Cables
I recently remembered something….
I love cable knitting!! 20 rows into this little sweater and I’m totally hooked. Maybe it is the fact that each row is different so I will never get bored of it. Maybe it is because I can work in convenient 4 row chunks between doing all the other things that need to get done. Maybe it is because it has been a LONG time since I did a lot of cable knitting.
Have you knit cables before?
Don’t be intimidated….they look very intense, but step by step, row by row, they are pretty easy to figure out.
I remember my very first cable knitting project. Back in the early 90s boxy fishermen’s sweaters were pretty cool (in my middle-school mind anyway). I was excited when my mom took me to Lewiscraft to buy more 50g balls of cream coloured acrylic yarn than I could hold in my arms. Back then I was naive–I didn’t really know that there was anything but acrylic yarn. This isn’t entirely my fault though since the ’80s thought acrylic was awesome!
My first cable sweater was knit in pieces then [badly] sewn together–these days I avoid sewing thing at all cost! My first cable sweater took a lot of patience to get set up properly because I didn’t really understand how the cables work. I was counting stitches, and counting rows and checking things off step by step on the pattern. I remember being fascinated by how the cables worked, but frustrated because if I made a mistake I’d have to rip WAY back to fix it.
The second cable sweater (knit one year later) was more exciting to make because I knew what I was getting into. I chose my pattern more carefully and could make more sense of the charts and instructions. I remember knitting it during math class once my homework was done (yes…I was THAT kid!)
Since those two adventures in cables I’ve dabbled in cable socks, some were tame, others not so tame! These socks are Rhiannon by Cookie A that I knit for a guy who wears kilts from time to time.
I am now enjoying the freedom of creating my own cable patterns. The stress of pattern reading has been eliminated. I simply have to remember what I want it to look like, and count rows in groups of 4. (I hope I haven’t just jinxed myself!)
If you are interested in starting into the adventure of cable knitting, here’s an easy and quirky beginner cable project: the DNA scarf.
Image source (http://www.twosheep.com/helix/)
Make one for the geek in your life!
