Ok…I’m finally getting around to posting details about the cabled napkin rings I made for the banquet.
If you didn’t see the picture in my previous post, here it is again.
Cabled Napkin Rings
I used Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. The color is Cotton Ball. This yarn is leftover from my second knitting project. I was thrilled to find it in my stash. The color is more of a cream. Lovely, in my opinion.
I used size 4 needles.
Yeah, I know. Kind of small, eh? However, I’ve discovered that smaller needles make the stitches tighter and, hence, the cables “pop.” You want the cables to stand out. All of that hard work shouldn’t go unnoticed!
Now, for the fun part. The pattern.
For such a small project, this proved to be one huge challenge. I cast on this pattern first. After completing a couple of repeats, I found myself unhappy with the pattern. Maybe it was the size of the cable…just too big for my liking.
So, I went back to the drawing board and began the hunt for another pattern. I eventually landed on this. I cast on eagerly.
I completed one pattern repeat and made an interesting discovery. The pattern was riddled with mistakes.
If you work the pattern as is, you’ll come up with a garter-style cable. I also realized that I had to go down several needle sizes to obtain a tighter cable.
So, I sat down and rewrote part of the pattern.
A brief explanation of how the pattern works. The rows begin and end with K1, P1, K1 so that you are knitting a pretty Moss Stitch border. It’s the eight center stitches that you need to pay closer attention to. The cable is worked on only one row…the last of every pattern repeat.
One other tricky thing was figuring out how I was going to seam the thing. It’s not worked in the round. I hate seaming but gave it a valiant effort on my first napkin ring. The result was hideous.
So, I tried Plan B.
I used a Provisional Cast on, following Amy’s video on KnittingHelp.com. After working the pattern, I tried a three needle bind off. Once again, the seam was not to my liking.
On to Plan C.
Once again, I cast on using Amy’s Provisional Cast On. After working the pattern, I seamed it up using the Kitchener Stitch.
Voila! Success! You could hardly discern where the ends met. This is, ultimately, how I completed the rest of my rings. I had it down to a science, completing each ring in under an hour (per ring, I mean).
Here is the pattern as it should have been written:
Cast on 14 stitches, either using a provisional cast on or a regular one.
1. K1, P1, K1, P2, K4, P2, K1, P1, K1
2. K1, P1, K3, P4, K3, P1, K1
3 and 4: Repeat Rows 1 and 2
5. K1, P1, K1, P2, C2F, P2, K1, P1, K1
Because you’re ending on a RS row, your next series of pattern repeats will actually total six rows.
1. K1, P1, K3, P4, K3, P1, K1
2. K1, P1, K1, P2, K4, P2, K1, P1, K1
3 and 4. Repeat Rows 1 and 2
5. Repeat Row 1
6. K1, P1, K1, P2, C2F, P2, K1, P1, K1
Work the above six rows until you reach the length you want. I worked a total of six pattern repeats in addition to the first five rows.
Seam up in your preferred method.
Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: brown sheep cotton fleece, cables, cotton, kitchener stitch, Knitting, knittinghelp.com, napkin rings, provisional cast on, three needle bind off | 1 Comment »
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