Not a quicky

There haven't been too many opportunities to knit this week with tennis, tennis, tennis, some volunteer obligations, and the outdoor chores, but I finally finished the back of my Sideways Cardigan. This project is a little more challenging than I anticipated--not a bad thing--mostly due to the shorthand instructions that are demanded by the lack of space in a magazine. The shoulder shaping is tricky to maintain in pattern and is made much easier by accessing the PDF file on the Vogue Knitting web site. I think I finally got it right, or at least in the "close enough for me" range.

This is a good example of the upside and downside of Internet access for knitters. The upside? I rarely even buy my yarn for a project before I first do some research online on the pattern, either on Ravelry or through a Google search, to find corrections, advice on yarn selection, and to get a sense of the wearability of the final product. (Let's face it, everything looks good on the models in the publication.) The downside? Publishers may rely too heavily on this accessibility and are getting sloppy about editing patterns--even in very expensive books--and are eliminating crucial instructions as a cost-saving measure. Not everyone has access or is interested in researching every pattern online to make up for the shortfalls of the printed pattern.