Cabled Cardi KAL - Finished!

Happy New Year!

 

I am so relieved to be posting this project as a Finished Project!!  This is my Cabled Cardi Knit-Along with my sister.  We started this project back in March of 2013.  Which isn't a terribly long time when you talk unfinished projects, but I am still feeling a sense of accomplishment.

 

Here are my past posts related to this so that you can catch-up:

• Cabled Cardi KAL - Part 1
• Cabled Cardi - Part 2

I visited my sister in Massachusetts in December for my "Holiday Break" and brought this sweater.  What I still had to do on this was finish the cabling on the body and pick-up and knit along the edge for the ribbing and button holes and knit the sleeves.  Yeah, still a lot!

Here is where I left off.  I really need to knit more than a foot of cables.  The original pattern called for knit stitches every other, so a cable, knit, cable, knit...I did not properly read the pattern and so cabled each one.  Good grief!  I wanted to rip it out, but my sister said that it should be fine.  So, I continued.

 

I then picked up stitches to do ribbing and buttonholes along the inner body edge.  I had a too-short circ needle, but used it anyway.  This really was a challenge because my knitter's elbow was bothering me because of the cumbersome nature of squeezing it all on and holding it.

I know, like what is that picture??  Exactly, but I was able to pick-up the exact number of stitches required to do a k2, p2 ribbing evenly along the edge.  Whoa, go Me!

 

The ribbing is about 12 or so rows, so at row 6 you need to do a button hole.  From trying on my sister's completed sweater, we both agreed that more buttons would be better.  I knit in 4 buttonholes.  I also reduced the hole from a 3 st to a 2 st hole.  The holes will stretch, I know this from past experience.

Once the ribbing was completed, I have 4 buttonholes.  They are not exactly evenly spaced, but good enough.  The top and the second are a bit off, I think, but no one will notice. Shhh!

Next was the sleeves.  The sleeves were left as live stitches so that they just simply go back on the needle and you knit.  I did have to pick-up a few stitches in the armpit.  The pattern instructions were confusing to me, so I did my own thing.  I have picked-up stitches before, ahem, I just did it for the ribbing, so no problem.  I looked at how many stitches I was going to need for my cable repeat in the round.  Once I figured that out, that was the number I needed on my needle.

I decided to make this a short-sleeved cardi, so that it is Florida friendly.  We are talking 100% wool this sweater is made out of.  No joke, it will keep you toasty through cold times, but I don't need that kind of warmth, typically, around here.  Layering is popular in Florida, so short-sleeves is just right.

My sister gave me 4 green buttons (no pun intended - the original pattern name was Mr. Greenjeans). 

 

I don't see us doing many more KALs (Knit-Alongs) because she will knit me in circles, like she did with this one.  But, maybe there will be times where we knit or crochet the same sweater or accessory.  That will be when I showcase our projects together.

 

I was toying with the idea of dying this cardi.  The natural color is really not in my color pallete and maybe something in blue or pink would be nice.  I heard that you can dye in  Kool-Aid.  Hmmm....

Cabled Cardi - Part 2

No, I have not forgotten about my KAL with my sister.  The Knit-A-Long is just taking a long time.  It could be that the weather is getting nicer and I don't want to knit with wool anymore.  Actually, that is exactly it.

Kathy is pretty much done with her sweater, as I am the pokey one, am still knitting the body with all of those cables.  Just to refresh everyone on what the Cabled Cardi was, here is a link to Part 1:

• Cabled Cardi - Part 1

Here is also a pic of what it is supposed to look like when we are done:

from knitty.com

Since its cast-on, I have done most of the body.  The raglan sleeves have waste yarn keeping the live stitches for the sleeves holding-tight until I get there.

Top Portion - Front

Looking at these pics, I'm not really liking the color, or the absence of color, much.  Oh boy....

Top Portion - Back

At this point is where I will start the cabled-ribbed part.  It will have no bottom ribbing, that this cabled bottom portion will serve as it.

The cabled was going well, it just takes awhile.  There are a bunch of cables that using a cable hook might take too long.  The quick technique for doing the 4-stitch cable is:

1. Insert right needle tip into the back loops of 2 stitches on the left needle.
2. Pop all 4 stitches off the left needle.
3. Place the loose two stitches back on the left needle and place the 2 stitches that are on the right needle back on the left needle.  They are now in a different order.
4. Knit, like normal, with the new order of stitches on the needles.

That creates the cable without using a cable hook.  With there being only 4 stitches, it works well.

I have made decent headway on the cabling portion.  But.....there is a minor problem.  Not problem really, but a I just realized I did way more work than I needed too.  Crap!  You'll see:

Here is the cabling.....can you see from the first pic in this post, what is different about it???  Scroll back up and compare the pics.

I did too many cables!  You are supposed to have a ribbing between each cable and I just kept on cabling.  Ugh!  That is way more work than what I was supposed to do.  I do like it, but not what I had in mind.

I only just realized it today, when I looked at the pattern to see how long I am supposed to knit these darn cables to.  I saw the pics and was like, Ah, what is that pic?  Are there different ways you can knit the cables?  Did they give us choices on how we wanted it to look?  Well, the answer is No.  I just did my own thing and did not read the pattern repeat right.

Looks nice, but I'm concerned now that once I put it on, the cables with bunch to the back of me, rather than a nice fan around me.  The cables tend to bunch together, making a ribbing of their own.  The problem with that is that my gauge is now off, with the potential of being too small.  

Well, I'm now putting it back in the bag and will wait it out.  I don't really know what I am going to do with it.  I have a few options:

1. Continue and hope for the best 
2. Rip out the cables and start the cable part again
3. Rip out the whole thing and reknit it in another yarn
4. Rip out the whole thing and call it a day

Not sure.  Tough choices, since I have spent a ton of time on it already.  I'm having second thoughts of the yarn I chose because it's wool, itchy wool, and can't have it next to my skin.  I'm in Florida, when am I going to wear this?  Only when I'm in Mass, visiting?  I can just wear my sister's sweater that she already knitted.  Hehe.  

I may just rip it out and start it again with another yarn.  A softer yarn.  I'll see what my sister says about it.  I've already placed it back in the bag.  The only bummer is that the project is using my popular size 8 circs.  I like those and tend to use them a lot.  I could have used them on the Weekend Shrug, but used straights instead.

If this happened to you...what would you do?  Let me know!

Cabled Cardi KAL - Part 1

A KAL is short for Knit-Along.  A Knit-Along is when two or more people knit the same thing at the same time and help each other and are generally there for companionship  and support during the project.

These KALs are often done online in large groups or at knit/yarn shops.  My sister and I will be doing our own KAL and I will be blogging our progress.  We will go at my pace, or rather, I will blog our progress as I progress.  I'm a lot slower than she.  My sister's name is Kathy, so I will just be referring to her as Kathy throughout these posts.

Kathy chose a cabled cardigan from knitty.com called Mr Greenjeans.  Here is a pic from knitty:

Picture from knitty.com

It is a one-button cabled cardigan with raglan sleeves.  It is worked from the back of the neck, down, then the sleeves are picked up at the raglan armhole and then the sleeves are knit in the round (no seams) to the cabled cuffs. Then stitches are picked up along the front and neck edge and a ribbing is knit.

Ok, not too bad.  The experience level is "Tangy" per knitty, and that means, intermediate. I never let the experience level stop me from doing a project.  The techniques needed for this cardi are basics of any raglan pullover.  Should be no problem.

The yarn we are using is Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool (100% pure virgin wool).  I am using Natural and Kathy is using Birch Tweed (78% pure virgin wool, 13% acrylic, 9% nylon).

Natural

Birch Tweed

Kathy mentioned to me that she was going to use Fisherman's Wool and I said, "Hey, I have a few skeins of that in Natural already.  I was going to knit you an Irish Cable sweater one time, remember?  I guess your not getting that Irish Cable sweater!"  Yeah, she figured she wasn't getting one, since I've had this yarn since before Ames closed in Raynham, MA (~the year 2000-ish).  Still has the Ames price tag on it: $5.00 on clearance.  What a steal because it is about $12.99 for an 8 oz skein now.

We are using size 8 circulars.  The pattern instructs to change to 7's when you cable.  We are going to stick to 8's because the cables tend to be tighter anyway, so going down a needle size will only scrunch them up further.  

First the cast-on is done and we get an inch or so into it:

Nancy's Start

Nancy's Close-up

Kathy's Start

Kathy's Close-up

So, we are off and running.  Kathy is already way ahead of me.  It was snowing in MA when she was knitting, so she sat and literally knitted all afternoon on one weekend.  I, on the other hand, not so much.

So, check in every once and a while to see how we are doing on the Cabled Cardi KAL!

Related Posts

• Cabled Cardi - Part 2