Cable Mania Knit Along

From KnitPurlPDX over on Ravelry starting Jan 8th.

Whether you knit gifts for everyone you know or just for yourself, surviving the winter holidays is always an accomplishment. This year, we’ve decided to reward ourselves (and you!) for with a KAL that every knitter can participate in – beginning or advanced, young or mature, male or female – Cable Mania 2010.

Widely ranging in styles and skill levels, cables are the great equalizer among knitters. Former simply by manipulating the placement of stitches, with a cable needle or dpn (or nothing!), cables can look like braids, all-over patterns, or even Celtic knots.

Over the next six weeks (through February 28, 2010), expect to receive new cabling tips and tricks, coupons for specials on cable patterns, fun contests, and even a brand-new Aran stitch dictionary.

So, go on, pull out your cable needle and cast on for a fun knit-along that can be just for you!

Specific to knitters, you can join our Knitting Patterns Only group to get, well, knitting patterns, ask questions and gain inspiration for what to knit next.

Looking for more Cable-styled knitting patterns? Check out these Cable Knit Patterns on Etsy

Next Pattern:

Santa and Saint Nicholas generally get all the good press, but Central European kids know you don’t want to just be good so you get presents from St. Nicholas; you also want to avoid the ire of Krampus. (He’s depicted as a human-like figure with horns and usually hairy or furry who gives birch rods instead of gifts to kids who are bad.)

If you’re the type to embrace the naughty side (or you just want to scare the children into good behavior over the holidays), maybe you’ll want to knit a Krampus sweater.

This one, from Sofie Amalie Laulund, is a top down circular yoke sweater with Krampus faces at the top and cavorting Krampuses further down the body, with some traditional Scandinavian snowflakes thrown in for fun.

Because of the large motifs there’s not a lot of room for adjusting the fit, but it is available in five sizes (the Ravelry page doesn’t say what the sizing is, and it says its worked with no ease but the photo looks like the sweater has a bit of positive ease, so if you decide to make this one just check the measurements and your own comfort level for ease when picking a size).

It also uses five colors, but there’s very little red and brown so you can probably use scrap yarn for those parts. It calls for DK weight yarn. You’ll want a background color that helps the creatures stand out. You could also work the snowflake bands in different colors if you want to mix it up.

The pattern is available in both English and Danish, and you can find it on Ravelry. This is the designer’s first pattern, which kudos to them because it’s such an ambitious (and fun!) project I’m happy to add to my collection of whimsy-filled knits.

[Photo: Sofie Amalie Laulund]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?