Purling Sprite

At the movies, Part I

Get a comfy chair, grab a yummy treat...take out that chocolate you have hidden on top of cupboard, your knitting loom, a cable needle and some yarn and let's get ready to try out something new on our looms.

Today, we are going to go over a two cables: 3-stitch Right Cross Cable, 3-stitch Left Cross Cable, These cables are typically used to make traveling lines like the ones shown on the blanket on the left. (The blanket shown is the Aran Afghan from Learn to Knit Cables on Looms booklet.)

Before we get started, I want to talk a little bit about the yarn for this type of project: try to choose one that has some elasticity to it, such as wool. This is one time where I would say not to choose a chenille type yarn, it would break too easily. Choose a yarn that will allow the cables to show too, something smooth, non-frilly, and a light color will allow the cables to pop a little more. On cable needles: I like the curved shaped cable needles as the curve prevents the stitches from accidentally popping off.

We are going to look at the 3-stitch Right Cross Cable (3-st RC) first.

For the cabling demonstrations, I am using the red Knifty Knitter loom, the yarn is Lion Brand 's Thick & Quick, the cable needle is a U shape plastic/nylon cable needle.

The instructions for the 3-stitch RC cable are as follows:

1. Place loop from peg 1 on cable needle. Take cable needle to center of loom.
2. Knit pegs 2 and 3. Move them as follows: Loop from peg 2 to peg 1. Loop from peg 3 to peg 2.
3. Take loop from cable needle and place it on peg 3. Knit peg 3.

Next, we are going to look at the 3-stitch Left Cross Cable (3-st RC) first. The instructions for this cable are as follows:

1. Skip peg 1 and peg 2 (take yarn behind pegs to peg 3).
2. Knit peg 3. Place loop from peg 3 onto cable needle. Hold cable needle to center of loom.
3. Knit peg 1 and peg 2. Move them as follows: loop from peg 2 to peg 3; loop from peg 1 to peg 2. Place loop from cable needle on peg 1.

Come back tomorrow for a second installment on cables. We will be looking at the 3-stitch Right Purl Cross and the 3-stitch Left Purl Cross cables. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the cables we saw today, drop your comment and I'll try to address the question(s) tomorrow before introducing the other two cables.

Comments

The booklet is out and being delivered!

Learn to Knit Cables on a Loom arrived at DA on Wednesday and it started shipping out the moment the box was opened.

Hubby brought me a copy home and I was extremelly impressed by the photography. Nice clear, detail oriented pictures. Some of you may be receiving your copy today or in the coming days. Here is a little sneak peek into some of what's inside. My pictures are not as good as the booklet.

This is the earflap hat. It comes into sizes for children and adults. I have a small head and the child size fits me (19").

There is also a baby sweater with a braid cable down the center.

It looks a lot cuter on the beautiful little model on the booklet.

What else...hmm, there are also some slipper socks (they are thick, thus the name).

A scarf with 2 cables next to each other, here is Lolita modeling it for us.

It is a relief to finally show you some of the items that I have knitted over the year. All of them at once, lol.

Oh, and if you are looking for the next issue of LKC. Swing by the website around noon today and you will find the Winter issue up and running. I have a pattern in there for a baby blanket that missed the box going to the publisher, but it is okay as now you are able to see it and (possibly) begin knitting it.

The latest news: Learn to Knit Cables on Looms

A new booklet will be hitting the stores in mid December: Learn to Knit Cables on Looms will be available really soon.

This little project booklet kept me busy for a few months this summer/fall and finally I am able to show you some of the projects in there. The booklet (not really a book as it is only 32 pages) was one of my favorite projects to work on. Why? Cables are my love in knitting. Cables remind me of my Abuelita and one of the items in the book: the shawl that is pictured on the front cover reminds me of my Abuelita. She always wore a Reboso (Spanish for shawl) and when I picked out the yarn and the stitch pattern I was thinking about her. When the projects come back to me, I am planning on sending it to her, so it can keep her warm and she can have a little piece of me with her at all times. As you can see, my favorite project from the booklet is the Rebosito :).

The book is available for pre-order at the Decor Accents, Inc website. I will be putting videos online as soon as the booklet is released to the public. The videos will demonstrate the cabling techniques so hopefully they will go great with the booklet.

Other happenings in my life: I am sick. I caught a cold/flu on Wednesday and I have been sick and irritable (my husband's description of me). Last night, I had insomnia and I was only able to sleep for about 2 hours. After tossing and turning for three hours in bed I got up with full intentions of working but I couldn't loom knit at all--my head feels like I have cotton balls inside, yucky!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Monday!

Shhhh....I am sleeping

I feel so free I can almost scream! My last batch of content and projects were shipped away, away, away to the UK.  I am back to having some more "regular" hours....so I'll probably be taking a nap here and there.

The excitement and apprehension is starting to kick in--how about if the publisher doesn't like the items--how about if they come back and tell me that they want one of the huge projects (ahembabyahemblanketahem) redone--how about if they just hate it all.

I believe the most difficult part of the project is to come--the decision from the publisher about the look of my work. It is one thing having your friend judge the knits and tell you that they are nice, but it is a completely different thing when a stranger looks at it and tells you flat out--its fugly, there is no way this is going into the book, re-do quick.

The project took a whole chunk of my life, now,  I feel that I have so much free time, so much time to knit whatever my heart desires...what would it be: Baudelaire Socks, Lacy Top, or maybe EveryDay Tweed, or by chance...maybe I should finish Essential Stripes--with no stripes.

What do you think? what should I knit next?