Different kinds of cables

Thanks so much for your birthday wishes and cardigan compliments! I did indeed wear it to the polling booth and, later, to meet friends for drinks, and by the end of the day I was even more in love with my new sweater. And nobody asked if I'd made it myself, which we knitters often take as some kind of compliment (even though we like to take credit, too).

For a while now I've been working on various lace projects: shawls, Grannie Smith, the February Lady Sweater. Recently, however, I've started turning my attention to cables -- back to cables, really, as there have been lots of cabled socks and sweaters in my knitting past. This rebirth was launched with the Autumn/Druid mittens I started last month. Not too much more to do on those; all is finished except for the two thumbs. And now I've cast on for a new cardigan. A cardigan that -- shockingly, to me -- nobody on Ravelry has even started, let alone finished: Mari Lynn Patrick's Soft Linen Jacket, published in March (issue 30) in the Classic Elite Web-Letter. I think it's adorable, and I'm knitting it.


I'm using the ultra-pillable Knit Picks Merino Style, from my stash, in the colour "nutmeg." This is a new kind of cable for me, with the garter-stitch background. Because row gauge is different in garter stitch than in stockinette, the cable stitches are slipped on WS rows. Clever!

And speaking of new kinds of cables, I've had a chance to look at Melissa Leapman's new book, Continuous Cables: An Exploration of Knitted Cabled Knots, Rings, Swirls, and Curlicues. The cables in this book are "continuous" in that they form self-contained, closed-ring shapes. None of the patterns is a must-knit for me, but the book is a great technical resource, with a 60-page "stitch dictionary" of closed-ring cables. I can imagine knitting an otherwise-plain raglan sweater and turning to this book for a cable motif to add to the fronts, or down the sleeves.

I'll be at Rhinebeck this weekend. If you see me, say hello!