Changes March 12, 2007
Unbeknownst to us, there have been more things going on over at Interweave Knits than the change in layout. Eunny let us know in her blog post this morning. She’s going to be the new editor! Eunny is an amazing knitwear designer and knitting author. I mean, look at this sweater she just finished. It’ll be interesting to see where the magazine heads with her at the helm. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the magazine’s new era. I hope she manages to keep up with her blog, at least part time though, as I enjoy reading it. I wish Pam Allen, the previous editor, good luck in her new endeavors.
There’s been talk again lately about knitting cables without a cable needle. Wendy filmed a mini demonstration, Grumperina has instructions for it, the Yarn Harlot has mentioned it, to name a few. I thought I’d poke around a bit. I did this once. On a pair of socks I knit years ago, then promptly forgot how. Since I found the straight, grooved cable needles that I prefer, years ago now, I haven’t actually minded using a cable needle, so I haven’t looked into alternatives until now. It would be faster to not use one, keep the hands on the needles, to not constantly pick up and put down separate, small pieces of wood.
It didn’t take me long to find two excellent examples. As I said above, Grumperina has a tutorial, photos and pictures showing a right cross and another set showing a left cross. A second example by someone else is here.
What I find interesting is that Grumperina knits each half of the stitches separately (half before, half after the actual crossing), while the second example saves knitting 
all the stitches until after crossing the stitches is complete. Each method is perfectly valid. I’ll have to try both next time I have a cable project to see which I like best.
In the meantime, I made tremendous progress on the Melon shawl over the weekend. I have only two pattern repeats left to do before I can start the border. As usual, not much sock progress over the weekend. It seems to be more of a weekday project.
–Deb March 12
Lord, I can’t remember the last time I even used a cable needle . . . or at least, not for cabling. I DO use mine to pin pieces together for seaming, but that’s about it!
~Kristie March 13
I’m SO GLAD I renewed my Interweave Knits subscription. I’ll be anxious to see how the magazine improves now.
Thanks! I’ve never seen those cable twist tutorials. I learned from a tutorial I saw on Wendy’s blog, but I really like the one Grumperina has too. I may have to try that on my next cable project.
I’m washing all my socks right now in hopes they will be dry enough to bring tomorrow. The weather has been hot enough though that if I just set them outside in the shade on my drying rack, they’d be dry in an hour, huh?