Horseshoe Cable (Sw 14)

Now we're having some knitting fun!  I know, Knitting Geek excitement that surely doesn't measure up to your own choice of great entertainment.  But I liked working this one.  Cables are intricate and require some tedious stuff every now and then, which breaks up what can be monotony.  Swatch 15 will be really fun since I finally get to choose my own pattern.  More on that after I finish Swatch 15.

Here's Swatch 14, called a Horseshoe Cable.  If you look closely (and assuming my photographic 'skills' show the pattern) you can see twists and turns that together look like the hoof-prints of a horseshoe.

 Hoping you can see the knitting that looks like horseshoes.

The background in the picture above is one of my favorite books.  It's a reference book, a how-to volume, that I turn to frequently to help me refine my skills or learn a new one.  Over the years I've compiled a bit of a library (read:  tooooo many patterns and I won't live long enuf to make all the items).  I've cleared a shelf in my office -- taking away all the paid-work reports and booklets and handouts and filling the shelf with my knitting references.  More later.

Here's a shot of the instructions for the cable.  Hopefully you can see the coded language.  I hope, at least, that you can see that the instructions are written row by row.  And each row's instructions are different from the one before.  You may see odd numbered or right side rows with one set of instructions and then  all the even or wrong side rows with different instructions. This is good news, really good news, because it means that all the complexity takes place when you're knitting on the right side and you can relax and take a bit of a break when every back/wrong side row, where -- introducing new knitting lingo -- you knit the knits and purl the purls. 

The contrast is abysmal, but it's all copyrighted (see that in the footer?)
so it's really better if you can't read it so well.
Same pattern is available in any one of several dozen stitch dictionaries.

Well, it took me longer to explain than it takes a knitter to read the instructions and notice the complexity and 'take a break' nature of the pattern.

Another life lesson here:  It often takes longer to explain a life choice than just to step forward into life and proceed.

Weather Icon:  gray clouds, heavy rain.  I must find some icons for this.  Good day to be inside and knit.  I'm listening to a time-travel story where historians from 2060 travel to the Blitz and Dunkirk.  Really quite entertaining.  Connie Willis' Blackout.