A quick note on copyright:

The cable that is the primary element of this design is based on my wedding ring, which can be seen here The cable design itself along with the rest of the design, such as it is, is all from my head.

As the designer of this pattern, I would love to hear your comments on it. If it inspires you to try your hand at designing, so much the better—I’m an engineer, not an artist, so if I can do it, anyone can.

I would also prefer that you contact me and request permission before distributing this pattern to a large group or selling hats made with this cable chart. Doesn’t mean I’ll say no, but I’d like to keep track of these things.



What you’ll need:

The ability to do, or willingness to learn chartreading, cabling, knitting and purling, and grafting (aka Kitchener stitch) on ribbing.

About 50 yards of Elann.com's Peruvian Collection Pure Alpaca, or a similar amount of a soft worsted-ish weight yarn.

Size 6 needles (gauge isn't too critical, but make sure that 2x2 ribbing across 24 stitches is enough to cover your ears when slightly stretched.)

A cable needle, and a yarn needle to do the Kitchener stitch at the end.


Some notes on the pattern:

I'd call this an intermediate-to-advanced pattern, if for no other reason than that I'm not inclined to spell all the stitches out. If you need help with any of the needed abilities listed above, look elsewhere.

In the chart, dots are purls, completely empty squares are knits, and although the chart isn't real clear on this point, if a knit cable crosses over a purl stitch, that stitch is still purled. If you've knit cabled project from charts before, it should be pretty clear what the cabling symbols mean--the heavy black lines indicate that that's the direction of the twist, so slip the first stitches to the front or back as needed to achieve that visual effect. If you've done this kind of thing before and I've clearly put in something wrong, please let me know.



Pattern:
Cast on 24 stitches using a provisional cast-on. Set up your stitch pattern so it matches up with the very first row of the chart (ie: the public side will look like: p1 (k2p2)x5, k2, p1). Do that for a few inches--more than 2, less than 8. Once you're in the mood to start the cable, do so. On the non-public side, knit the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches as you go through the chart.

When you're done with the chart, maintain the same ribbing pattern as previously. When the earwarmer's long enough to go around your head snugly, snip off a hefty length of yarn, undo the provisional caston, and kitchener the ends together.

Here's the cable chart:



For a picture of the cable chart without all these pesky directions, click here.




A quick note on copyright:

The cable that is the primary element of this design is based on my wedding ring, which can be seen here (or here.) The cable design itself along with the rest of the design, such as it is, is all from my head.

As the designer of this pattern, I would love to hear your comments on it. If it inspires you to try your hand at designing, so much the better—I’m an engineer, not an artist, so if I can do it, anyone can.

I would also prefer that you contact me and request permission before distributing this pattern to a large group or selling anything made with this cable chart. Doesn’t mean I’ll say no, but I’d like to keep track of these things.