As promised, here are photos of the BW Arcade pattern knit in Cashmerino Aran on a #7 needle. I think it's a particularly stunning pattern. I love how it looks in the yarn, though I don't think it lends itself to the pyramid design I talked about in the previous post. At least, not if I want to knit all the rest of the sweater in stockinette. I had thought those arching knit stitches would lead the eye along the diagonal but, in fact, this pattern really is a square of purls with bobbles surrounded by the knit arches. When you step the repeats you get something of a checkerboard effect, not a pyramid.
See?
It would work if I were knitting this in reverse stockinette - but truth is - I'm not all that crazy about the purl side of knit fabric - and I sure has heck don't want to knit the whole thing in purls. Ugh. I know all this sculpture is going to take time. I want the smooth part of this project to be fast knitting.
But I am utterly charmed by the pattern. It's easy to memorize, easy to read if I have to set it down for Other Things. I enjoy it enough to not mind the many repeats I'll need to do to carry it around the sweater body. The unblocked gauge I'm getting is 4.5 stitches & 6.5 rows in stockinette and almost a 1.5 inch square in the cable. But I have wet blocked it and it's drying on thick towels as I type this, because with cables, as with lace, you really need to have more gauge details before you cast on.
I have 1700 yards of this yarn so I believe I'll have enough. Based on the unblocked gauge I will need 14 repeats of the pattern around and I'll make it 4 arcades deep. A slightly over-sized crew neck opening will be finished off with one round of arcades and the sleeves will end in a 2 arcade deep cuff. Everything will probably get an i-cord edging - much the way I did with my long lamented lost Flidas.
So. That's the plan. After I have more concrete gauge information - sometime tomorrow.
