Yea-ah, baybeee, let's do the twist

The image of Chubby Checker has been going through my mind as I cable my way up the Irish Hiking scarf.  Yeah, just picture it, the image of  a fat black dude, swiveling his hips back and forth, doing the first dance to make it to the white mainstream that wasn't the foxtrot.   

I swatched some cables for Melissa Leapman's full-fashioning class last year.  I clearly did not examine them closely other than to say, "COOL!  Look what I did!" to my DH.  So when I did examine these babies closely, I noticed what every knitter has always noticed about cables.  The last stitch on the side the cables turn is looser.  Bigger.  And bigger ISN'T always better.  Chit, mon.   

So I hit the Internet.  And my knitting books.  The problem is clear:  the transition from the knit to the purl stitch leaves a longer stitch behind.   I have way too much time on my hands.  Here's the rundown:

1.  Cable Needle Freedom suggests that you pull the second purl stitch after the cable's last knit stitch more tightly.  And then on the wrong side, tighten the first purl stitch in each cable panel. That doesn't do squat. 

2.   Knitting for Dummies parrots a variation on this theme.  The author suggests knitting the first two purl stitches after the cable tighter than normal.  Abusing two purl stitches doesn't work any more effectively than abusing one. 

3.  Knitting for Dummies has probably realized that the preceding advice is worthless.  The next suggestion is to work the last stitch of the cable.  Bring the yarn in front, slip the next (purl) stitch, and continue knitting.  When you arrive at the slipped stitch on the next WS row, go into it as if to knit, and at the same time, go under the unworked strand on the right side.  With the tip of the LH needle, bring the slipped stitch over the strand, transfer the newly formed stitch to the LH needle in the ready-to-work position and knit it.  This looks like creating a dropped stitch without actually dropping it, then working it, all to make the first purl stitch after the cable panel tighter.  This doesn't work either.

4.  The website, Creative-Corner.net,  in a help forum, had this to say about switching between knit and purl stitches:  To purl the first stitch after the cable panel, wrap the yarn around the needle in the opposite direction.  Knit this stitch on the next WS row TBL.  This seems to be the most effective of a number of ineffective moves:

The gray arrows show the effects of pulling the stitches tighter.  No, I wasn't impressed either.  The red arrow shows a stitch done following tip #4.  It looks a little more tidy, a little less sloppy.

Does anyone else obsess about this sort of thing?  Is this a molehill?  Should I just muzzle it?  The earlier cables look a little better as the fabric experiences normal vertical and lateral stresses.  But they still aren't crisp and uniform.

My crocuses (zone 5) are up and screaming.  Huddling tightly together, living in fear of the next snowstorm, or cold snap, they are making the best they can of a New England spring.  Me, I'm just waiting for pink cashmere yarn, a brand new swift, a peacock shawl pattern, and ZephyrSilk yarn in marine blue.  There is a remote chance that I will NOT snarf all the chocolate I ordered from Chocosphere.com prior to gifting it to my surgical unit.  I want to thank them for taking such wonderful care of one of their own.

Comments

[Margene]

Thanks for that link. I've heard that wrapping the 'wrong' way is a geat way to fix that problem. Sometimes it really does look bad.

[Cassie]

Don't start the shawl until you're off the painkillers, y'hear? And always use (you knew I was going to say it) stitchmarkers.

[laurie]

Hey, hope you get well soon! mmm... chocosphere.....

[KarenK]

The technique I learned to help tighten up that wobbly cable stitch is, for the purl st following the cable, to purl it through the back of the loop, twisting it and snugging it up against the cable. This has worked for me. The other solutions, while innovative, weren't quite the same as the purl-through-the-back-loop technique. Hope this helps.