Falling in love with cables

Remember back last winter when I knit those green thumb gloves and complained about the cables? I found the whole process so fiddly and annoying - juggling the cable needle along with everything else, keeping track of whether it went in back or in front, how much punishment I felt like the yarn itself was taking…

Now… I LOVE IT.

Forgive my elderly grandmother posture

I'm lapping myself here… this is actually the second of two cabled sweater projects I knit this summer, but I don't have pictures of the other one yet. That other sweater was knit with fingering yarn on size 4s, and by the time I was done with it I had decided I was going to take a break from knitting for a bit to focus on other pursuits (writing a book, say). Then I got my first whiff of autumn. NOPE.

The pattern is the Marylebone Sweater from Bristol Ivy. I forget, I'm sorry to say, where I first came across it, though I regularly troll Brooklyn Tweed patterns on Ravelry. I've had several chunky cardigans lined up for a while, but after finishing my other sweater I was raring for cables, and this pattern delivered!

CABLES

I wish I could have used Brooklyn Tweed yarn (I'm dying to use it for something!) but my local yarn store doesn't carry the Loft line. And, frankly, I shouldn't be spending that kind of money anyway! I went to what's becoming my standard (Knitwit is their flagship store, after all!) - Quince & Co. It's nice wool, fairly affordable and available in many colors. This is the Osprey (aran weight) in Sage. I tried to branch out - I came really, really close to going with a bold chartreuse - but in the end I folded and stayed in my dedicated colorway. I don't think I CAN own enough garments in dusty blue.

Of course, my hair is covering the cool construction

I LOVED this pattern. I've gotten confident enough in my knitting that when trying something new, I feel like with a little poking I'll be able to sort it out. This sweater was no different. It's a totally new-to-me construction (uh, I say this, but this is the first cardigan I've ever made). It's all knit in one - the shoulders are turned like sock heels and then the sleeves are knit flat from the shoulder, so the only seaming on the whole sweater is to sew up the sleeves! This lets the cable pattern flow up the back, across the shoulders and down the arms without breaking. Sometimes I worry about the mental state of the people who write these patterns. Just - HOW. I had a couple of WTF moments around the shoulder area, but a bit of frogging and contemplation sorted everything out.  It fits a bit differently than I expected, in that it fits PERFECTLY when I expected it to be slouchy. I can't complain about perfection, though!

This sweater has quickly become the most-worn handknit I've ever made. These pictures are from last weekend, when my husband and I made an impromptu trip to my alma mater in Vermont, my first time back since I graduated nine years ago. This is pretty much the most perfect time of year to go to southern Vermont! The tree covered Green Mountains on our drive up Rt. 9 looked like giant orange-gold cauliflower.

My pockets are a bit slapdash. But the buttons are spruce!

I'm a knitter-while-watching-tv, and have a longstanding belief that what I knit is imbued with the power of what I've watched. For example, I binged the entirety of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine while making my sister an afghan that turned out AMAZING. This sweater was knit to a combo of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Stranger Things, and… presidential debates. The jury's out on its spiritual provenance! I'm pretty sure, though, that I'll be knitting a few more of these. Maybe in daring chartreuse?
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