To boldly go where many knitters have gone before
26 Aug 2009 6 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: cable, cables, cabling, coffee, knitting, ravelry, supplies, technique, youtube
A while back, I saw an ad on Facebook for a knitted coffee sleeve that had a cable running down the side. Being a knitter, my first response was not “where can I buy that?”, it was “I wonder if the pattern’s on Ravelry?” Surely enough, the pattern was on Ravelry, (actual pattern link here) and for free. The only problem was, I had no idea how to cable. Has that ever stopped me? No. That’s how I knit: find a pattern I like, then learn the techniques out of necessity with help of my mother, Ravelry, and YouTube.
I didn’t have a fancy cable needle, so I found a tiny enough DPN and went to town. It came out great, and since then I’ve knit quite a few for myself and friends for a yarn replacement donation (and latte fund donation) of $5 (drop me a line if you don’t want to make on yourself, I’m always down with making these). My mother and I even co-designed our own pattern, which is still up for sale (see Hugs and Kisses or order the pattern here). I later tried a cable needle and found that it was really difficult compared to the double point needle. I later learned that some people don’t even use a cable needle at all!!
While I’ve read how to cable without a cable needle or DPN, I don’t want to try it. Not because it sounds difficult, but I am scared to death of dropping stitches, and to me the anxiety caused by the free floating stitches while you are rearranging them is not worth the extra second or two I save.
The source of my anxiety, click for the blog it was taken from
I’ve learned from my knitting group and others that pretty much everyone has their own method of cabling and prefers their method to others. I like using a DPN, but some people have complained that stitches slide off too easily. I find this is easily fixed by resting the other end(s) of the needle(s) on my leg, or by knitting tight enough for the stitches to stay on.
What do you think, fellow knitters? What do you use to cable with, and why do you like that way? Do cables look better/worse without a cable needle? Inquiring minds want to know!
xoxo, Purl Girl
Hugs and Kisses!
11 Aug 2009 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: cable, coffee, patterns
There’s no better way to start a collaboration than with a story of another collaboration.
In addition to sharing half their chromosomes, Knit Wit and Purl Girl also share a passion for coffee and knitting. Purl girl had been making cabled coffee sleeves for a while with a simple horseshoe pattern, and was left both wanting more creativity and with a partial ball of obscenely pink yarn. “Pink!” thought Purl Girl. “An XOXO cable would look fantastic!” But unfortunately Lion Brand’s cable dictionary had a pattern that would not satisfy her exact wishes. (20 stitches wide with four knit stitches on each side) What is a girl to do?
Call her mother of course! After a long phone call, a heavily modified XOXO cable was born. This is of course a gross exaggeration because Knit Wit took one look at the chart and told her trusty sidekick exactly what to do to make it work; that’s why she’s the fearless knitter/leader.
Then Purl Girl had a brilliant idea. She had just bought a new MacBook Pro with all the bells and whistles and wanted to make this heavily modded pattern into a PDF! But the chart maker she found online did not have what she wanted. Hours later in Photoshop, a chart was born. A few more minutes in Pages and the pattern was born, like a Helvetica rich placenta. And of course the pattern had to be test knit for a picture!
It has sold a few times on Ravelry and Etsy, but the process is worth more than any profits it could make (although please, readers, test this theory!) It can be purchased on Ravelry (you need to be a member to view) or contact us to buy it personally!
Until next time, fearless knitters,
Knitzengiggles
