On Edge(s)

My swell new book arrived:

I dove right in, excited to enhance my knowledge of knitted beginnings and endings.  Would you believe that I actually contributed to this book, and then forgot all about it?  It was almost three years ago, at Rhinebeck, when I launched my first book.  Across the aisle from my signing table were the lovely ladies of Green Mountain Spinnery, with whom I made friends.  Cap was there, and told me all about how she was making a book of cast ons and bind offs.  I offered her the best one I know, in case she hadn't heard of it.  And then I forgot all about it.  When I picked out this book, I had completely amnesia-ed our meeting.  But when the book arrived, Whoosh!  It all came back to me! 

Cap has done an outstanding job with this volume, and I'm not just saying so because she included my contribution.  The format is big and glossy, the binding (spiral) lies flat so you can actually work from it, and the photos and illustrations are sparkling-clear.  I promise, there are a lot of great new tricks in here, and a few old ones you might have forgotten about, too.  Get your copy HERE; you'll be glad you did.

And best of all, Cap came through with the very thing I was hoping for:  A way to cast on IN PATTERN!  That's right!  It's actually possible to work your cast on stitches one direction for knits, and another for purls.  I always suspected somebody must have figured out how to do this; I just had to wait until Cap wrote it down for me.  It's done with a version of the long-tail cast on (page 32, when you get your copy), and it really does work:

Here's the boring old "Cable Cast On" I settled for on the back of the sweater.

And here is the new and improved super-sexy "Cast On In Pattern" I used for the Right Front!

Yes, I know the difference is subtle, and anyone who would be able to tell the difference is probably way too close to the edge of my sweater.  But there's just something so satisfying about knowing you have really found the best possible tool for the job...Can I get a knitters' Amen for Cast-On smugness?  Yeah, baby.

Back's done.  Right Front's Done.  First sleeve's cast on.  Somebody stop me.
 

Omelette = Broken Eggs

So there I was, happily knitting on the back of the Desert Island cardigan, when I was seized by a bout of OCD  Imperfection Intolerance.  I was about 6 pattern repeats up the back when I realized that I simply could not abide the centered double decrease called for in the chart I was using.  I had done it as charted 6 times in my swatch.  I had done it as charted 30 times in my sweater back.  And that was it; I couldn't do it that way any more.  I realized that I wanted it how I wanted it, and now there was no choice but to ladder back.  30 times.

Here is the diamond motif, as charted, with a classic centered double decrease:

See how the stitch from the top of the lower diamond kind of squirms itself up and over into the next diamond?  Like it wasn't even invited?  Like it just sort of stopped by and then decided to stay for the party?  For reasons only my therapist can tell you, I simply couldn't have it.  What was wanted, I realized, (30 repeats later) was this:
 

This is your trusty garden-variety SL1, k2tog, PSSO maneuver.  See how he keeps the riffraff from the diamond downstairs from sneaking up into the festivities above?  Cordoned Off, my friends.  That is a diamond who has itself sorted, and once I thought of it, no other diamond would do.

Once I found myself unable to deny my need for disciplined diamonds, I faced the classic conundrum:  Ladder back or frog it?  For some reason, it felt like a real frog-out would be admitting defeat in some way.  After all, the other cables and the side panels were all behaving themselves perfectly well, so why should they be mercilessly ripped apart?  No, only a ladder-down seemed fair, which I (maniacally) deftly managed while watching a documentary about sushi (Note to self: subtitles are no friend of laddered cables). 

After that was done, I smugly forged ahead, finishing the back almost completely before I noticed one little diamond up near the shoulder.  It had somehow managed to invite one of those ill-behaved center double decreases over, right under my militant eye.  Nothing for it but to ladder back again.  At least this time (I told myself), there was only one diamond to fix.  And hey, it was only 3 repeats ago.  These things are sent to try us.

By this time I had pressed an uncommon degree of service out of my Brittany glove needles (super-sexy wee DPNs that are only 5" long)  They were perfect for the job because they were so short I could easily work the 7-stitches of each repair row without any undue tangling or snagging.  Even if you don't knit gloves, I highly recommend you get a set of these little cuties, just for such emergencies.  But don't treat them unfairly, like I evidently did:

They really aren't much more than cocktail picks, after all.  Alas, poor DPNs, I'm sorry.  Your sacrifice was not in vain, though.  With your help, I have at last achieved Sweater Back:
 

And my new cast on book has arrived, just in time for me to see if there isn't some better option available than the one I picked for the back.  And no, in case you're wondering: If I find one, I will not be laddering back to the cast on to fix it.  That would just be anal.
 

Make A Wish

My Desert Island exercise is progressing.  Here's the back, about 2" shy of the beginning of the armhole shaping.  

As I've worked, I've been making a wish list of design elements I want to include.  Some of them conflict, some cancel each other out, and some, I have discovered are impossible, due to holes in my knowledge base.  Here's the list (as of this moment, and in no particular order):

Cables and lace together
Easily memorized pattern=fun to knit
Wide ribbing bands
Cables that flow all the way into the ribbing (ala Kathy Zimmerman, Crown Princess of Cohesive Cables)
Tubular or other sexy cast on, with matching bind off
Cabled button placket, with buttons centered on each cable
Symmetrically opposed cable twists throughout
Square neckline
Gathered sleeve caps
Cables that match at shoulders
Shoulder straps
Heavily textured sleeves
Plain stockinette sleeves

As you can see, there are enough checks and balances here to establish a government.  Some things I'm going to have to let go of, and others I'm going to have to stand on my head to achieve.

The first compromise was the cast on.  I've been telling myself for years that I have a pretty good knowledge of different cast ons.  But it turns out that I really just have a couple of fun party tricks that I rely on heavily.  Case in point: I always use a tubular cast on and matching bind off for 1x1 rib.  It's so pretty, and so stretchy and perfect.  But in order to make my cables flow from the rib into the design, I had to place them precisely within the rib, ruining the tubular cast on.  There are 7 sts between each cable, and a 1x1 cast on relies on even numbers.  So I reluctantly settled on a boring old cable cast on, which I just know is not the best I could have done. I looked through all my reference books to see if there was a better option, only to find that I really don't have a cast on/bind off book in my collection.  Yet.  I ordered THIS ONE in hopes of expanding my repertoire.  I've promised myself that if I learn a better way before beginning the fronts, I'll do them differently, and not let it bother me that it won't match.  Because I can totally handle that.  Probably.

Now you tell me:  What dreamy design elements are in YOUR Desert Island sweater?  Do you know how to execute them?