I’ve had a few requests for a cable chart for the Triquetra cable from my Triquetra gloves.  Well here it is…

Click on the image to get a larger view.

Here is the long awaited legend for this chart:

I finished my uber-cabley sweater tonight!  This is the biggest thing I’ve ever knit, physically and technically.  It took longer that I wanted it to, but I finished it in under a year.  Given that it is my first adult sized sweater, that has to count for something.

I’m really happy with the results, and it fits really well.  Of course, that is kind of the point of a custom knit sweater.

Here are a few pictures of the sweater I call FLAK…

I’m not quite done yet.

I’ve completed knitting on the body.  The only thing left to do is knit the neckline, and then tie up all the loose yarn.

This is the first time, in many, many months that I don’t have any live stitches on this sweater.  In fact, as of right now, I don’t have any live stitches on any needles at all.  I can’t remember the last time I’ve been able to say that.

Well, that’s about to change.  I’ve got 3 projects lined up.

1. Argyle Socks
2. Cabled Jacket
3. Sweater for Gwen

I have yarn for one of those projects, so I’ll get started on Gwen’s sweater as soon as I finish the neck on this one.

Here is a picture of the sweater as it stands right now (don’t mind the goofy looking mannequin):

Tonight, I finished the pattern knitting on this sweater.  I reduced for the ribbing, and knit two rounds of rib.  The only thing left to do now is knit two inches of ribbing at the bottom, then pick up and knit ribbing around the neck.

I stayed up too late knitting, so I’ve got to keep this post short.  I’ll post some pictures soon.

Not much going on here right now.  I’ve been knitting away on my FLAK.  It looks about the same as the last post, only it’s about 6 or 7 inches longer.  I’ve probably got 2 inches or so to go before I start the bottom ribbing.  Once that is done, I just need to knit the ribbing on the neckline and it is finished.

The body was slow going for a LONG time.  I was kind of in a slump about the whole project, it just didn’t seem to be getting anywhere.  Then it just sort of clicked.  I’ve got the pattern down.  I barely even have to look at it to knit, and it seems to just be flying by on the needles.  I’m actually kind of sad that this project is coming to an end.  The other sweaters I’ve knit have all been baby or toddler sized.  By the time I approached the end of those projects, I was so sick of working on them, I couldn’t wait for them to be over.

I find that with this project, it is as fun and exciting right now as it was when I first started.  Perhaps more so now that I’ve got the whole thing figured out.  I’m not trying to make some progress, and still getting a feel for the process.

I definitely feel connection to this project.  It has been such a long time in knitting that it is kind of like an old friend.  I’ll be glad that it is done, since I’ll be able to wear and enjoy it.  At the same time, it will be sad that I’m no longer working on it.

I’m sure that will only last until I cast on my next project.

I’ve been working on my sweater for a long, long, long time now.  Now that I’m knitting and blogging again, I think it is time for a FLAK update.  I checked back to see what my last update was.

WOW!

It was in February.  I’ve made a lot of progress since then.  I worked the start of the front.  I picked up and finished both sleeves.  I joined the body and worked about 7 inches.

I’ve got about 7 inches left to go in the cable pattern, then 2 inches of ribbing.  Once that’s done, the only thing I have left to do is the neck ribbing,  and hide all those darn yarn tails.

My goal is to finish this sweater in 2008.

I’ve really enjoyed this sweater.  However, I’m ready for it to be done.  Mostly because I want to wear the darn thing.  That, and I promised myself that I’d finish this one before I’m allowed to purchase yarn for my next sweater.

I knit a couple of baby sweaters when I first learned how to knit.  They were mostly stockinette, and I remember thinking how much work they were.  Well, they’ve got nothing on this baby.  This thing is a lot of fun to work on, never a boring moment with all those cables.  But it is a lot of work.

Unless plans change, my next sweater will be cabled, but in a much, much larger gauge.  Think size 11 needles and chunky yarn.  I’m expecting it to go much faster.

The bottom looks pinched because I’m using a circular needle that’s a few inches too small.  I tried switching to a longer needle, but that kept puckering while I was knitting.  It annoyed me, so I switched back to the shorter needle.  Besides, I really like working with my Lantern Moon!

After much cussing (and I do mean a LOT of cussing!), My January Chemo Cap is finished (yea, it’s way late).  It’s only as late as it is because I was 80% done with a different hat and I decided it was entirely to sucky to finish.  So, I frogged and went to work on another.

Well, that one proved to have it’s own challenges.  I ended up with Coronet from Knitty.  The band around the bottom is knit horizontally, then grafted together, and stitches are picked up along one edge to knit the body.  That all sounds easy, and until this project, I’ve enjoyed doing the Kitchener Stitch.  However, that all changed here.

 I finished the band, and I went to graft away.  I put the stitches from my provisional cast onedge onto a needle, untwisting the twisty stitches.  I grabbed my tapestry needle, and grafted away.  What I ended up with was, well, sucky.  So, I ripped out the graft, and tried fixing it.  I tried all sorts of things.  I spend DAYS working on this silly graft.  I ripped the cast on edge back a half patter repeat, I knitted the same amount back on the other edge, nothing worked.

Finally, I found a link to an alternate method of doing a Kitchener stitch.  I can’t seem to find it now, but the essence of it was to knit to the point you are ready to graft, then switch to an alternate color, and knit in pattern for a few more rounds (this was done for the toe of a sock).  Then you line up the stitches as you want the graft to look, and use the stitches in the contrasting color to guide the direction that your graft yarn should follow.  Once the grafting is done, simply rip out the contrasting color from the back, and fix any tension issues with the graft.  This worked very well for me and the graft looks great, even with purl stitches and the fact that I’m grafting to a cast-on edge.

If I were to make this hat again, I’d save myself some time, forget the provisional cast-on.  It really only gave me trouble.  I would just cast on with the contrasting color, and knit a few rows, in pattern (don’t need to do the cables, just the knits where the knits go, and the purls where the purls go).  Then switch to the working yarn and go to town.

 I wish I had taken some pictures of the grafting process, but I was so frustrated at that point, I was ready to rip some more and start a different pattern.  Maybe next time.

Here is a picture of the finished hat:

Here is a picture of the one I ripped out:

My FLAK is making good progress.  I’ve moved the back to scrap yarn, and I’m picking up stitches for the front.  I made a minor change to the pattern here.  The instructions call for knitting the right front, then putting it on holders, kitting the left front, putting it on holders, then going back to the right front, and working across it, casting on the center, then working the left.  I despise tails (and this thing has about a thousand already, who thought 50 gm balls were a good size for yarn anyway!), so I started on the left, I’ll put the stitches on a holder, knit the right, cast on at the end, then pick up the left and continue on.  Should work fine.

 I really like the way this is turning out.  I can’t wait to finish it up.

 (The photo is from a few days ago, so it’s not quite current)

I finally broke down.  The ladies at my LYS have been “gently encouraging” me to try the magic loop for a while now.  I had a pair of mittens to make for Gwen, so I decided to try it.  I went on over to knittinghelp.com(very instructional website) to learn how to do the loop (everyone is doing it!).  I watched the video once, and saw how to do it.  The problem I saw, is that even in the instructional video, it looked like a lot more work that it was worth.

 I watched Amy spend a lot of time sliding the work around on needles, and fighting with the transition from cable to needle.  The video sure didn’t make it seem any easier.  But, I decide to try it myself.

Well, I’m able to do it.  However, it seems like it takes a lot longer to make progress, as so much time is devoted to dropping the yarn, and sliding the needles around.  I might try it again sometime, but right now, I still prefer my DPNs.

Anyway, loop or no loop, I like the mittens:

The yarn arrived for my sweater yesterday.  I was so excited that I got right to work.  After taking some measurements, and some quick (and painless) math, I knocked out the shoulder saddles.  I can’t wait to get to work on this sweater!

 I heard some slightly sad news.  Janet Szabo is no loner offering this patter / design template for free.  However, it is well worth the $8.00 she is asking for it.  She was discussing not offering this pattern long term, so if you are at all interested, I would purchase it right away.