I’m not going to apologize. I love charts!! I think most knitters need to learn how to read them and use them. Once you can do that, a whole world of modification is open to you. Charts can be played with. Charts can be changed to suit you and your project.
I’m knitting the Any Gauge Raglan Pullover. One of the great things about this top down pattern is that it has a wide Front and Back neck opening. This gives you lots of room to place a pattern. In this one I put a large cable down the front and back (the cable is included as a variation in the pattern).
This time I wanted to work a wider panel of cables down the front and back. This is the pattern I started with. Cable #15 out of the Knitted Cable Sourcebook by Norah Gaughan. An excellent book.
To figure out how I might work multiple strands of cabling, I photocopied the chart to see what I could do with it.
I could do several strands of the same cable.
But then I thought it would be more effective if I off-set them somehow. First I had to find the centre of the round circle of the cable and the centre of the little straight section. Row 10 is the centre row of the 7 rows in the round circle and Row 2 is the centre of the 3 rows between the small crosses.
Now to line the centres up.
Oh my, this is perfect. Look at that. The big cable crosses of the circles on both strands line up. On the right cable Row 6 opening the circle and on the left cable Row 14 closing the circle. This is totally going to work.
Here’s my pattern. I’ll repeat these two cables twice and work the Right cable once more for 5 cable strands. Odd numbers rule in this case. Throw in a couple of purl stitches at the beginning, between each cable and at the end and I have a terrific cable panel.
Charts, are they the coolest or what?!
Stay safe. We’re in the covid Red zone as of today so lots of time to sit at home and knit.
Cheers, Deb
Any Gauge and Gauge-Free patterns by Deb
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Count me as a member of the Charts are Great club. I believe that a knitting chart proves the maxim “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
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BTW, your cables are neat. I would like this design on the back of a pull-over.
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I have it on the front and the back too so I look good walking away, ha, ha.
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My mother was a chart person. She never could ‘read’ a pattern but I could – I had to teach myself to knit. Never quite got how to deal with a chart until I got old . . . so much easier to read for sure – especially for us with eyeball challenges.
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Charts are so visual and you’re right, easier on the eyes. There is
always something new to learn in
knitting. Exciting.
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