frequently asked questions:

Q: Will you email or snail mail my pattern?

A: All patterns are e-mailed as a PDF download. We are unable to ship pattern copies to our customers at this time. If a printed pattern is your preference, you can check our list of retailers  to see if there is one near you. If there is not, you should let your LYS know, they may be interested in carrying them for you! (some of our existing retailers do ship printed patterns).

Q: I bought my pattern days ago but still have not received it. Why?

A: This is most commonly due to you purchasing the pattern with an e-check as your method of payment. Check your purchase receipt to verify the method of payment used, if it states that you used an e-check your payment will take 3-5 days to clear just as a regular check would. As soon as it clears your pattern download will be emailed to the email address attached to your PayPal account.
Also, we have found that customers don't always intend to pay this way, but they somehow are. If this is your situation, you may want to check your payment settings - make sure proper accounts are aligned so the funds are coming from the correct place.

A: The other cause could be that these automatic downloads emails can often get caught up in your junk mail filters. This is a great place to check if you know your payment went through with a debit/credit card and you still haven't received your download email.

Q: My pattern has short sleeves but I want to modify my sweater to have long sleeves. How do I do this?

A: Instead of casting off the sleeve stitches where specified in the pattern, simply continue knitting until you have a desired length. For patterns like Juliet where you are asked to cast off the sleeve stitches right at the underarm: instead you can thread a piece of scrap yarn through the sleeve stitches to hold them, and when you are finished with the rest of the garment you will transfer the sleeve stitches from the scrap yarn to your needles and knit to a desired length. Sleeves can be knit in the round or knit flat and seamed. If you decide to knit flat and then seam up the arm, make sure you add a stitch to each side of the sleeve for seam allowance.


Q: What is: K1f&b&f&b? (as seen in Juliet & Rusted Root)

A: This is a way of rapidly increasing. Knit into the front and back and front and back of one stitch and then drop it off your needle. This turns one stitch into four stitches.


Q: My circular needle is too long for the amount of stitches the patterns tells me to cast on. What should I do?

A: We do our best to specify needle requirements in our patterns that will get the job done without you having to buy/use several different sizes or cord lengths. Occasionally this can require you to stretch your stitches a little at the beginning. We've found that some knitters don't like this.
If you run into this problem the best advice we can give is either spring for that extra cord length or better yet, give the Magic Loop Method a try. There's no need to hassle with getting another needle for knitting in the round with two circulars and in our opinion it's the least cumbersome method for knitting small circumferences in the round.
For a video on how to use this method we suggest this LINK. hint: scroll down the page a bit until you see magic loop.


Q: My body shape is very different from those modeling your patterns... will your sweaters look good on me?
-or - How can I make your sweater fit my body type?

A: No matter your body type, Zephyr Style patterns are easy to modify for a perfect fit for YOU. Each pattern is designed to fit an average body type at each bust measurement... and we know that all of you beautiful women are unique and don't want an average fitting sweater. Since we cannot write a pattern specific to every single shape and size, we give you the stitch counts, Gauge and instructions needed to knit a beautiful garment in several sizes, while keeping it as simple as possible for you do make your own personal adjustments/modifications. You may need to shorten or lengthen the body, or add short rows to accommodate your bust (lucky) or take in the waist more than the pattern specifies... the best thing about knitting a top down garment is that you can try them on as you go, add or take away what you want and make your project completely custom!


Q: I picked a yarn that says it is the same gauge as what your pattern calls for. Do I really need to do a gauge swatch?

A: YES! YES! YES! Please take the time to knit a gauge swatch! Everyone knits with different tension and even different tension for different yarns. Just because the yarn label matches the gauge specified in the pattern doesn't mean you'll automatically get that gauge. To make sure your time and money are spent knitting a sweater that you will love to wear, always knit yourself a gauge swatch. And if you're really feeling ahead of the game... block it too! This is a great test to see how your sweater will block.