hi fellow knitters!
 Wednesday begins our March Challenge KAL -

...Rosie is here to say Happy St Patrick's Day....

[she's crowding into the group because it's her Birthday, our Wild Irish Rose, born a year ago on St Patrick's Day!]
...ahem........back to knitting...
When I think of St Patrick's of course, I think Irish...and that to me means, Lace & Cables! So we are going to do a bit of that today ~
what do you need?  here's some info:

This cloth is called,
Try-Me  Cable

You will need:
-Partial skein cotton yarn, any solid color
-Knitting Needles, size 7 or your preferred size
- Stitch markers will be helpful in this pattern
-Cable Needle…

   Now, there are *official* Cable Needles of various shapes and sizes – basically they are a piece of metal that may be shaped like a candy-cane, or straight but with a ‘hump’ in the middle, etc.
You do NOT have to go buy a Cable Needle – you can do a Cable in any pattern with what you have on hand – for ex., in the photo, a double-pt. needle works well, or a crochet hook – even a pencil will do the job.  If you have a stitch holder, that works too.
You just want something to momentarily hold several stitches while you knit the others in the row.

This is very basic, it’s not a full-size dishcloth – just a ‘sampler’ so to speak - I didn’t want to overwhelm anyone ‘new’ to working cables in their knitting –
so this is not very challenging for those of you who have already worked with cables. 
**But for those knitters, I will have something tomorrow for you!**

Try Me Cable ~

- Cast on 24 stitches

- Knit 2 rows for bottom border

- Begin the Cable 10-row sequence --

    note:  I have split the row up, so you understand the area of the pattern that you are knitting – just to show you where the Cable comes into play –and you will only use your cable needle on Row 5!

1- K 4[side border], K 4, Place marker, Knit 8 [Cable section], Place marker, K 4, K 4 [side border]

2 – K 4[side border], P 4, Purl 8 [Cable section], P 4, K 4 [side border]

3 – K 4[side border], K 4, Knit 8 [Cable section], K 4, K 4 [side border]

4 - K 4[side border], P 4, Purl 8 [Cable section], P 4, K 4 [side border]

5 – K 4 [border], K 4, C 8 B, K 4, K 4 [side border]

    This is your cable row - get your cable now--

Explanation how to do the C 8 B = Cable 8 Back:

First:

Place next 4 stitches from your knitting needle onto a Cable Needle, hold that needle behind your right needle; [yes, it feels awkward..but hang in there - if you have trouble, use a longer Cable needle to hold the stitches, so they don't fall off while you are knitting the next stitches...]

Then:

Knit the next 4 stitches in the row on your knitting needle; 

then:

 knit the 4 stitches from the Cable Needle

Finish, by knitting the rest of the stitches on this row

Proceed to next row:

6 - K 4[side border], P 4, Purl 8 [Cable section], P 4, K 4 [side border]

7 - K 4[side border], K 4, Knit 8 [Cable section], K 4, K 4 [side border]

8 - K 4[side border], P 4, Purl 8 [Cable section], P 4, K 4[side border]

9 - K 4[side border], K 4, Knit 8 [Cable section], K 4, K 4 [side border]

10 - K 4[side border], P 4, Purl 8 [Cable section], P 4, K 4 [side border]

 [It won’t look like much right now – we need more rows to get to see the cable – it builds upon itself as you knit the following rows.]

** You will now repeat these 10 rows

Knit Rows 1 - 10 again a second time

Knit Rows 1-10 again a third time

Knit 2 rows for top border

Cast off. 

You will see the cable coming to life!

 ~ Tomorrow we can talk more about cables, styles, etc. –

meanwhile, please email if you have questions.

  I will also offer you some ideas for dishcloths with cables!

Know that I’m proud of all of you who are trying this technique! 

how many of you are snowed-in?  Me, for one!  in NYstate, and we have lots of snow - a week ago we lost electric for two days - so I was knitting by candlelight! 

Happy Knitting!

Linda

Happy St Patrick's Day!