Tuesday Needlework: Cabling without a Needle

Based on a True Story

The scene: You are in a coffee shop and have just set down with your most recent knitting project and a
steaming hot cup of your favorite brew. You have worked hard all week for these few free minutes and
you are going to enjoy them. You are working along and you get to the beautiful cable section and you
reach for your cable needle. Oh, no! You've left it at home in your other bag. Suddenly your day has
gone from a relaxing, self-indulgent day of knitting to a tragic horror. It is all ruined. Or is it?
No, my friends, it is not. You can still work that cable! Do not give up hope! Relax and I will show you
how.

The first step is to decide if your cable is a front cross or a back cross. In other words, do the first set of
stitches cross in front of the others or do they cross in back? If they are front crossing, this is what you
will need to do.

Notice how the first set of stitches crosses in FRONT
of the others in previous rows

Front Crossing Cables 

Slip the first set of stitches purlwise to the opposite needle, in this case four, keeping your working yarn
in back.

Work the next 4 or set of required stitches.

With the yarn still to the back, take the left needle and slip the 4 slipped stitches onto it, keeping all of
the stitches on the right needle. Now pinch all of the stitches (8) and pull out the right needle from all of
the stitches, making sure you have dropped your working yarn so it does not pull out from your worked
stitches.

Don't panic! Your 4 slipped stitches should be on the left needle still, but the 4 worked stitches are kind
of hanging out there. Calmly take your right needle and place it back into the worked stitches, making
sure they are slipped on purlwise and aligned properly on the needle.

Now the hard part is over! Your four slipped stitches are crossed in front of the worked stitches. Simply
work them off of the left hand needle and carry on enjoying your project!

Rear (Back) Crossing Cables 

I tend to have a little more difficulty with rear or back crossing cables. The process is basically the same,
but to begin move your working yarn to the front as if to purl, then slip your 4 stitches onto the right
needle.

move working yarn to front of work

slip stitches, then move working yarn to back of work 

 Move the working yarn to the back and finish work your 4 remaining stitches.


 Here I like to drop my working yarn and turn the project around. Slip the left needle purlwise into the slipped stitches on the right needle and remove the stitches off the right needle as before.

Turn work so back is facing you to slip stitches, leaving working yarn in the front

Turn your work back around and slip the four loose stitches onto the right needle and work the
remaining 4 stitches off the left needle. Before you work the remaining four stitches, though, make sure that you move your working yarn back to the back and between the two needles.

Loose stitches

Pick up and work remaining four

Stitches worked, cable crossed to back

Your cable should be perfectly crossed as long as you remembered to move your yarn front to back and to work the slipped stitches from the back of the work. There you go! Take a well-deserved sip of that coffee/mocha/latte and smile. You, my friend, have been freed from the cable needle. It is a little more difficult if you have a large number of stitches in your work, but not impossible. Just remember to take your time, breathe deeply, and know that you CAN do it. Knit on sister! 

Tuesday Needlework: Ravellenics Progress

I posted last Tuesday about Ravelry's Ravellenics Winter Games and thought I'd give an update on my progress thus far. I've made it halfway there! I finished the back of my sweater project last night. The pattern is definitely not my most favorite! I've had to accommodate for poorly written instructions, a confusing chart, and miscalculated stitch counts. It's been quite the project to say the least.

detail of cables

I was very excited about the pattern when I first discovered it. I did a pattern search on Ravelry after seeing a similar design (likely store-bought, but cute) at church one Sunday. I just love the way the sweater hung and looked so warm and cozy, but a little country too. I'm a boot and jeans girl, so this was a really great design for me to pursue.

Back of sweater, with a lifeline! 

However, after tracking down the errata and getting a new chart, I soon came to realize that the stitch count was off by 16 stitches. The directions say to increase every other row for 16 rows, which means I get 16 increased stitches in this section. (8*2) The stitch count was supposed to be 122, but mine was coming out to 106. Hmm.. so I decided to go ahead with the stitch count I was getting following the directions - which incidentally was the same as what the chart indicated - and disregard the stitch count.

Blocky, but think it will work

After making it up to the decreases section, I realized that their stitch count was still off, so I would end up with about 22 stitches for my neck and shoulder section. This wasn't real good, since I don't have a pin neck. To fix this without taking out everything I had done and starting over again, I decided to decrease up to 80 stitches, then knit even for the remaining six rows. And instead of decreasing 8 stitches over 4 rows, I decreased only 7 over the four, giving me my final stitch count of 36 that I was after. It's a little blocky, but because it will be sewn together I'm not too worried about it. I think I can make it look pretty good in the seaming section and the ribbed neck and edges will straighten the rest of it out.

This has been such a confusing pattern that I think I will deserve a medal when all is said and done! 

Knit Tester Wanted!

I have just put the finishing touches on my first ever knitting pattern! It is a pair of fingerless gloves with cables and bobbles in the cuff and lace leaves on the back. They are knit in Knit Picks Palette Yarn (100% Peruvian Highland Wool) Lichen fingering weight yarn. I am looking for pattern testers!

 My ideal pattern tester will have experience in knitting gloves (in the round on DPNs). Testers should also have experience in lace, bobbles, and cables, be able to make (helpful, nice) comments using Google Docs (Drive), knit both gloves (as left and right are knit differently), and upload finished pictures of items. I would like to have them tested within a week so that I can make adjustments and changes if necessary before publishing. These are knit for fairly small hands, (I wear a size 5 ring on my ring finger!) so either fit them on a child or make adjustments using a larger needle to fit your hand if bigger.

 The pattern will be in PDF format with sharing on Google Docs allowed. It is also written out and charted. You will be given one free pattern, not be resold or shared in any manner, and send me examples or links of similar items you have created. (Ravelry accounts are completely acceptable!) I would also request permission to use your images on the published pattern to give examples of the finished product.

If you are interested in testing this pattern, please contact me via email freckledotsquilts at gmail.com. Thanks!