Yay the never ending ‘long-distance cable knitting’ is finally over! Was it just me or did inches 6-12 DRAAAAAAG on? I’m sure measuring at the end if every single row only added to the problem, but I was starting to get a bit squeamish wanting to FINISH IT. Well finally it’s time to start shaping the armholes. From what I have seen on our instagram #heliopathKAL, this can be a confusing part of the pattern. I agree there is a lot going on, but if you break it down it’s really simple. I was quite happy to see that Emma Welford was kind enough to calculate remaining stitches for just about every step. I HATE when a pattern makes you try to work it out while knitting only to realize at the end you forgot to descend somewhere and it’s not totally right. I know, I know – operator error, but there is a TON of info and direction in this stage of the pattern so a big THANK YOU for one less thing to worry about. I drew up a little ‘break down’ of the pattern for this part to help myself since I’m an economist – gotta always have a representative chart to accompany numbers!

So at this point we will be dropping the stitching, and binding off to begin shaping the armholes. It gets confusing, but counting the stitches as Emma so kindly described will make separating sides and keeping the work clean easy. At this point working the pattern should be old hat. So continuing with that needs no direction, but counting stitches will ensure you bind off the proper amount. SocalMeaghan at the UnapologeticKnitter also did a great job in filling in the information for dropping the stitches while decreasing and binding off. Please check that out here if you’d like more info on the drop stitches. I’d recommend it because at this point if I didn’t knit this up properly I would def go POSTAL and hold a wicken themed heliopath kal bonfire in the middle of the street. (WHAT? I’ve spent 40+ hours on this – that merits an insane occult meltdown.)

Another important note – you may consider using a larger needle to bind of the stitches for the arm holes and also when the back of the neck is bound off to ensure it’s not too tight. I’m guilty of binding off too tightly so I will be using a 9 to bind off. I’m working up to the ‘Finishing Step’ here.

What are the challenges some of you have seen on this KAL? I’ve personally been struggling with the amount of time the cable pattern took. I do need to learn the cable without a cable needle strategy, but honestly – between this and the GMAT studying my brain cannot hold new info this week! I’m up to my ears in practice problems and prep so this Heliopath KAL has been a good distraction. Plus, I have faith that if I can work through this type of pattern I can read the damn Critical Reasoning part on the GMAT with relative ‘ease’ (just kidding it’s so hard ugh).

Anyways, I’m off to take a practice exam and then go Haribo Gummy binge shopping at 5 Below. Happy Saturday!

XXX
GFK