Adventures in Texture
I have begun my first cable-knitted sweater. Ha!
Stacie, under no circumstances must you guffaw. I have always been most intimidated by twisty stitches and it has taken me much practice to become comfortable with just pinching them in front or back. I have no patience for those titchy little cable needles, always sliding about.
Having been a good little obsessive, before I began I researched, and found some cool things which some of you may find interestin'.
1. Elizabeth Dimbleby's cable pattern collection. Some of them I had not seen before and plus it is a very sweet site.
2. The true story of the Irish Aran family pattern - apparently it all started with a dropped stitch.
3. BrooklynTweed's very beautiful, recently completed, very tweedy cable cardigan. Most impressive.
And so, I have begun:
It is red Cascade 220, and so it is a cable-knit sweater, and not an Aran. I have included stitches for steeking, because it is time I did that on a real project and not just swatches, so I think it will eventually be a cardigan.
I have included a several 8-stitch cables, 4 fishtail cables, and 3 braided cables, with provisions for some shaping 'round the waist.
I have not decided what to do with the sleeves or the yoke. I was thinking perhaps a raglan with a cable up the join could be cool, but I do love a top-down set in sleeve as well, and that could give some more flexibility in patterns. I am considering cabling along the shoulder join, but concerned that could look a little Sargent Pepper.
Any ideas? Thoughts? Suggestions?
4 comments:
Oh, how exciting this is! I am going to love watching this come together. No laughing here! Just awe and admiration.
Thank you for the links, too. The Aran history is great, and just the name Dimbleby kinda made my night :).
Have you seen Adrian's wonderful big fat cables? I love these: http://www.helloyarn.com/wp/?p=439
I do, in fact, find it hard to believe that you have not tackled a cable/Aran sweatah! I found I spent a lot of time looking for just the right cable patterns, and just the right patterns working together. I finally found a decent pattern, or so I thought - the screw-ups in the pattern cemented a certain someone's placement on The List.
I think you can go with cables up the shoulder seams; Cascade is such a soft & light yarn - I feel it would relax enough and NOT be too Sgt. Pepper-y. Also please avoid being Wendy Pepper-y.
I would like to hear - whenever you're ready! - more details about provisions for shaping at the waist. Is the sweater going to be allover cablework and patterned doodads? Or cable panels with plain fabric in between?
Basically what I have planned is to decrease away a cable on each side (2 inches at a gauge of 4 stitches to an inch), and then increase them back in at the right moment.
Starting from the under the left arm and heading clockwise, the pattern is 4 stitch cable, 3 purls, 4 stitch cable, 3 purls, 8 stitch fishtail cable, 3 purls, 2 knits, open braid on purls, 2 knits, 1 purl, 5 stitches for steeking, wheww. That's confusing. I will not continue. The point is there is an extra 4 stitch cable under the arms.
I am about ready to do the shaping so I will let you know how it goes~
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