savannahchik knits

Cable Rebel?

I've tried 'em all. The common cable needle (looks like a small DPN with a valley nudged into it), cabling without a needle, and the "J" type cable needle.

I really dislike the first kind. I find it hard to control and I have more trouble keeping the stitches on that type of needle.

I sometimes cable without a needle. Usually when there are 4 or less stitches involved in the cable. But more than 4 and it just seems to be more trouble than it's worth. I know a lot of knitters swear by this method but it seems to break my rhythm more than increase speed.

By far, my favorite way to cable is with the J hook. I never worry about the stitches slipping off of it, and it's easy to store it in the project's yarn without getting lost. I just nudge it midway into the ball and it stays put in my bag.

The other thing I do that I think is different is that I slip the stitches from the cable needle back onto my left hand needle before knitting them. I've tried knitting directly from the cable needle but it seems to wiggle and struggle more than it's worth.

I've often thought that this way is not the norm, but I'm curious. Which method do you use?

Phildar Hoodie

I'm closing in on repeat 2 of pHoodie. Progress pics can sometimes be boring, but if you're curious you can see one here.

All Hoodie All The Time

The Cascade 220 couldn't be nicer to work with! Believe it or not I had to force myself to knit on St. Brigid for a while this weekend. There's just something about this yarn and pattern that I love working on.

I could also be the fact that St. Brigid is shaping up to be a year long project and the hoodie -- well, I'd love to wear it in October!

Yeah, yeah, I can hear the laughter all the way over here.

Weekend

We did very little work outside this weekend. It was SOOOO humid out. We worked on and off until about 3 when we finally admitted defeat. We hadn't gotten much done in between the soda and AC breaks. Next weekend is shaping up to be cooler and less humid, so we'll be trying to make up for it then. I guess they don't call it Labor Day Weekend for nothing.

It's Wednesday and...

1. I'm not going to be blogging about St. Brigid today (this is really for your benefit).
2. I have plans to meet with Kim today AND I remembered to bring my knitting (bonus!)
3. I have a new project to show you.

I cast on for the Phildar cabled hoodie about a week ago. I've been knitting on it here and there.

the color is not accurate.
damn those overcast skies!

I like the cable pattern. After it sets up it's rather easy to knit without even referencing the chart. That is, once you learn the pattern. I did have to rip down in a few places and change some stitches around a couple times because I thought I had it memorized when I didn't.

I wasn't sure about doing two cabled sweaters at once but the yarns, gauges, and even the cables themselves are different enough that they feel like two distinctly different projects. And given that St. Brigid will probably take me 6+ months to complete that's a good thing.

Cabled Hoodie

I blame it on Jackie. I've looked at this Phildar hoodie from Irlandais (#397) for months now. When I saw her knitting it up on her blog I couldn't resist it anymore.

I ordered the book (plus 4 others) from Knit 'n Tyme last night. I'm very anxious to get started on it! Does anyone know how quickly they ship?

I'm still undecided on the color. While I love the classic ecru that the sample is knitted in, it's not my personal favorite color to wear. I'm thinking of a brown, navy or black. Maybe even something a little tweedy. I don't recall seeing many cabled sweaters in tweed in person though. How well do the cables show up in tweed? In the pics I've seen they're not very defined, but sometimes the camera just has trouble picking up detail that's easily seen in person.