Review: Norah Gaughan’s Knitted Cable Sourcebook

Norah Gaughan is well known in the knitting world for her geometric feats of knitting. Her projects tend to turn knitting on its head in lots of different ways, so its no surprise that one of her particular obsessions when it comes to knitting is working with and designing cable patterns.

Her book Norah Gaughan’s Knitting Cable Sourcebook includes more than 150 original cable patterns, as well as instructions for 15 patterns to use them in. (See the patterns on Ravelry.)

The really cool part is that each cable pattern is shown in a large swatch, almost always with both written and charted instructions, and the book gives a Stockinette Stitch equivalent rating to each pattern, which tells you how many stitches in plain Stockinette the pattern uses up.

This is really cool because it makes it easy to substitute cable patterns in the projects. If, for example, you love the skirt but want to use a different cable, you know that the pattern used, called macrame, has an SSE of 32, so any pattern or patterns you want to use need to work out to 32 as well for the skirt to come out the same size.

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

The numbers are also helpful if you want to take a cable out of a project, because you know how many plain stitches need to replace it. If you’re designing your own projects you will still need to knit a swatch but you’ll have an idea of how much space the cables will take up before you begin.

I would say this is a book for experienced cable knitters who want to more deeply explore how cables are made and how to develop their own variations. While the basics of cabling are pretty simple, the patterns presented here get complicated pretty quickly, so a newer knitter approaching this book would need a lot of confidence to carry on. Information about which patterns are reversible or look good on the wrong side, how projects look worked in different yarns and variations on different cable patterns will be helpful to knitters of all skill levels.

The sections on getting started, yarn selection, chart reading and troubleshooting are helpful, and the patterns are nice. But looking through the stitch patterns is sure to inspire you to want to knit your own projects, whether a giant cabled sampler made out of a bunch of swatches, a slouchy hat with a giant cable or a delicate baby blanket with cables inspired by flowers. This is a msut have for cable lovers and might just turn some people who aren’t wild about cables (like me) toward the cable knitting camp.

About the book: 276 pages, hardcover, 15 patterns, 153 stitch patterns. Published October 2016 by Abrams, retail price $29.95.

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns!

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil.

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn.

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point.

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up.

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.

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