Excellent project with some adaptations that worked well -- made for a guy.

(1)
15.May.08
Starting a “major” project for the first time in many years, not counting a few baby things that didn’t really need massive attention to gauge or size.

AND first thing knit for beloved BF after six years together. I’m sure I promised him something five Xmases ago. Pressure’s on.

Plus, all our cats have now passed away and are buried in the raspberry patch, so no more cat-astrophes like hair in the yarn or whole-house unravelings. We have two road trips from Wisconsin-to-Connecticut, so time to get knitting.

(2)
20.July.08
85% done. Adapted the pattern somewhat to better fit BF, who chose both the pattern and the yarn when we visited Webs in Northampton, Mass. together. He wanted something with a bold allover cable-y pattern, and this works beautifully.

Gauge and number of cast-on stitches needed to be adjusted slightly for the different yarn, plus I prefer a firmer fabric with my knitting, especially for something really stretchy like this cable pattern. Helps the finished piece keep its shape and not sag.

For a 44” finished chest size, I used 10 repeats of the cables for the front and for the back (22” each piece). That’s roughly 7.25 stitches per inch or 29 stitches for 4”.

I used a tubular cast-on for a smooth look at the hem, and changed the pattern by knitting about 4 inches before beginning the main 2x2 cable crosses (see detail photo). This is at both the bottom hem and at the sleeve cuffs. It gives a nice establishing look to the piece -- recommended!

Like many other Ravelers, I’m changing the neckline on this one, too. The original wide stand-up collar just wasn’t going to fly with BF, who asked for a flatter crew or v-neck.

And, as others have mentioned, the stitch pattern is a no-brainer if you’re familiar with cables and other crossing stitches. At most it’s 2x2, which I can do without a cable needle, so this goes pretty fast.

In what order do you knit sweater parts? I used to do the front first, but now I do a sleeve to make sure I’ve gotten the gauge vaguely close and am making the correct size garment. Then the back, then another sleeve, then the front.

I have all four pieces nearly done -- since this is a raglan and there will be a neckline change, I’ve left the last few rows of each piece, and I’ll pin them together on BF and confirm my plan for how to adjust the final rows to make it all fit well without bunching or stretching.

Cascade 220 Superwash works very nicely for this pattern, and my gauge swatch didn’t flinch in the wash. Held shape fine. This particular color (Army Green) is a really terrific deep pine-needle green that looks dark and classic in low light, and quite zingy in bright sunshine.

(3)
5.Aug.08
Finished! Looks terrific!