptious

I’ll leave you with a detail of the shoulder decreases from Sue’s pink version.

Trilo shoulder detail