Knitting in the News, Looking Back and Ahead

A couple of strange knitting-related news items have hit my Facebook feed in the past couple of days that I thought you might be interested in. First off, of course Google releases a list of the most-searched terms each year, and one of the lists it compiled had to do with the most-searched how-to queries. “How to knit” came in at number five, just after how to blog and before how to kiss. Which may not be quite my order of priority, but still.

Humorist Bill Mann wrote a rather tongue-in-cheek list of strange resolutions he wants to keep for 2104, which included yarnbombing trees (along with “extreme ironing” and collecting air sick bags from different airlines). While knitting a jumper for a tree isn’t actually a good practice (long term it can hurt the tree), I’m all for decorating more of the world in colorful knits, completely randomly.

I hope your new year’s resolutions include knitting and that you’ll share them with me. If there’s any way I can help I’ll add it to a post here!

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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