Two More

I completed two more cable sampler squares. Both were taken from patterns in Lily M. Chin's book, "Power Cables".

The first was the Widening-Rib Cable Scarf. I added the column of twisted knit stitches on the outside of the 1x1, 2x2, and 3x3 cables. One nice feature of this scarf is the 1 x 1 cable column that is done on the back of the scarf making it 'almost' reversible. I say 'almost' because the other cables aren't reversed on the back. I enjoyed knitting this so much, I'm considering knitting an actual scarf.

On the bottom half, I only did a column of knit stitches on the outside of the other cables. Then I decided to rip the column down to the garter stitch border and re-do it with twisted knit stitches every other row. It did leave a bit of a gap where I twisted the stitches with the crochet hook as I ran back up to the knitting, but I think it will block out.

Then I sampled part of the sweater design of the Honeycomb V-Neck Pullover, which is pictured on the front of the book. This consisted of honeycombs knit with 1x1 cable stitches for the smaller honeycomb, the 2x2 cables for the big honeycomb and honkin' 4x4 cable up the centre. If I were to do it again, I'd only do a 3 x 3 there so it didn't pull in so much at the sides.

I only have 6 more squares to go. I may duplicate some of the ones I just finished and also want to do some elements of Carol Feller's Portulaca cardigan pattern, possibly omitting the bobbles.

On the monarch front, we now have 5 pupae (chrysalises) and 5 active young larvae. My friend, Marilyn, gave me a bunch of tender top leaves from her milkweed plants which I'm keeping fresh with the stems in an inch of water in a drinking glass. It's much handier than having to run outside all the time. Note to self for next year: harvest a bunch of tender top leaves from my own plants next year and keep them in water.