Here goes…
Ooo that’s a bit big maybe…
The last one shows the back side with minimal carry-over like there would be if it was jacquarded like in Fair Isle, which would be a gazillion times quicker but impossibly expensive in yarn and too hot to wear.
This sweater if fantastic. I love cable knits, and the colors and cables on this sweater are eye-popping. Well done!
They are fine! And OMG… you have the patience of a saint! Gorgeous sweater!!
Thanks! I love texture and using this method I get extra plumpiness in the cables. I’m tinkering with different stitches so that I can do the panels in between the cables (the double Irish moss stitch here) in texture and colour (generally it’s either one or the other, or a coloured-row multiple).
Or 2 young children keeping me in at nights! It’s taken so long, now they’re big enough to wear it! But thank you kindly. I work in a vacuum, don’t know any other knitters, and so positive feedback is very encouraging. I’ve learnt a lot today
We have several men who knit here in KH including Mike who you’ve met. Everyone is friendly and helplful. So nice to have you with us!
Great, thanks, lovely to be here.
Your sweater is gorgeous. I’ve been very curious about mixing intarsia with cables.
I haven’t logged on in here ages, but I’ve been getting emails and this thread caught my attention. I knit exclusively with interchangeable circular needles. I started with Knit Picks nickel plated and have recently switched to Hiya Hiya. I love the cords on Hiya Hiya because they swivel at the base and it reduces the unruly twisting of the cord. That might work well for you.
As for the stitches sliding around on the cord, I have found that hasn’t been a problem and I do cables, stranding, double knitting and just started learning intarsia. I have not had any problems. Regardless of how the stitches look on the cord, you will be pushing them back onto a needle before you knit the next row or round and when they get pushed back on the needle, it seems to automatically even out any weirdness they had. Hope that helps.
Thanks Danisty. Coincidentally I just bought some circular needles today, and was going to report back to round off the topic a bit. So it’s great to see your comments updating this thread. I’ve just finished my introductory task in knitting in the round using magic loop - a pair of take-away coffee-cup cozies. Or wrist warmers, depending on the recipient.
My initial impressions are that knitting in the round is more faffy than flat knitting. Clearly I’m not yet adept with the needles. I was knitting in yarn slinkier and finer than normal too. And on my old needles with the thrashing viper of a cord. So with new knitter-friendly cord, thicker yarn, finessed skills and especially new found encouragement that there are people out there (you!) who knit only with circular needles, and such adventurous stuff, I’m eager to overcome the faff factor. At the moment I’m curious to see how messed up it’ll be to have multiple yarns criss-crossing at the back in an enclosed circular space…
So anyway I bought some Knit Pro Zing interchangeable needles. They’re ‘silver tipped’ aluminium needles with ‘lustrous’ metallic colour-coded shanks. I got all 5 sizes between 4mm and 6mm. The connecting cords come separately and I chose 50mm, 100mm and 200mm cords with little connecting rods to join the cords so I have a range from 50mm to 350mm, hopefully plenty wide enough for a jumper! The cords come with little stoppers so you can keep your work on them while using the needles for a little side project. As Jan had affirmed the cord is soooo much less unruly than on my old nylon fixed needles, so they’ll be getting the old heave-ho. The screw thread fitting seems to work fine and is a comforting good length. With such a (necessarily) fine thread there’s a risk of cross-threading - mangling up the thread on the screw head or socket - and being aluminium I wonder how resistant they’ll be to the socket mouth being opened up after much (mis-) use, but I took the risk because they were the funkiest looking yet proper solid needles I could find in my local shops. I was tempted by the sets in the snazzy cases but the cord lengths offered were mid range (40mm to 80mm) and wouldn’t be long enough for me and the needles ranged from 2mm to 10mm and so I would rarely use the smaller ones, so I saved a few bob while in no way curbing my enthusiasm. Other people had reported snagging at the silver tip junction but a quick firtle in the shop and I couldn’t feel any burrs, so fingers crossed.
Thanks all.
I second the Hiya Hiya recommendation, I have both the Zings and Hiya Hiyas and they are both good needles. I’m currently doing a 4-colour intarsia hat on my HHs and not finding it too tricky with the yarns getting tangled.
Use a one size smaller needle on the end you’re knitting from. It’s easier to slide the stitches on. (Assuming you’re using interchangeables.)
Zings: one cord end won’t allow a needle to thread into it (a replacement is winging its way to me). And whilst the silver tips and the shanks are seamlessly smooth actually the points where the cords attach to the metallic ends which screw onto the needles aren’t so smooth and can snag stitches especially when magic looping. Others in different shops have said that the build quality has decreased in the last five years, but as a newcomer I wouldn’t know. I think it’s liveable with, and especially if using Mike’s suggestion of using a smaller needle at the knit-from end, (if using interchangeables). I’ve yet to hold a Hiya Hiya pair so am much intrigued now to evaluate the differences. When doing intarsia Evie do you have short lengths of different colours and pull the ends through or do you knit from balls or bobbins and untangle? As to faffiness, I found unpicking rows to correct a row mistake much fiddlier (than with flat knitting) and noticed I started using the needles and wool in a continental knitting style which begs the question, do knitting-in-the-round knitters show a marked preference or is it just as diverse as for flat-knitters?
I use a grippy thing, aka a piece of shelf liner, to tighten my needles to the cable. Always be careful to tighten with your fingers on the metal attachment of both the cable and needle, too. I don’t have zings and had never even heard of them till you and Evie got them.
Zings have got a little key to tighten the needles onto the cord, a bit like a paper clip, which you push through the hole on the cord end. Perhaps most do, I don’t know, but with the extra leverage it seems to work well (so far anyway).
Having just looked at a Hiya Hiya set I realise I misunderstood your reply - as they also have the key thing - but not a “needle grip” which is where your piece of shelf liner comes in, and your comment about having a sure grip of both ends when tightening. Off to find a piece of shelf liner…
I keep each yarn attached to its ball rather than putting them on bobbins.
Yes, both sets of my needles (Knitpicks Options and Knitter’s Pride Dreamz) have the little key thing. I bought shelf liner and cut my own little square. I’ve hard of people using a jar opener type thing, but I prefer the smaller shelf liner square. Whatever works for you.
I’ve used disposable nitrile gloves.
Thank you @DerekM.
You have definitively answered the question I posed in this thread from years ago. Is It Possible to Cable in 3 colors?
At the time I was considering a coffee cozie with three braided cables (Celtic knot style) and I wanted reach cable to be a different “Christmas” color.