Cables for Sweet 16

Happy 16th birthday, Sandra! We had a great birthday weekend. To mark the important transition that turning 16 entails, we went together with both sets of grandparents and are giving her a trip to the Me to We Take Action Camp. A week’s adventure in Ontario this summer, learning how to be a leader in changing the world for the better.

She also got a handknit sweater, and since I have pictures of that, we’ll focus a bit more on that for now. She picked out the cable, the thumb-holes, the asymmetrical design, and the big collar. I did the rest. I think we’re a pretty good team.

Pattern: my own, cobbled together with Sandra’s input, Ann Budd’s “Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns”, and Elizabeth Zimmerman’s “Knitting without Tears”
Cable: Jubilee cable from the Vogue Stitchionary vol 2
Yarn: Knitpicks Swish in Indigo Heather and Black

shoulder detail in black and white because it showed up better

I was originally planning a raglan shoulder, but the offset zipper meant that I had only 18 stitches between the left side of the band and the underarm. Happily, my sister helped me realize that a saddle shoulder would let me get the arm shaping in that I needed. Phew! I used lifelines to give me an easy way to tear back if I needed to. And then I pretty much improvised the arm shaping as I went, based on what looked about right. It worked and the lifelines were happily unneeded.

I did the button band (actually a zipper band) with intarsia so that the colour would match the ribbing. Feeling pretty proud of that.

Sandra has also been feeling the urge to handmake clothes lately, and has made several gorgeous painted shirts. Here’s one she whipped up for herself last week. I wish the camera would capture the way the leafy haze glows delicately. It’s so much better in person.

Advertisement