8 Strand Braided Cable

Hey Everyone!

I had a request to post the pattern for the 8 strand braided cable, as used in the scarf I shared in yesterday’s post.

The pattern itself has 28 stitches within it

Row 1: Purl 2 Knit 24 Purl 2

Row 2: Knit 2 Purl 24 Knit 2

Row 3: Purl 2 Slide 3 to Cable Needle Hold to Back, Knit 3, Knit 3 from Cable Needle, Slide 3 to cable needle, hold to back, knit 3, knit 3 from cable needle, slide 3 to cable needle hold to back, knit 3, knit 3 from cable needle, slide 3 to cable needle hold to back, knit 3, knit 3 from cable needle Purl 2

Row 4: Knit 2 Purl 24 Knit 2

Row 5: Purl 2 Knit 24 Purl 2

Row 6: Knit 2 Purl 24 Knit 2

Row 7: Purl 2 Knit 3, Slide 3 to Cable Needle hold in Front, Knit 3, Knit 3 from Cable Needle, Slide 3 to cable needle, hold to front, knit 3, knit 3 from cable needle, Slide 3 to cable needle, hold to front, knit 3, knit 3 from cable needle,  knit last 3 Purl 2

Row 8: Knit 2 Purl 24 Knit 2

Repeat these 8 rows until the item you are working on is the correct length

*Note: For scarves I cast on an addition 6 stitches for a 3 stitch border on each side, and I knit 3 garter stitch rows at each end for a 3 X 3 border around the pattern.*

Knitting is more than just a hobby.

Hello my fellow knitters, and anyone else who finds knitting blogs interesting!

Where to begin. That is a task in and of itself. I am currently working on an 8 strand cable scarf (pictured below), and a size 10 sweater for World Vision Knit for Kids sweater. For not having a lot of time to knit, my sweater is knitting up super quick. I have about 3 more inches to go in the body before I do the front sleeves. It is crazy how quick this sweater is knitting up for me, with working full time, and of late full time and then some.

I spent the last hour or so working on updating my knitting spreadsheets that I have going on my computer. I added the columns and formulas I needed for this year. I also did columns and formulas for 2016 – 2020. Beings that it is now almost May, and i had yet to make the columns up for this year, I decided that I might as well just do it through 2020 and be done with that for the next six years.

Knitting is totally my creative outlet. It more than makes up for the mundaneness and lack of creativity I have in my day job.

I have been spending a lot of time this past week watching YouTube videos about knitting, and looking up patterns, as I want to get better, and be able to knit more complex patterns. I tried knitting socks once and gave up while trying to turn the heel. I want to give it another try, and really try this time.

I also have a couple skeins of lace weight yarn in my stash to make another leaf lace wrap/scarf for myself. Now that I have the baby blankets for my cousin and his wife done (I just need to get them shipped), I will have more time to work on projects that I want to work on. I know I have talked about it in the past, about having a personal project and a charity project in the works at the same time, and that is the case 95% of the time. I rarely only have one project in the works these days.

Beings that I have a size 10 sweater in the works, it is nice to have a smaller project to work on, when I only have a few minutes to knit, before I start work, or I don’t feel like working on as big of a project when I am tired after working 10 hours. I would love to be able to get paid to spend time working on projects, blogging about them, as well as craft store adventures and hauls.

Over the next few months, as I get some of my own stashed yarns knit into fantastic projects, and as next fall gets closer I am going to get out more, and go track down the locally owned craft stores here in Portland, and buy some yarn from them and write reviews on the shops, and the yarn for you guys. If my goal to be a better knitting blogger is going to ever come to fruition, I am going to start having to do the work myself. I can’t afford to jump in to it full time, and just make it my career, but I am starting somewhere here and now. I am making this goal happen.

For those of you who read and follow me for my charity knitting projects, rest assured that those are going nowhere fast, and will continue to be an integral part of my blog, and pictures and so on and so forth. I am just wanting to increase my skills and create so much more in the way of fall and winter accessories that are not only cute, but very practical.

Infant Hats and Christmas Gifts

In between working on the Christmas gifts that I am working on, that are a bit more complex, and require more attention I have also had some infant hats going at the same time. I have plenty of baby yarn left over from other projects that I am wanting to get used up for a good cause, so I have been using the balls I have sitting over here for infant hats. I currently have 10 infant hats complete. I am looking into charities that get the hats to hospitals and birthing centers in the high poverty areas here in the US. One that I know of – Bundles of Joy, is a group that donates their time and hats to infants born in the Pine Ridge Reservation OB Ward. The reservation is located in South Dakota.

The fact that there are areas within the US where unemployment is over 75%, and whole communities live without electricity, indoor plumbing, sewage systems, and telephones. Seeing infants born into this system where the infant mortality rate is around 5 times the national average is heart breaking. That is why I like using the talent I have been given, in knitting to give back to those who are much less fortunate than I am.

Some may ask, why I do it, when these infants will grow up and are roughly 4 times more likely to commit suicide as a teenager, or join a gang, and if they grow into adulthood 3/4 if not more of them will be unemployed for their entire adult lives, and be alcoholics, and if the alcohol doesn’t get them, another health condition related to the alcohol or poor diet will. While this argument is very valid, My answer is yes, that is all true, but there is also that small fraction of a population that will make a better life for themselves. Do you want to deprive those the opportunity to be able to contribute, or make a difference by letting them die as infants do to not being kept warm? That is why I knit for the infants, and I would love to see each of the infants born into poverty receive a handmade blanket and hat, knowing full well that few of them will be able to rise above the generational poverty.

As for the Christmas gifts I am working on, I am making progress on both the falling leaves wrap and the six strand braided cable scarf. The scarf is knitting up faster than the wrap because it is not as intricate of a pattern, so I am able to work on it while watching YouTube videos, or shows on hulu, or working on other things on the computer. The falling leaves wrap requires more focused concentration, and I can only have music playing while working on it. Both of these will be done before Christmas.

Saxon Braid

Hey Everyone!

This week’s Pattern is the Saxon Braid. The pattern that I used I found here. The pattern itself is a diagram on a graph square. There are no written instructions for this pattern, just the pictures.

Beings that I am a visual person, I figured it out on my own, with a couple restarts. I learned that the dots were purled stitches, and the slanted colored lines were where the stockinette stitches were being held to the front while a purled stitch was brought to the back (I would often look to the next row up to get an idea of what it should look like when the WS was complete).

I have made two scarves using this pattern, and for me it helped to print out the full pattern grid from the blog I found it on (which I linked above) and then in the little squares on the right it helped me, to write in the row number (1 being on the bottom 16 being at the top). This pattern repeats on itself to make the item you are working on as long as you need it to be. 

Rows 3, 7, 11 and 15 are “set up” rows where you are moving the purled stitched to set up for the cross over/under of the stockinette stitches which take places on 1, 5, 9 and 13.  So row 15 “sets up” for row 1. Row 3 “sets up” for row 5, row 7 “sets up” for row 9 and row 11 “sets up” for row 13. if that makes any sense to anyone else but me. 

This is one of my least favorite to work on, but one of my favorites once it is complete. It takes time and concentration for me to get a project complete. I love using this pattern in combination with Lion Brand Fishermen’s Wool yarn. 

Six Strand Braided Cable

Hey Everyone!

Happy 4th of July to all my American readers!

Welcome to my sixth cable pattern post in my cable pattern series. This week’s cable pattern is the six strand braided cable pattern. This is my favorite of the “simple” cables. This pattern I picked up from a picture that I saw, and I figured out and wrote out the pattern just from that picture.

I have used this pattern for several scarves, adding a total of six stitches to the pattern, so that each side would have an edging of 3 garter stitch rows at each end, and three stitches on each side that I used the garter stitch for, just to give it a solid edging, and to help it not to roll.

It looked more complicated than it is, you just cable on two of the eight rows, and it did not take me long to get the hang of what was going on.

I also make up size spacings for use in sweaters. I have yet to try this in a sweater, but after having made three scarves with this pattern, it should be hard. If you try this pattern, let me know if you like it.

For those of you who have followed my cable pattern series, I hope you have enjoyed it, and found some patterns that you like!

Double S Cable

Hey Everyone!

Welcome to the fifth cable pattern post, in my cable pattern series. This week’s cable pattern is the double S cable. This pattern is based off the single s cable pattern that I wrote about in last week’s post. what I did was that I took the basic s cable and then mirrored it for the second one. So one is always doing the opposite of what the other is doing. It looks pretty cool.

I have used this pattern in making one of my fishermen’s wool scarves. I like that it adds something to the otherwise boring but functional garment, yet is still casual enough for everyday (during the cold season) wear.

I enjoy trying new patterns, and seeing how projects turn out. If you are anything like me, simple patterns that look nice are what I spend hours on Pinterest, ravelry, knitty and other sites looking for. The patterns that I use on a regular basis were hard finds, and I did not come by them easily. Since I found them, I want to share what I found and maybe help some of you who haven’t been knitting as long find some great knitting patterns.

 

Single S Cable

Hey Everyone!

Welcome to my fourth cable pattern post! This week’s pattern is the single S cable. This pattern came about when I had seen a picture of a sweater that had used one of these (among other cables) in it. I thought it looked interesting and got thinking about how you would do this cable. I know it was a single cable and could be adapted using the single cable pattern. It did not take me long to figure out how you would do this pattern by alternating which side of the project you hold the three stitches on the cable needle.

I love seeing a picture with a knit pattern in it, and being able to figure out how to make that pattern by just looking at the picture. I am very much a hands on learner, and like being able to take what I see, and be able to take that and easily translate that into what I already know how to do. I love being able to add to my knowledge bank with little tidbits and finds here and there. I like to be continually learning and adding to my knitting knowledge, especially through every day life.

Braided Cable

Hey Everyone!

Welcome to the third post in my Cable Pattern Series! This week’s cable pattern of the week is the Braided Cable. This is one of my favorite simple cable patterns to put in a sweater. I have used this pattern multiple times for different projects, including knit for kids sweaters, and a wool wrap that I knit.

I like that it is a bit more intricate than the simple rope cable, but it isn’t too difficult that you can’t do other things like watch tv, or watch a movie while working on something that you are using this pattern in. This is one of the patterns I use most often when I am making a solid color sweater. I do a lot more knit patterns in the solid color sweaters, since I don’t have the color changes keep it interesting, or to differentiate the back and the front.

 

Single Cable Pattern

Hey Everyone!

Now that I have shared with you all the pattern for the Knit for Kids Sweater pattern, I though that a great way to follow that up would be to share with you a few of my favorite basic cable patterns.

This week, I am sharing with you the extremely basic single cable pattern, which I have also included spacing figures if you would like to use the pattern in a knit for kids sweater. Here several months ago I took the time and figured out the math for all the sizes to be able to have a reference for myself, for later when I wanted to use the pattern again. I am not a math person, so the idea of taking a bit of time to do all the math all at once, and then save it, and print it out, would save myself a headache in the long run.

I also included the figures for doing three cables up the front of a sweater, so if you would like to use that, it is available as well.

I get that there is math involved in knitting, and even though I don’t particularly like math, something about using it in knitting isn’t so bad.