The SKC on Ravely chose cables as the theme for our first quarter KAL. Though I voted for a different category (colorwork), cables are always a-ok with me! It also fits in nicely with the stash reduction goal as I have many cables projects queued/stashed.
I always cast on a hat project on New Years Day, and the book "Weekend Hats" is full of gorgeous inspiration. Casting on Glashütte required 3 tries, not because the pattern is hard but rather due to my stupidity. Does that bode ill for 2012? Well, I got it eventually, and learned something, so I guess that is a good omen. I like doing tubular cast ons for ribbed edges; it's pretty and it's functional. However, it doesn't work when you have an uneven number of knit and purl stitches. You can fudge it but it won't look quite right. The pattern is fun, if time consuming. With so many cables, cabling without a cable needle is a big help. As you can see, the hat is basically done, but I need to weave in ends and block. The yarn is Julia (merino/tencel) from Dirty Water Dyeworks, acquired at Rhinebeck 2011.
The Ribbon Trim cardigan is something I've had queued forever. So far, the back, right front, right sleeve are complete. I love the deep ribbing, cozy collar, classic cables, snap front, and ribbon embellishment. At M&J Trimming, I picked out a few ribbons as trim but now I'm not sure if they are quite what I want for this project. The yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca light, and this will be a major stashbuster as it requires quite a lot of yardage. I had a rough start with this project too. I swatched with the suggested needle size, got gauge and liked the fabric. Sounds good, eh? Then I looked at the pattern and realized there is a ton of negative ease built into the sizes, so I cast on for one size larger, thinking it would give me a flattering but not frightful amount of negative ease. So I began with the 38" size, but it was huge. My swatch lied, and the sweater would hang on me like a tent. So I frogged and started over the 34" size. My gauge may be off, but I think it will stretch to fit with minimal negative ease.
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