We are thrilled that Lindsay Lewchuk of Knit Eco Chic is celebrating her 10th year as a designer with the release of her MFPP, “Take the Plunge” 

Lindsay never disappoints with her patterns that feature intentional details with an eco-focus. And who can forget her design partner, Puddles the Great Dane? 

Summer fun and daring designs come together in Take the Plunge.  Cast on an exciting adventure from your favorite knitting chair!  Summer breezes greet both you and your stitches as you intentionally drop, squeal, and dive.  

Each pattern progresses in mystery, with the use of drop stitches, from an easy drop shawl to a beach cover-up that reveals a sunlit surprise.  Submerge gets your feet wet gently as you begin to drop select stitches on your asymmetrical shawl.  Dive kicks it up a level to create a faux-shaped cover-up that works with swimwear and tanks, alike.  Embrace the Plunge, in the most exhilarating design of the series. 

Lindsay was kind enough to share some of the behind the scenes into her collection and we are pleased to share that with you!

1: What is your favorite part of your MFPP design and why?

I loved the challenge of designing a collection of summer pieces with a yarn weight I usually reserve for cold weather.  The intentional drops satisfied both my love for usual stitches as well as providing cooling air vents in the knitted items.

2:  What should knitters pay attention to when working these patterns? Do you have any tips or tricks that will make knitting this pattern easier?

Each pattern graduates in dropping difficulty from Submerge, a dip into the shallow edge of drop stitches, to Plunge, a jump into the deep end of dropping.  Using stitch markers to track what stitches get dropped is a great way of seeing the future design before it arrives.  

On both Dive and Plunge, swatching will help cement the drop effect in your mind.  Remember, cotton grows, and the drops will also make the patterns grow, so you actually knit something much smaller than you may otherwise think is your size.  Swatching helps show this.

3: What do you think knitters will enjoy the most about these projects?

The challenge!  Though there isn’t anything hard about dropping stitches, it definitely calls for an adventurous spirit 😊.

4: What does your design process look like?

This time 😉 I started with swatches, sketches, and a concept of how to make Verano work for summer wearing.  After going through the submission and acceptance process for MFPP, over the next several months I started writing and testing out the ideas life-sized.  Of all the designs, the sleeves on Plunge gave me the most fits.  Originally conceived with long airy sleeves, the weight of the design overwrought the comfortability for summer wearing.  In the end opting for short sleeves on one sample and sleeveless on the other solved the months of debate (and sample knitting) on how to keep the design summery.  After I wrote and knit the patterns, they went to tech editing and finally tested knitting before being compiled into our 10th anniversary celebration book, “Take the Plunge”.

5:  What impact does the color of this project have on you? Did you make design choices based on the colorway name?

Blue is my favorite color, so I was thrilled to have so much blue to knit with.  Verano’s “Subtle Speckle” line is relatively new and in submitting for the MFPP I wanted to highlight that color line.  To my surprise, in knitting I discovered it contains an inherent light to dark gradient effect!  Since I ball, rather than cake my yarn it had gone unnoticed until my first “join yarn” stage in Submerge.  A quick re-balling set skein 2 to blend in beautifully.  

Given the inspiration of my aunt and uncle’s pool and the strong blues, Drive Snorkeling was a must!  It is such a fun name!!  (Although the number of times I miswrote Snorkel Diver in the first draft made both my TE and I laugh.)  Solid color Rain complimented Drive Snorkeling exquisitely.      

Arachania, I fell in love with because it was another beautiful blue.  After googling, I realized it was named after a location by the Atlantic Ocean in Uruguay.

Tropical was the biggest surprise as it knit up with a stronger feature on the yellows and reds in the colorway rather than the light aqua base.  The swatch featured more of the aqua, but the unintentional pooling that occurred highlighted the brighter colors more.

6. What is the one thing you wish people knew about you as a designer?

It’s a family affair – God blesses me with visions in yarn that I strive to bring to life.  It’s often a very slow process from vision to completion – sometimes years, rarely less than 6 months.  Camera mom and dad serve as my photographers and sounding board.  Puddles is my knitting companion and daily joy.  In addition to designing, we have a non-profit, Habitat For Canaries, that seeks to provide healthy homes for people with Acute Environmental Sensitivities.  We are still in the early stages, but Puddles and my move to Maine to be on sight for the project is forecasted before the end of this year!  (We were delayed a year by Covid.)

7. What beverage are you most likely to have by your side while designing? 

With Take the Plunge, organic hot chocolate made with water 😉 was my go-to.  

So we don’t know about you, but we are definitely ready to “Take the Plunge!”, I just have to decide which of the three patterns I want to knit first! Lindsay’s goal with this project was to create a collection of summer designs worked in a DK/Worsted weight yarn, Verano, and I think she definitely succeeded with the dropped stitches worked on a larger needle. 

These three patterns (Dive, Pluge, and Submerge), are tech edited, test knit, and fully written with the repeats charted.  Schematics, diagrams, how-to’s, custom sizing calculators, and photos are also included.

The patterns include:

Dive, a bathing suit/ tank cover up. 

Dive into summer knitting as you relax by your favorite water view!  Toss your head back to soak up summer’s sun while your needles click, click, click.  Abstract butterflies emerge from drop stitch cable patterns in Dive, a bathing suit cover-up that also may be worn over a tank with shorts.

 Plunge, a summer tee.

                Let summer breezes waft through your stitches in Submerge.  This asymmetrical drop shawl features alternating cables for a rippling effect through the design.  As if lighting upon the water’s edge, butterfly dip stitches flutter through the I-cord Bind Off.  To keep it simple for those wanting a shallow end dip into drops, only the drop stitches are purled making them easily recognizable throughout the work.  

 Submerge, a summer shawl.

                Let summer breezes waft through your stitches in Submerge.  This asymmetrical drop shawl features alternating cables for a rippling effect through the design.  As if lighting upon the water’s edge, butterfly dip stitches flutter through the I-cord Bind Off.  To keep it simple for those wanting a shallow end dip into drops, only the drop stitches are purled making them easily recognizable throughout the work.

In addition to all the typical publishing sites, Lindsay is also publishing the collection as a book! You can find the patterns in the following places:

eBook (https://knitecochic.com/take-the-plunge/) 

On Payhip (Take the Plunge - Payhip),

Ravelry (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/take-the-plunge  ), and 

Lovecrafts (Take the Plunge Knitting pattern by KnitEcoChic (lovecrafts.com) ).

Be sure to follow Linsday on IG @knitecochic so you don’t miss more of her eco-friendly designs!