Braided Cable Wedding Cover-Up

I knitted a thing, and then I wore it at my wedding.

In case all the posts referring to wedding stress haven’t tipped you off, I got married! On November 1. In Maine. In a strapless, tea-length dress.

Did I mention the wedding was in November? In Maine?

I realized pretty quickly after I bought my dress that bare shoulders weren’t going to cut it, and I started knitting Jami Brynildson’s Braided Cable Hug in a soft, fuzzy blend of ivory yarns to wear over the dress in case I got cold.

The cables came together fairly quickly, given that I’d never done anything more complicated than stockinette before (total time: approximately one and a half seasons of Witches of East End). From there, the pattern instructed:

With RS facing, graft the ends together using a darning needle, taking special care to match up cables and maintain a neat RS fabric.

Furious Googling and Ravelry forum combing for “seam together cables” and “sew cables together knitting” revealed that a) the correct term is “grafting”; b) in order to do so, I should have used something called a “provisional cast on” (whoops); and c) grafting together cables is apparently WAY HARD. Also, contrary to the pattern instructions, one should block before grafting, rather than after. So: I blocked it on my new fancy foam blocking mat and hoped for the best.

Blocking: really hoping I did this the right way.

Between researching cable seaming and blocking, I also moved, and by the time I got back around to the project, I had kind of given up on “maintain[ing] a neat RS fabric.” Sorry, Jami Brynildson. Instead, I seamed the two edges together in an extremely obvious line and decided I’d wear that part at the back. Done.

After a few rounds of ribbing at the neckline, it was time to rock and roll. Witness, me looking very chilly (and excited) sans cover-up:

brrrrr

And much warmer, once properly attired:

warmer!

From the back, you can see the seam (which has migrated slightly to the right):

back view

After I looked at the pictures, I kind of regretted adding an extra half row of cable—the pattern as written includes three rows of 12-stitch cable, and I added a 6-stitch cable row at the top to mimic a photograph I’d seen on a wedding site. I like the way this looks, but the cover-up ended up coming down below my elbows, which gave the whole ensemble a bit of an awkward penguin look. The piece was big enough that I could move my arms freely, but I think it would have looked more elegant if it had ended just above my elbows.

Now that the wedding’s over, I’m not sure when I’ll wear this again—the length makes it a bit too cumbersome for daily wear, and the style isn’t quite office appropriate for me. That said, it’s so soft and cuddly that I can see myself tossing it on over leggings and long tee for lazy winter days at home.

Readers, such as you are (is anyone still out there?)—have any of you ever tried this so-called “provisional cast on”? Have you ever grafted cables together? Any pointers?

Overwhelmed by life, and fuzziness

In which I offer photos of fuzzy knitting to atone for my absence.

This blog has fallen casualty to wedding preparations, an unexpected last-minute move, and the fact that most of my crafting lately has been for gifting purposes, and therefore isn’t yet publicly shareable.

But: I have been making headway on something lovely.

Since I decided to get married in a strapless dress in November in New England (brrr), I’ve been looking for something to wear over my wedding dress to keep me warm. The options feel infinite:

After waffling between rose gold sequin explosions, bright pea coats, and a slew of wool shrugs/scarves/cowls/shawls, I finally decided on Jami Brynildson’s Braided Cable Hug, which I stumbled across on Ravelry.

Photo by Jamibee on Flickr

Thick, soft cables: check. Maximum fuzziness: check. Warm enough to withstand whatever Maine’s winter might throw at me: check.

I picked up some extra soft ivory yarn at a Gather Here crafters’ brunch last month and got a couple of inches in before I accidentally skipped a row and hard to start over. I frogged it (NEW KNITTING LINGO!) and started over the next day, then promptly did the same thing again. In the meantime, I fell in love with a photograph of a similar knitted piece that had three large cables and one smaller cable, so I decided to rewrite the pattern a bit to see if I could adjust it. Verdict: success! I can’t get over how easy this has been to knit, or how soft and chunky and fuzzy it is.

Once the cables are done, which should happen this weekend, comes the hard part (for me): grafting together and picking up stitches, neither of which I’ve done before. I’m looking forward to learning some new skills, and also a bit sad that I’m almost done with this project. I’ve loved working with this yarn, learning how to cable, and watching my work grow. Can’t wait to wet block it and see how the end product looks.