Fetching

My experience knitting Fetching, a gift for a close friend, was a mixed one. Everyone raves about this pattern and it was a quick knit - but I have to admit, once I was done, I was more relieved than pleased.

Since these were my first pass at cables and were going to be a gift, I did one glove in alpaca as practice. First, let's take that cable co - much prettier, worth the effort, but not the fastest way to cast on. After a few splitty attempts, I found that making the newly created stitch rather large, then pulling the yarn tight after placing the right needle between the two stitches was the easiest way to work it.

Next, let's move onto the cables themselves. Did the first round of those with a cable hook. That lasted about two repeats. Moved onto cabling without a cable needle. Spent more time rescuing stitches with my freaking crochet hook than actually knitting. After a considerable amount of swearing, finally fell into a groove using a size 4 dpn to slip those first two stitches off, hold, then transferring them back onto the left needle to knit.

Groove aside, however, I didn't particularly enjoy cabling. Forget the particularly - I just flat out didn't enjoy it. At all. Don't get me wrong, I was pleased with the end result, it's always good to learn a new technique, and it certainly won't deter me from knitting the two cable bags on my fwip list. But after that, I won't be revisiting it anytime soon.

Three little mods: 1) knitted these on a set of five dpns instead of four. Having all the stitches on three needles felt stiff and awkward; 2) added two extra rows after the thumb to give it a little additional length and put some breathing room between it and the last cable round. Having done the practice glove according to the pattern, this mod - an excellent tip from the knitty board - is something I would highly recommend; 3) did a regular bind-off to make it more snug around the knuckles (didn't care for the picot flare).

Yarn notes: The practice glove in baby alpaca was super soft, but it didn't hold the cables well and the fuzziness obscured the stitch pattern. It also sheds like a mofo. So I dove into the stash and came up with this extra hank of Artyarns Supermerino. Muuuuuuch better. Easier to cable with, crisp stitch definition, soft, machine washable, and the color variegation adds interest without camoflauging the cables. It took a bit more than one skein, though - I had to use some of the remaining ball from the Pithy Hat to finish the last half of the bind off row on the second glove (man, don't you hate it when that happens? I was SO close!) and to knit the thumbs.

I actually finished these last week, but got some kind of bug up my butt about the color. Toyed with the idea of overdyeing them with Kool-Aid, but didn't think she would care for the fruity tooty smell. Knit another glove in a darker alpaca, then remembered why I frogged practice glove (I knew this, I really did, and have no idea why I had to try it twice). Considered knitting another pair in a different yarn, finally realized I was being a freak, wrapped them up on Friday and gifted them on Saturday.

Luckily, she thought they were adorable and dug the color! So, while I won't be knitting another pair anytime soon (or ever), it was all worth it.

Whew, these are done. Now, back to the socksession!

Fetching
Pattern: knitty's Fetching
Yarn: Artyarns Supermerino in #135
Needles: Bryspun dpns, size 7
Mods: Set of five dpns instead of four, added two rows after the thumb, did a standard bind-off instead of the picot
Lesson learned: Cables are a chore