Greetings from the land of cables! 

I hope everyone is moving right along and has now settled into the rhythm of this shawl.  I have found it to be a very relaxing knit, yet there’s enough cabling going on to keep the doldrums away. 

I just love this color of Highlander and I had forgotten what a pleasure it is to work with!

There are several things that must be worked every row and sometimes it is difficult to remember them all, so I thought it would be a good idea to display them in a chart.  It might help those that work better from a visual, versus written instructions. 

Since the chart does not display here in it’s entirety, I’ve provided a link to the same chart on Flickr.

 While working along, I found I wasn’t really paying attention to the number of stitches between cables.  For example, the reverse stockinette stitches on both sides of the cable on the right panel, should match up and have the same count as the reverse stockinette stitches on both sides of the cable that is on the left panel.  Should is the key word here. 

I highly recommend that you check this on occasion and most important, before you start the next set of written instructions that introduce the lower cables.  If you look really close at mine, you might find a couple of m1-p’s and k2tog to get the stitches back in sync.

My favorite teacher once told me…”it doesn’t have be perfect, it just needs to look perfect!”

Fall is in the air, even in NE Florida!

The  direction of the sun has changed and leaves are in fact… falling.  However,  the cool weather that most Northerners enjoy has still managed to elude us.

That absolutely does not stop us from our Fall knits!

We cast on in the shop today for the Shawl of Cables (Ravel It), pattern #5 in the Fall Vogue Knitting.  For anyone that might be joining us from the online community, we have some great tips that we’ll be sharing along the way.  

Requirements for joining our online KAL?  There are none…well except for one – you must have a copy of the Fall 2009 Vogue Knitting magazine.  I might add, that if you do not have the pattern in front of you, a lot of these notes may not make any sense.

Before we cast on, I want to share a few tips that might help you along the way:

1) Most everyone knows that when you change from a knit stitch to a purl stitch (or vice versa), that you move your yarn between the needles to position it for the next stitch.  For example, after a knit stich, yarn is positioned in the back.  Bring it between the needles to the front to prepare for a purl stitch.  Well, add a cable on top of it and you might find yourself concentrating on the cable and not the yarn position, end result is an unwanted yarnover.  It’s very easy to do, so watch for this.

2) If you have read over the pattern, you’ve realized that you are working 3 panels; right, center and left.  The right and left panels always have 2 increases on the RS rows.  A yarn over at the outside edges and a M1-P at the marker edge.  Keep on top of these by making sure the number of stitches are always the same when comparing the two panels, and that they are always an even number (for now anyway).

3) It might help for you to keep your place in the written instructions if you have a post-it note or some highlighter tape.  They are fairly wordy and you might find that you are spending more time trying to figure out where you are in the instructions, than you are knitting!

So…here’s the cast on, and without giving away details of the pattern, I’ll let the picture do the talking.

I found it necessary to do 13 rows of i-cord in order to pick up the required number of stitches. 

Heres how we picked up and knit the stitches

After you have worked a few rows…you will find that you have to do a double increase to one stitch, twice.  That doesn’t mean 4 increases to the same stitch, but 2 increases to one stitch and 2 to the next.  You end up with 6 sts where you used to have 2.

Here’s Mom showing us how to:

Knit into the front.

Knit into the back.

 Knit into the front again.

Moving right along…

                            If you look at the instructions just prior to the paragraph labled Beg long cables (pg 107).  It reads sm, p12, sm.  This is incorrect (ERRATA), it should read sm, k3, p6, k3, sm.  This has been confirmed with Mari.    Same page, instructions for Row 2, it says to work row 2 of chart, then row 1 of chart.  However, it should refer to Row 2 of chart throughout Row 2 instructions. 

After you complete row 4 (bottom of pg 107), you enter into a new stage.  Written instructions no longer exsist (not for a while anyway) and you have your chart and a few “regulations” (regulations are listed under the stitch key at the bottom of pg 108).

Here are the regulations in a nutshell:

                 On a RS row, do the following, always:   start the row with Sl 1, k1, yo; M1 p-st before the first marker and after the last marker; end with yo, k2. 

                 On a WS row, do the following always:  start the row with a Sl 1, k1, end the row with a K2

                 For the stitches between the charted cables and excluding the stitches mentioned just prior, work in reverse stockinette.  (That means to purl on the RS and knit on the WS.)

Here’s a sample of 2 rows to help you understand: 

                            Row 5 (RS): Sl 1, k1, yo, p3, work row 5 of chart, p7, M1 p-st, sm, p2, work row 5 of chart, p2, sm, M1 p-st, p3, work row 5 of chart,  p5, yo, k2–52 sts.  Row 6 (WS):  Sl 1, k7, p3, k2, p7, sm, k2, p3, k2, p3, k2, sm, k8, p3, k2, p3, k6.

Additional Tips -   Using the copier, we blew up anything we could (ok, so I’m middle-aged and can’t see).  We especially blew up the chart (first 56 rows).  We also marked on the chart, the notes from pg 107 ( labled Beg long cables).   For example, I hand wrote on Row 3 of my chart, RC to the right and LC to the left (to indicate that when on the right panel, preform RC, when on the middle and left panel, preform LC).  Row 12 reads (CENTER ONLY for M1). 

A few more pictures from the day:

Homework assignment!  Work thru row 56 of chart.    Join our KAL Ravelry group (linky), so we can communicate better and let me know how soon you want another installment. 

I love the yarn selection, Alpaca With A Twist Highlander is very warm and soft!  The pattern is unique in the way it begins as well in it’s style. 

Pictures can also be viewed from flickr.

Enjoy! 

 ~ Joan

We are just a few days away from casting on for this stunning shawl at The Local Needle! 

              Before we start, you’ll want to make sure you have all your ducks in a row…

Yarn — Vogue Knitting, Fall 2009 issue — Size 10 Circulars (or size to ga uge)  — A few markers — A gauge swatch!

Now, for a few notes regarding the above:

I’ll be using Alpaca With A Twist Highlander in color 3015 , Hebrides Rose.  A few nice ladies at the shop helped me choose it.  The original color used in the magazine is 5013, Fritillary.  It reminds me of a spiced pumpkin, where 3015 is more of a brick red. 

Other colors being used… 3016,  0299,  0096 (there may be others, these are just the ones I’m aware of).  All colors can be viewed here.

The pattern calls for four size 10 circular needles, however I’m quite sure that’s overkill!  Just a long size 10 circular is all you need.  You might want a shorter one to work the shawl when it’s not so big.

Make a guage swatch, stockinette is fine.   Adjust your needle size up or down as needed to get gauge.  

Here’s a cute little tip for knowing what needle size you used in your swatch.  When you start your swatch, note your needle size by incorporating the same amount of yarnovers as needle size.  For example, if I swatch using a size 10 needle, I would k1, (K2tog, yo) 10 times, k to end of row.  Then, work pattern needed to measure gauge .  If  I switch to a size 9 needle, I would then do one row of k1, (K2tog, yo) 9 times, k to end of row and work pattern for gauge.  You can now view your entire swatch and see exactly where you changed needles.

We are casting on in the shop this Saturday (9/19/09) and for those that are joining us online we will have a new post available by Sunday.  There’s still time to join us!

Shawl of Cables

The shawl calls for 8 skeins of Alpaca With A Twist Highlander and we have every color available on our shelf.  Also, you must have purchased a copy of Vogue Knitting, Fall 2009.  We might be blowing up some charts on the copier, but you’ll need proof of purchase before we share. 

This garment is perfect for the cooler Fall weather!  Hope you can join us!