Cable Me

Out of pure necessity... okay! okay! It was out of pure laziness combined with impatience I finally performed the ridiculously easy task of cabling without a cable needle. I had always "known" or understood the concept of the deed, but for some reason I had just never tried it out. I am a tschotze gal, I live for my accoutrements, my tools, my thingy-ma-bobbers, and so on. So why on earth would i not want to lug that big bulky cable needle around with me while I am working on a project with cables?!
Last night at work I started working on Tudora and after casting on 112 stitches I realized that I did not have a cable needle with me. So rather than just working on one of the other three projects I had with me & waiting 45 minutes until I was home to begin cabling... I said "Flip it all anyway! I am going to just cable sans cable needle". And I did. And it was super easy. Many people say that it is much faster to cable without using a cable needle.... I don't know if that is the case for me. Sure, it is nano seconds faster than shuffling that cable needle around from between my pinky and ring finger, but I never really felt that a cable needle was slowing me down.

But anyway.... what about Tudora? I am excited about this simple little project. I love having a cozy scarf wrapped around my neck! I have had some serious problems with my neck in the past and find that keeping it warm makes a huge difference in my general comfort. So even when it's not terribly cold outside... I tend to have at least a little something wrapped around my neck. (same as my wrists... and my super cute cuffs).



The pattern says that it will be approx 17 inches long... mine is 19 inches. And there is still a button band to be added. I am using the yarn which she recommends as the substitute yarn; Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed. I just happened to have a ton of it laying around that I have had no plans for. I made a beret out of this same yarn. I must say.... I am not a fan of this yarn after working with it twice now. It is a little scratchy, which for the beret was not a big issue, I lined the brim with squishy soft malabrigo. But for this neck warmer, don't know what was thinking. The other issue with this yarn is that it is somewhat brittle. It is super thin in some areas and when cabling.... comes dangerously close to breaking.

Speaking of berets... it's my new pastime.

Last month I made three of Kents Moss Stitch Beret. This hat is soooo popular! I had never made a beret before, I really wanted one to wear, I really wanted to make one, and I DO love me some moss stitch. So I made one for myself, figured that if I liked it, it would make great gifts for a few special folks in my life. I had so much fun knitting it. There where a couple of wonky instructions in the pattern. I emailed Kent to verify that what I had thought he meant was actually what he did mean... he was so sweet and replied to me toot suite!

The decrease section is where it is a bit wonky. my interpretation of it (confirmed by Kent) is as follows:
divide into 8 sections (17 stitches in each section) & place markers the beginning of each section. Every other round you will decrease the first four stitches after each marker as follows; {slpw, K1, psso} then {K1, slkw, psso}. Ok... so that second decrease is the wacky one. you will need to {K1, slip one knitwise, then slip BOTH stitches back onto the left needle, now you can pass the second stitch over the first, and then pass the knitted stitch back onto the right needle}.

I made two more, a red tweed one for Sile, and an olive green malabrigo one for Kate. They are such a hit! And you are in luck because I will be teaching it (with Kent's blessing) for knit one one in February.