Coffee with C.C. & Dami Too

Coffee with C.C. (& Dami Too) arrived via pdf on Monday, as promised.  I was surprised by this book, and I would recommend purchasing it if you like small projects. There are seven patterns, a shawl, fingerless mitts, and five socks, but the options offered make it a bit more than just seven patterns..

I vaguely know C.C. through Tara Swiger’s Starship.  C.C. is JavaPurl Designs.  She and Dami live in Edinburgh and they also do a podcast called Geeky Girls Knit, which I’ve never listened to. I just don’t have time or brain space. I do see C.C. on Facebook and occasionally on Instagram.

Dami is 17 and a budding designer, while C.C. is her mom, and has been doing knit design for a while. That’s about what I know about them. They do a retreat too.  Just go to the JavaPurl Design website and see what they offer!

Coffee with C.C. & Dami Too The Patterns

Each pattern has a connection to coffee and there is a photo of a type of coffee with each design.  I loved that the socks are offered in both cuff down and toe up orientation.  That is so nice–and generous.  I also loved that they do a short-row heel instead of a heel flap. They use a method of short rows I can hardly wait to try!  Whoo hoo. The patterns give written instructions and chart instructions and the charts.

The commentary offered was really helpful in keeping track of how to work these patterns and didn’t feel obtrusive at all.  However, I was slightly annoyed that Judy’s Magic Cast On and Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off weren’t written in the book (even a short version) because I wasn’t able to go to the website while initially looking at the book.  I would have appreciated a comment or two on working the initial stitches after doing JMCO.

Using the Patterns and Book

The patterns are given difficulty levels, and the instructions are thorough. As mentioned each sock pattern is offered as cuff down and toe up. Clearly they chose stitch patterns that would work either way and I appreciate that thoughtfulness. I would get this book just to try out the heels, and I would do at least one pair doing one sock top down and the other bottom up.  It might just solve the second sock problem!  A different orientation might be just the thing.

The fingerless mitts come in three lengths, and look like a great place to practice cabling–or cabling without a needle!  The Flat White Wrap is basic lace, but the opportunity to learn and see possibilities are great.

Coffee with . . . Free Advice

I will say off the bat, that I am not the target audience, so any annoyances I felt might not be experienced by another reader. These are suggestions for next time, and I was looking at a pdf that I printed out. Once I figured out how the patterns were laid out, and what the abbreviation style was, it was pretty easy to follow through each pattern.  As a non-sock knitter, these are the things I noticed the most:

1. The title font was difficult to read.  Really cute, and I would choose it, but it was really hard to read. I actually thought that Leg: was a sketch at first glance.
2. I hated the font used for the text.  I am a Times New Roman hater.  There are so many fonts that I’m always disappointed when TNR or its cousins are the choice.
3. I wish the chart had been near the Chart Instructions.  I’ve done this in my patterns too, but I see the efficacy of having the two together.
4. Too little white space. I like 2 spaces after colons and periods (I know it is heretical), but our eyes crave that space, especially when following directions.
5. There were some stylistic inconsistencies and a few minor punctuation errors (period with no space!).
6. This may be a British thing.  But why can’t Knit be a word?  If it says Row 3:  K to 1 st before wrapped st, why not Knit. If it is followed by a number, cool.  Got it.  but I kept looking to see if the number had been dropped. 

So that’s it and these are the reason I publish my own patterns!  I’m going to make a very small version of one of the socks to try out the short row variation that they use.  I might try it from both directions. I loved that they offer both options and feel thatshould be supported by sock knitters.

Thanks C.C. and Dami.  I think Coffee With you was great. I recommend purchasing this book because there is the opportunity to learn things, accompanied by good guidance. I can’t wait to see where C.C. and Dami each go from here!

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