Almost there

Remember how I couldn’t find that I’d done any mistakes on the Central Park Hoodie? That was only because I hadn’t looked closely enough. I had forgotten the neck decreases, so the fronts had to be ripped back before seaming. Well. Now the shoulders are grafted and the hood is done.

Aahh, the hood. There was just too much plain stockinette there, like a blank canvas begging for a cable. I’ve seen several versions at Ravelry where the back cable have been continued up the hood, and wanted to do something along the line of that. And then I thought, what if I split the two cables and let them run to the front, or meet again, or something? And was that even possible? I did lots of unsuccessful googling searching for a curving cable chart, and then decided there was only one way to find out if it could be done. It can.

It worked on the first go, the size came out perfect and when I was done it was time to shape the hood. I tried to chart out something before I started, but then switched to the opposite approach and charted out every row as I went along. I found it much easier to see where everything should go when I had the work in progress in front of me. The chart is a mess like nothing else and probably full of errors but it was a great excercise. How do real designers do create their lace and cable designs when the proportions of the knit are so different from those on paper, draw first or knit first?

“All” that remains is to sew in the last sleeve, finish the buttonband and sew in buttons. Yeah, and hunt down a last button, cause my LYS only had four left of the ones I wanted and I really hope they are not discontinued..

Like these tulips, the worst part is over and I’m almost there!