In which I talk about fixing cables (for lazy knitters who don't want to rip back)

I am knitting Norah Gaughan's Beatnik. Along with at least 298 other knitters, according to Ravelry, so I'm in good company. I'm betting most of those knitters have more patience and reverence for the knitted fabric than me but there's a chance there's at least one lazy knitter out there who decided to do what I did with those pesky mis-crossed cables.

The back is done - and let me tell you about it

I'm rushing on this sweater. While I'm waiting for the erratum for Kenzo, I'm dead set on making myself a sweater as a birthday gift (whether it actually makes sense or not). I'm rushing and hence the mishaps.

Yesterday was a big day for cable fixing... And I believe that Sunday was the big day for messing those up, judging by the placement of the wrong twists.

I feel I should also clarify that I'm not that lazy a knitter, I'm not averse to ripping back work to fix major issues. It's the yarn that I was taking into consideration when deciding on the quick fixes.

I'm making this sweater in Cascade Softspun, which is a soft (as the name implies) single-ply worsted wool. The strands are delicate but give a good, elastic fabric with a decent stitch definition. I've knitted a sweater with this yarn before and I'm very pleased with it. For a yarn this soft, it doesn't pill much.

But what you don't want to do with it is frog. The strands stick together very well and are quick to felt together slightly.

I first noticed one mis-crossed cable. It seemed to me that the most effective fix would involve cutting. I remembered a post from the Yarn Harlot that showed her cutting into cables. For whatever reason, her blog was unavailable at the time when I wanted to attempt it, so after looking at a few unconvincing tutorials elsewhere I decided to wing it.

It worked but I prefer not to offer too specific an account because it wasn't brilliant. It was just OK.
I caught the stitches of the wrong cable with two DPNs, cut the yarn, put the cable in the back, behind the other twist (which should have been in front in the first place). Since it’s wool, I felted a new strand together with the end of the cut strand and grafted the stitches on the DPNs together. Almost invisible.


... And then I noticed that I mis-crossed A WHOLE ROW below… The cutting made me even more reluctant to rip it out, so I decided to duplicate stitch over the wrong twists. This is more visible, yes, but it’s going to be on my back anyway, and we’ll see if blocking makes a difference.

Two pictures for comparison:

Can you spot the fixes? (You probably notice at least
three pretty quickly, I see all four, always.)

The full confession

Right now I'm working my way up the front. Hoping (perhaps naively) that I can get it finished tomorrow, block both parts quickly, join, and make the sleeves over the weekend to have a finished sweater by Monday. I'm deluding myself, right?

The inspiration for my sweater comes from the 1960s girlsband Alibabki.  They're biggest hit was ”Kwiat jednej nocy” (The flower that blooms for one night only) but their most amazing record, in my opinion, is the one on which they explore Jamaican music, ”Jamaica Ska”. Have a listen.