That’s how I feel too. I have KP Sierra on wish list just in case I take the plunge! 
It’s not really that hard, if you’ve done cables before. I’m having a blast with it! I have two cable projects going on right now and Starsky is the more challenging of the two, but it’s still really fun!
Hmmm… My LYS hadn’t been successful in finding me a good yarn substitute. So, I’m leaning towards Sierra from KP. Sent an emial off to relatives in the States to ask if they would mind being the “middle men” in shipping.
I’m having issues with the colour choice, though… I’d love to have a cardigan knit in Natural but as the yarn isn’t washable, I’m not sure. How hard is it getting stains off when hand washing? ('Cause I assume I can at least do that with the Sierra…)
Does anybody know what the Mist and the Cinnamon looks like IRL? I think I read somewhere that someone was surprised by their Mist, that it was more blueish than greyish. Is that right?
And what about the pattern being more visible in a light colour?
I’m trying to do that maths but I’m not ending up with that much. Am I missing something? I’m thinking 12 skeins @ $4,49 = $55 and then postage. My experience (from Canada and not the US) is that postage usually isn’t that bad for private persons… Are you calculating for taxes too? I’m hoping that I won’t have to pay them if I get my relatives to make sure the package looks like a gift and not a purchase.
Just a tip for the cables and the twists:
When tryin gout the Banana Tree pattern, I colour coded the different abbreviations and after doing that I didn’t make a single mistake on a pattern repeat as oppossed to the several mistakes I did when just trying to read the explanations to the abbreviations. I ended up reading on the wrong rows…
So, get your colour markers out and I’m sure that will make it easier! 
I’m trying to do that maths but I’m not ending up with that much. Am I missing something? I’m thinking 12 skeins @ $4,49 = $55 and then postage. My experience (from Canada and not the US) is that postage usually isn’t that bad for private persons… Are you calculating for taxes too? I’m hoping that I won’t have to pay them if I get my relatives to make sure the package looks like a gift and not a purchase.[/quote]
I worked it out at 10 skiens @ 4.49 plus tax and postage would be $62 ish (according to the KnitPicks website - i pretended to make an order) and then the postage to the UK would be another $26 ish. (i calculated from the USPS website for international shipping) :shock: 
maybe I will check it again…
That’s a great idea! What helps me with 1/1 stitches (1 knit, 1 purl) is to always remember that when working the RS, the stitch that will be “forward” is always knit and the other is purl. Does that make sense?
Wow, that’s pretty. 
It’s funny that I looked at this since just last night I told my bf I wanted to make a jacket-thingy -just- like this. So, I’m glad I saw it.
Only…I’ve never done cables before, and I just don’tt hink I have the experience for it yet.
Anyone know of a similar pattern without all the fancy work on it? I 
the look/cut/style of it, and it’s the perfect length… I just wanted one a little plainer. (How boring am I? :rollseyes: )
Anyway, any tips would be appreciated.
Thanks.
can you not just follow the pattern and do stst for 21 stitches instead of the cable pattern?
Yeah, I could. I thought that cables pulled the stitches differently though so I didn’t know if I would need all the stitches originally or not.
From the way mine looks so far, I’d say that the cables, knit and purl stitches do pull the knitting in. Not as much as ribbing, but it does make a difference, but I don’t know if it’s enough to warrant a pattern change.
Here’s my progress so far on Starsky. I’m really pleased with the way it looks so far! The picture is bad… My flash kept washing out the knitting so you couldn’t even see the pattern. I’ll take a picture in better natural light tomorrow.
When trying out the pattern I was looking for some kind of “mantra” like that but got confused and couldn’t find it. I’ll keep this in mind 'til I get back to knitting the actual Starsky.
And I love the way your Starsky look in the picture! I can totally see the pattern. You’re doing such a good job on it!
I suggest you try the Banana Tree pattern for a bit. I haven’t done any cables or twists before and wanted to see if I was up to the challenge of doing Starsky. I casted on so I could make two pattern repeats on every row and then I tried it out. The first two leaf-sections (heightwise) came out with a couple of mistakes, twists turned the wrong way, and looked funny.
Then I colour coded the abbreviations and made another 12 rows (or so) without a single mistake. And I realized the pattern isn’t that difficult! It took some time as I had to double check and put stitches on a DPN and so on, but it wasn’t difficult!
So I say; try the pattern out before deciding that you can’t do it! 
Stephanie, that looks great … I can’t wait to start mine now!
I picked my wool up from the post office this morning so potentially I could start this tonight 
but I do have my booga to finish, a jumper for my son that I’ve only just started too. Plus my Hourglass sweater that I’m meant to do too :??
Yep! I think I will start this off tonight … :cheering:
I got so frustrated not finding a good yarn substitute so I ended up ordering Sierra from KnitPicks. I’m having it shipped to relatives and then they will forward it to me. I hope to have the package in a couple of weeks (paid extra for fast shipping in the US and hope for fast air transport to Sweden) as I’m sooo itching to get started. :XX:
This will probably end up being ridiculously expensive considering all the shipping, but I just grew so impatient… And I’m sure I’ll get a lot of use out of the cardigan.
I ordered 13 skeins of Natural. When taking measurements I ended up with the second smallest size for bust and hips. I’ll lengthen it though, as I want it to really get down over my hips. The sleeves need some lengthening too. So 11 skeins turned into 13 in my head when I considered the lengthening. Probably could do with 12 but I would just hate to be one skein short in the end… :doh:
That made me laugh!
I suggest you try the Banana Tree pattern for a bit. I haven’t done any cables or twists before and wanted to see if I was up to the challenge of doing Starsky. I casted on so I could make two pattern repeats on every row and then I tried it out. The first two leaf-sections (heightwise) came out with a couple of mistakes, twists turned the wrong way, and looked funny.
Then I colour coded the abbreviations and made another 12 rows (or so) without a single mistake. And I realized the pattern isn’t that difficult! It took some time as I had to double check and put stitches on a DPN and so on, but it wasn’t difficult!
So I say; try the pattern out before deciding that you can’t do it! [/quote]
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking of doing. I’ll probably try today.
I think I’ll just have to copy the pattern by hand though cuz I don’t have a printer here at work. Oh well, wouldn’t be the first time. 
If I can manage it, this will be my first KAL. :happydance:
So, I decided to give the banana tree pattern a shot to see if this was something I could manage.
…I’m not sure. I must be doing something wrong. I cast on 21 stitches, did a few rows in k2p2 rib, knit a row, purl a row (just to give it a base to start on) and started on the pattern. I only got to like stitch 17 before I ran out of stitches. I thought that was rather strange, but thought I may had done something wrong.
So I Frogged my little example, cast on 32 stitches, did the same base (rib, knit, purl) got the first of the pattern done, and I had 5 stitches left over. Which, again, isn’t right. I turned it anyway and worked the pattern back across (after those 5 stitches), got to the end of the pattern and had more stitches left over.
I’m really confused. :??
For the 2-st RC, I slip the stitch onto a cable needle(held in back), knit the next stitch, then knit the stitch off the cable needle, right?
For the key, it uses the 2 blocks for the 2-st RC. Now, do I do that for each stitch that corresponds to each block, or, does both of the blocks mean 1 stitch. :??
Hope that makes some sense. Anyone know what I’m doing wrong? Thanks.
I can’t make any sense of any chart, so I don’t use it. I just use the text and everything worked out fine for me.
Yes, for the 2-st rc, you slip one stitch to the cable needle, hold it in back, knit the next stitch and then knit the stitch from the cable needle.
It sounds like you are knitting 2 together somewhere or something like that. Can you do the first row and count the stitches every so often to make sure you still have the right number? Maybe then you can isolate where the problem is.
I never had problems with the number of stitches, but I did have problems remember when to knit and when to purl with the 1/1 stitches, but I’ve gotten it worked out. I’ve even had to fix a few without frogging, but now I’m good.
Ok. I think I figured out what I was doing wrong. I was reading each block in the chart seperately, so I was actually 2-st rc’ing twice. :doh:
I think I’ve got it now. :oops:
Awesome! Now, you’ll see the beauty of the pattern!