I am going to make a basic stocking stitch cardigan. I was thinking that I want to add a two stitch cable about every seven stitches across up the front body of the sweater. I was wondering if the cable stitch will take up some of the ease of the sweater so that I need to add extra stitches to make up for it or if it will be fine with the number of stitches that it tells me to start with. I am so excited about this and I want to make sure I do it right. I have made one other sweater a few years ago and didn’t think it all the way through, lets just say it was a little big, lol. I didn’t think and added stitches to make it larger AND used bigger thread. I learned my lesson, so I just thought that it would be better to get someone elses take on my plans before I start.
The cable will use up some of the ease.
I’d suggest making a swatch with the cable and see what your gauge is and cast on accordingly.
Thank you! I can’t believe I didn’t think about that, lol. The only problem is that my gauge swatches always have issues. No matter how careful I am when I start my project the gauge is never the same as the swatch. This is the reason that I make baby clothes and not grownup clothes. I figure with baby clothes there is always a baby somewhere that is that size. I don’t know how to make my swatches match my actual knitting.
If you don’t get the right number of sts then use a larger or smaller needle. To try and match gauge in a pattern, CO about 4-8 sts more than it says for 4". Then measure the sts in the middle, don’t include the edge sts because they’re not the same as the center ones and curl under.
That is what I do. I even have one of those knitting rulers that has the hole in the midddle so you can count the stitches easily. I usually measure the middle 2.5 to 3 inches, but they never end up the same as when I make the project. I will try it again though. I really don’t want to mess up this yarn. I have been saving it for a couple years. I was just trying to find a pattern I liked. It is funny that I ended up with such a plain one. Thank you both for your help. I’m off to convince the yarn that it should cooperate with me. Have a great evening ladies.
how do you want to add the cable? With a background of reverse st st? Or just into the stocking stitch?
If you do not make a “devider” between the stocking stitch (st st) background and the stocking stitch cable they will blend in and be just a little structure.
Mostly either the sweater would be knit in reverse stochinette (just purl on right side and knit on wrong side) or you would make a line of a stitch or two on each side of the cable to devide them from the plain st st. You could also make a background of seedstitch, for example
Just try all 3 methods in your swatch if you do not know what you want. They are all veritable options with different effect. And they will all give a different gauge.
As a standart estimate to start with, I ususally add one stitch to my pattern for every band of cable (if I work on a background of rev. st st). Then you make a swatch and find out, if that works…
Also: the point of the actual crossing of the cables pulls in more than the band itself. So if you make crossings with few rows in between your pullover will be tighter in those spots, than if you left big spaces… just for an estimate.
I forgot about having to have the purl stitches next to the cable. I use the 2 stitch cable with the purls on each side to make cuffs of sweaters sometimes. I don’t want a lot of detail in the sweater just something simple to make the front a little different. Maybe I will look through some of my accent books (that I have never used, lol) to see if there is another pattern. Do you think it would look odd if I just made one purl on each side of the cable and left it at that. I was thinking to cross the cable every seven rows or so only.