I started Paul's cabled pullover using a Drops pattern last month.

Gauge issues forced me to frog it though. I had knitted about 400 yards at that point but it was just too wide.

That sweater below is another I made for Paul and since then he's lost a few pounds so bigger wasn't my goal for this sweater.

The thought of reknitting all that wide rib wasn't very appealing. Then I remembered Elinor's Point Gammon in the latest IK. Once I had a project in mind I ripped the Drops project and did a gauge swatch for Point Gammon right away. I was afraid if I didn't pick it back up quickly that I'd lose steam on it and the project would end up on my 2011 goals.

After the sizing issues on the Drops sweater I was nervous about selecting the right size for this pullover. After a few emails with Elinor I decided to knit the larger size. The ribbing is so accommodating - just what I needed coming off of a botched sizing project.

I'm enjoying knitting this a lot more than the almost-stockinette rib of the Drops sweater and I think it will make for a more impressive FO too.

I'm still ruminating on my Rhinbeck sweater choice so I'll get more of Point Gammon done in the mean time. Time is getting tight for my 2-sweaters-before-Rhinebeck knitting goal though. I'd have a hard time making up for another bigtime goof before then. Here's hoping.

I've been obsessively considering this year's Rhinebeck sweater. I've boiled it down to 2 battling desires - to walk around wearing a show piece, and to knit something wearable that will get tons of use (which means, something that looks good on *me* and not just when folded or hanging on a mannequin).

I pulled out tons of my previous books - old issues of Phildar, a couple Patons pamphlets, downloaded patterns in my binder, older books by designers, even older issues of IK. I came up with this set of wearable projects. They're all very nice - they have great details and would work up really nicely in either a showcase or workhorse yarn.

Kerrera by Gudrun Johnston - Love the rev st st yoke at the top and the patch pockets. The double garter stitch bands give it a great texture. And the hood is always a sure sell for me.

I may consider adding a zipper to it. While I love the look of just buttoning the top it's not a style if you're busty. I need my tops to come in under my bust or I look like my whole body is as wide as my bust.

Drops Circular Jacket with Flower - It's simple enough but the flower on the back has great impact (and I love the single petal on the sleeve bottom). They increase at 5 places instead of evenly distributing them around the entire circle so it create a bit of an angular edge and makes the fronts meet more than if they were true circles.

The big negative is that it's garter in the round which means every other round will be a purl round. It just seems wrong to have to purl to get garter, doesn't it?

Ariann by Bonne Marie Burns - If a design doesn't have a hood then a wide collar is a great compromise. I'm sure Amy could explain why hoods or wide collars suit me so well. I can just tell you that they work for me. (BTW how awesome is Amy's Fit 2 Flatter series? If you haven't seen it yet, it's a 10 part series on explaining what looks good on different body types and making knits work for you. It's incredibly thorough with tons of pics of garments on a variety of differently-shaped women so you really see what she's talking about).

The other thing Ariann has going for it is that I have just the yarn in my stash - Brooks Farm Mas Acero in "black" (more of a black and grey mix). The subtle variation in the yarn will look great in the chevron stitch pattern. And did I say it was stash yarn?

Cerisara by Bonne Marie Burns - The lace top gives it enough detail and the stockinette bottom makes it wearable with dress pants, a denim skirt and knee highs (anything that pairs well with knee high boots gets an automatic star next to it), or jeans for a bum-around weekend.

I have enough brown Silky Wool to make this from my stash as well.

Mondo Cable Pulli - I started this one last year but I need to frog it - I need a deeper V to balance out my bust and I think I went a half size too big.

I like the yarn I chose so I think I'd stick with that - Extra Stampato (100% Merino) in a black with grey/white speckles. What I did knit up made me really impressed with the pattern. I find that many top-down raglan patterns have issues matching the schematic but Bonne Marie's numbers were spot on.

While I think I'd like to see a more complex pattern knit up, my knitting time is too valuable to spend it on something I'll only wear occasionally. These 5 designs are garments I'd reach for all the time. The kind that make you do laundry so you can wear it again. The kind that make you feel good when you're walking around the office stuck there late at night. The kind that make you consider knitting it again.

I'll keep working on Paul's cabled pullover (I'm 2/3rds through the second skein!) while I mull these over.

I started a cabled sweater for Paul in early 2007. I never got past a third of the first sleeve. Doubts about the sleeve shaping (it looked a bit bat wing-like) and the start of the warmer weather and it's-a-new-season-and-look-at-all-those-fun-new-projects were just too much for me.

Flash forward three and a half years later and I've started a different pattern for Paul, out of yarn I bought a year ago.

Kim nailed it when she commented that I seem to be in a cable mood. I've started a basic pullover with a Drops design and Berroco Ultra Alpaca. The styling is classic guy sweater - a bit of cabling but nothing over the top. I'm knitting it at a finer gauge - they called for 17 over 4 inches and I'm getting 20. I did a few gauge swatches and I liked the 20 better. I knit the looser gauge on US 7s but liked the tighter fabric that I got on US 6s. Both swatches have been washed.

To compensate I've widened the cables from 5x5 to 6x6 (the swatches are in 5x5) because I didn't want to lose the chunky look of the original design. I'm also knitting it in the round and I'm making the width uniform from ribbing to under arms - the original was narrower at the ribbing and widened up to the underarm. I'll probably do more of a mock turtleneck but I'll see once I get to that point.

So far I'm really enjoying it - worsted weight grows so quickly when you've been knitting with a lot of fingering weight. I'm ready to start my second hank so I'm at least 10% done.

I always have trouble keeping track of cables when knitting in the round, but this pattern is different. The lines of seed stitch for the recessed part of the ribbing make it really easy to count where I'm at. I'm marking the end of each repeat with a removable stitch marker so it's quick to check if I'm ready to do a cable row.

I've also had to break out a tool I haven't used in a *long* time - a cable needle. I tried knitting those big cables without a cable needle but it was more hassle than it was worth. This is one cable the requires a cable needle (for me - ymmv).

My goal is to finish by Rhinebeck - that'll mean 2 sweaters by then (one for Paul and one for me). Right now that's completely doable if I don't get distracted. I'm planning to switch it up a bit with a sock and a scarf so I don't have big-yarn-burnout. Plus I want to knit a pair of mitts to wear at the festival as well.

As of today I have just over 11 weeks til Rhinebeck. Doable but not luxurious. Especially since I haven't 100% committed to *my* Rhinebeck project. At least the yarn is on order and I've narrowed it down to maybe 5? projects. Oy. Why do we always do this to ourselves?