It’s time for a new Loopy Ewe Challenge! One of the things we try to do around here is to move you forward in your knitting, encouraging and inspiring you to try new things. Sometimes it’s a technique, sometimes it’s a new yarn, and sometimes it’s a new type of project. For our First Quarter 2011 Challenge, we’re focusing on Cables. Cables add texture to whatever project you are knitting up. They look impressive, but they are amazingly easy to do. Bottom line – it’s just a matter of knitting your stitches in a different order – that’s what forms the twist. The other nice thing? You usually only do the cable row every 4-8 rows, so it’s not something you do on every row. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is.

The challenge is to pick a project with cables, and jump in. It can be mitts or gloves, hats or scarves, sweaters or vests, etc. Whatever project works best with your timeframe and your interests. Now some of you have been cabling for a long time, so you need to make this challenge a bit more difficult for yourself. Don’t pick an easy-peasy project with a simple cable. You’ll want to do something that lives up to the name “challenge”, for you. (Have you been following Wendy’s cabled sweater in her blog? So gorgeous. If you’re an old hand at cables, try something with multiple cable variations going on, like Wendy is doing with her sweater.)

Here are a few patterns/links to get you thinking, but of course you can pick any pattern with cables.

Socks:
Nine to Five Socks
Firestarter Socks (10th pattern down)
Calendula Cable Socks
Highland Fling Socks

Hats:
Habitat Cabled Beanie
Knotty But Nice
Gretel
Claudia

Mitts/Gloves:
Fetching (this pattern was my first try at cabling)
Knotty Gloves
Linda K’s Yummy Mummy Wristwarmers
Fine Cabled Mitts

Scarves/Cowls:
Cabled Keyhole Scarf
Palindrome Reversible Scarf
Irish Hiking Scarf
Hollygrove Scarf
Irish Cabled Neckwarmer (pictured, finished last week for a gift!)

Sweaters:
Hooray Cardigan
Central Park Hoodie
Tangled Yoke Cardigan
Cassidy Cardigan

If you’ve done cabling before but never tried it without a cable needle, check out Grumperina’s great tutorial on cabling without a needle, found here. (If you have not cabled before, you might first try with a cable needle.)

Final details: Start date is today (or any time thereafter), and your project needs to be completed by 3/31. To be eligible for one of the Quarterly Prizes, photos must be submitted to our Photo Gallery by 4/4, and it needs to be a yarn that is available here at The Loopy Ewe. If you need to purchase yarn for this new challenge, we are offering a 20% off discount, valid until 1/7/11. Simply leave us an order note telling us which yarn you’re using for the challenge, and we’ll manually adjust it to 20% off when your order comes through. (Make sure that the discount doesn’t take you under the $75 level, if you’re going for free shipping in the U.S., otherwise we’ll have to add the shipping back in on that.)

So – who is up for the Cable Challenge? I’m making the Hollygrove Scarf out of Cascade Eco Alpaca and starting it today!

Sheri whowillbelearningtocablewithoutaneedleonthisproject