A.R.A.N. PROJECT

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 07:57:34 -0500
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: KNIT: ARAN #8....Cable needles and a Cable Name!


Good morning all.

Today is catch up day 

I have gotten some wonderful mail from many kind knitlisters who are
enjoying the "suspense" of the ARAN postings.  Truely, I am enjoying them
myself! Every knitting day brings a new discovery in the knitting, and
it's great fun to share it with everyone. 

My question to the list of where to put cable needles elicited all sorts
of responses. The best advice was to actually PUT it somewhere before you
move from your knitting spot...and the favored place was IN the
knitting... 

from Esther (ebozak@altair.cs.oswego.edu)...
Where do I put my cable needle when not in use?  I weave in into the
already knit portion of the cable until I reach the next row where it is
needed.  As I knit across that row, I keep the needle "wrapped" around the
forefinger of my left hand -- I suspect this will work only for those
knitters who, like me, use a U-shaped cable needle and knit with the
technique *Hiatt* calls right hand knitting (which is different from right
finger knitting. Most uses of the phrase "right hand knitting" encompass
both of these methods.)

Anyway, in both situations, my cable needle is out of the way when not
being used, but very handy when actually needed. :-) 


from Janice(jandj@metro.net)...
I'm not much into cable knitting yet, but when I've needed a cable needle
I have a neat trick to keep track of it when not in use.  I use one of
those barrel shaped row counters hung on a plastic marker ring with a
piece of ribbon.  I keep the marker after the first stitch or so on a row
to keep track of the pattern.  The hole in the barrel (originally these
counters were meant to slip over a straight needle, but I don't use
straights) is a great place to keep the cable needle when not in use.  It
holds it tightly so that it won't get lost, and it's always right there
with your knitting.  The counters come in 2 or three sizes, so of course
you need one that will accomodate the size of cable needle you're using. 
Works great! 


from Mel (MWaite1597@aol.com)...
Where do you keep your cable needles??--NOWHERE--I don't use them.  I
absolutely hated to knit Arans, even though I loved the way they looked,
because of the constant need to pick up/put down/ keep track of cable
needles.  Then I read EZ's explanation of how to do a cable without one. 
That really changed my life--I have knit many Arans since then, and only
very occasionally run across a stitch pattern that needs a cable needle 
...it was in Woolgathering #48, the shawl collared vest. I'm quoting EZ
here: 

"To turn a 3/3 cable without a spare needle, you need to change the
position of the stitches on the L needle. R over L:  slip the next 6
stitches off the L needle, pick up the first 3 stitches with L needle in
front.  Pick up the last 3 stitches with the R needle behind, and transfer
them to the L needle.  Now knit 6.  L over R:  Slide the next six stitches
off L needle.  Pick up the first 3 stitches with L needle behind.  Pick up
last 3 stitches with R needle in front and slip them onto L needle.  Knit
6." 

This works with almost ALL cable patterns, from 1X1 crosses to great big
fat ones like the one on the A.R.A.N sweater, and is MUCH easier to do
than to describe in words.  If you already know how to do a cable, you'll
see how this works right away. Once in awhile, you run across some kind of
a knotted cable or something where it won't work, but you can do about 99%
of all cable patterns this way. 

Putting the stitches back on the left hand needle is sort of an "extra"
step, but I find that it actually takes much less time than picking up a
cable needle (assuming I can find it in the first place), and the knitting
moves along much faster. 


Debbie (dbodmer@rmi.net) has found the name for our A.R.A.N. cable!  It's
called Celtic Plait.  She found it in the Harmony Book of Knitting Stitches.
I went-a-looking and found something very similar in the Harmony Guide to
Knitting...the only difference being their Celtic Plait was worked over 25
sts as each little "cable" was 3 sts instead of our 4. So, I now (unless
anyone has an objection) will dub ours' the KNITLIST CELTIC PLAIT.  Or at
least until a "real" name comes along...

Claudia knitting at Countrywool overlooking Blue Hill in the Hudson Valley
of NY State in the USA
Countrywool@berk.com
get the complete Anyknitter's Revolving Aran Network (A.R.A.N.) pattern
at:  Esther's Knitting Page http://www.cs.oswego.edu/~ebozak/knit