Take the Plunge Book Review!

Take the Plunge. Lindsay Lewchuk (aka Knit Eco Chic) helps you plunge into drop stitch knitting with a book of three designs done in Malabrigo Verano. There are instructions for variations, and several are shown. Each garment has multiple sizes; the shawl is a 72″ wingspan.

In the interests of full disclosure, Lindsay has taken my A System of Grading course and we belong to a designer group together. More interesting to me is that Lindsay lives with extreme environmental sensitivities which require that she live away from “civilization”. She has a routine for cleaning yarn (she can only use plant fibers) before it can be brought into her environment.

Plunging into Drop Stitches

I love dropped stitches, so I was anxious to take the plunge. Upon receiving the Take the Plunge pdf I took needles and yarn down to the couch for evening swatching. I am not very good at following other designers’ patterns. I’m used to calling the shots, not following instructions. After a couple of false starts I was on my way and I’m currently waiting for my swatch to dry so I can cast on a half-size sample of Dive.

You cannot believe how fun it is to drop these stitches! I do a lot of drop stitches, but watching them drop around the cables was amazing! Drop is perhaps the wrong term because you actually have to help them.

I am not going to mention what I would do differently. Mostly it is stylistic stuff and we all adapt. That said, there is good instruction throughout and good photos. I would definitely do a swatch because it is how you are going to understand what is being done throughout the instructions.

Dropping stitches is almost too much fun. I am looking forward to doing the full length of Dive just to repeat that. I also love the other two designs, which utilize a different cable, so I was tempted by all of them.

Taking Gauge

Here are my swatch stats: I used Croquet from Anzula, which is a 50% silk, 50% merino blend. It is DK and I used size 6 needles. The yarn is leftover from another project. My half-size dress form (Dolly) always gets leftovers! I will make size adjustments to the pattern.

Anzula Croquet swatch on Dolly — Putting this on the dress form allows me to choose placement of the cables. See notes below under Working a half-size sample.

Unblocked Gauge:

20.5 sts over 4″/10 cm and 26.5 rows over 4″/10 cm in drop stitch pattern.
5.125 sts/1″/2.54 cm and 6.625 rows/1″/2.54 cm.
The pattern between the garter was 5.5″/ 14 cm wide and 6.75″/ 17.2 cm deep.
Over garter the gauge was 9 sts over 2″/5.1 cm and 31 rows over 4″/10 cm.
4.5 sts/1″/2.54 cm and 7.75 rows/1″/2.54 cm.

Blocked Gauge:

18 sts over 4″/10 cm and 23 rows over 4″/10 cm in drop stitch pattern.
4.5 sts/1″/2.54 cm and 5.75 rows/1″/2.54 cm.
The pattern between the garter was 5″/ 14 cm wide and 7.5″/ 17.2 cm deep.
Over garter the gauge was 9 sts over 2″/5.1 cm and 23 rows over 4″/10 cm.
4.5 sts/1″/2.54 cm and 5.75 rows/1″/2.54 cm.

Working a Half-size Sample

Based on my numbers, I’m casting on 48 pattern stitches + 2 garter stitches on each side, working half the M lengths. I hung my swatch on Dolly to see how I wanted the patterns to align. I chose an even number so the Stockinette is at the center. The pattern has it varying per size. Dolly is quite busty 19″/48.3 cm (38″/96.5 cm full size) so I may need to work some extra rows in the front. At my gauge that will give me 11.5″/29.2 cm in width for a total of 23″/58.4 cm (46″/116.8 cm). Probably a little looser than I would normally choose. Everything is a trade-off when working half-size.

Really, Take the Plunge

I can hardly wait to Take the Plunge on the sample. At $27 Take the Plunge as a book is a bargain. I will get more than $30 entertainment out of knitting this sample for Dolly.

The yarn used runs about $15/skein, pima cotton, 205 yds/100g.

Dive: Sizes S (M) (L) (XL). Uses 3 (3) (4) (4) skeins
$45 (45) (60) (60)

Plunge: Bust Sizes 30 (34) (38) (42) (46) (50). Full Length uses 3 (3) (4) (4) (4) (5) skeins
$45 (45) (60) (60) (60) (75)
Crop Length uses 1 (2) (2) (2) (3) (3) skeins
$15 (30) (30) (30) (45) (45)

Submerge: 72″ x 16″ (at widest part). Uses 2 skeins. $30

Pattern Change Suggestions

These are things that make me nuts in how standard patterns are written, that are pretty easy to remedy:

Row 7: Repeat Row 1. It is almost as difficult as just copying the row text there. I hate having to move my page marker to go backwards, because it is no longer marking my place.
Stitch numbers not evident in chart. It was odd not to have the actual stitches before and after the cables spelled out in the chart. I finally wrote the number up the side of the chart because I had to keep going back to the text. I know that when developing charts it is difficult to make them succinct and clear, but I think clarity is most important.
Photo of chain. Seeing the Chain over the bind off would have been really helpful. I failed to read the directions carefully on my swatch and I just did one chain stitch (not a CO/BO) over the dropped stitch.