Saturday, January 9, 2010

Cabled Tee Shirt

No matter what else I knit, I always find I am drawn back to my favourite. The classic and timeless cable. This one is a simple four stitch, left twist, six row repeat. It becomes almost like a rib pattern, in the four purl, four cable stitch repeat throughout the whole sweater.
The yarn was an Elann bargain. One of their full bag sales, so there were ten balls to work with, and I thought it would be enough for a tee shirt style. I have noticed lots of tees being worn in the winter over long sleeve tees and even over collared shirts, so that was the look I wanted with this one. Any DK weight yarn should work with this (test your gauge), abd the ribby cable will ensure a snug fit as long as the yarn is sturdy enough to hold the cable (not flatten out at the first wash like some soft wools).


Yarn: Elle Elite DK: 50% wool, 50% cotton, 125 yards/ 50gm ball, 10 balls.
Size: fits medium, (about size 10) about 38 inch chest, but stretchy and could fit larger or smaller.

Needles: 4mm (US 8), cable needle

Gauge: 28 sts = 4 inches, in the ribby cable pattern

Ribby-Cable Pattern: Right side, Row 1: K5, [p4,k4] repeat in brackets until last stitch, K1.
Row 2: K1 (edge stitch), p4, [k4, p4] repeat to last stitch, k1(edge stitch).
Row 3: like row 1,
Row 4: like row 2
Row 5:(cable row) K1, *cable 4 left* (place next 2 sts on cable needle and hold to front of work, knit next 2 sts, k2 from cable needle), [p4, cable 4 left] repeat to last stitch, k1.
Row 6: like row 2.

These six rows are the whole pattern, keep repeating, using the cable row every row 5 of 6.

Pattern:
Back: Cast on 118 sts. k5,[p4, k4] repeat across row to last stitch,k1. Next row: k1, p4, [k4,p4] repeat to last stitch, k1.... repeat these two rows for 2 inches.
Begin the ribby cable pattern, working up the back until 15 inches have been completed from the start.
Armhole shaping: Bind off 7 at start of next two rows. Keep in the cable pattern throughout, Decrease one stitch each end of right side rows, 6 times. Continue even until piece measures 24 inches. Cast off all stitches.

Front: Cast on as for back and work the same until front measures 18 inches and armhole shaping has been done. Cast off center 20 stitches, and with second ball of yarn work both sides as follows:
Cast off 3 sts at neck edge, twice on each side. Decrease one more at neck edge, two times more on each side. Work remaining stitches with out further shaping until same length as the back. Bind off all stitches.

Sleeve: Cast on 70 sts. Work in k4, p4 ribbing, with one edge stitch each side, for 2 inches.
Start Ribby Cable Pattern, AND start increasing one stitch each end, every right side row for 10 times (90 sts). Keeping up the cable pattern and adding new stitches into the pattern, increase one each end every 4th row four times (98 sts). When the sleeve measures 7 inches, Shape Cap: Cast off 7 sts at start of next two rows.
Decrease one each end every right side row 7 times (70 sts)
Decrease one each end EVERY row 20 times (30 sts)
Cast off 5 sts at start of next 4 rows. Cast off the rest.

Neck Rib: Join one shoulder seam. Pick up 104 stitches evenly spaced around the neck opening (front and back). Work back and forth in k4, p4 ribbing (no cables), until 2.5 inches (or go for 8 - 9 inches and make a turtle neck - may take another ball of yarn). Cast off LOOSELY in rib pattern.

Stitch up other shoulder, joining right up the neckband.
Sew in sleeves and stitch side seams too. Done.

4 comments:

crazycrafter said...

Thanks for the pattern! I really want to see a picture of you in your new sweater! Blessings and happy knitting!
Hannah, age 12

Sherry said...

Thank you for the pattern, I love the look. Hope mine will come out ok!

Unknown said...

I love the sweater! If you are a larger size how would you amend this pattern? I would be interested in an XL size.

chris said...

If you want this one bigger, either use larger needles, or if you knit to gauge, adding one more 8 stitch repeat (the part in the brackets) woulkd create a sweater that is about 2 inches larger around the body... effectively about two-three sizes bigger.
Hope that helps!
Cheers, Chris.