Not for the Faint of Heart

Warning: some really crappy photos coming up (sorry 'bout that).

Cable repair. Just the idea would strike fear into me a few months ago. I would nod knowingly as I watched some woman slip into the yarn store with a brown paper bag carefully clutched in her hand. She'd sort of look around, hoping nobody else was there, and pull out some project that needed help - a dropped stitch, a mis-crossed cable, or that infamous beginner's dilemma, 87 stitches on the needle when the pattern said only 75 should be there. I always knew how that woman felt.

I'm so glad my knitting career has moved far enough along that those situations don't strike quite the same fear into my heart! I'm not exactly fearless, but with a quiet enough room and on a patient day, I can tackle something like this - a mis-crossed cable that somehow escaped my attention until days after it was done (I think cables mess around in the middle of the night and get caught in compromising positions like this!).

Being the rather tediously slow knitter that I am, my first thought is NEVER to rip back all the way. Rather, I want to rip/ladder down to the problem only and deal with it. In fact, ripping out whole rows is still the part of knit repair that makes me break out in a cold sweat and let's not even talk about problems with lace - that's what lifelines are for! So...28 rows down, 4 stitches wide, this is what I end up with (VERY carefully balanced in my lap).

Then comes the part where I very carefully knit and cross my way back up the pattern. This one is notable (record setting for me) for how far down I have to go to repair, but otherwise, it's straightforward: a 4 row pattern with 3 rows of knit followed by a 2x2 cable cross. I've had more complex cables where I have to rip down only a few rows, but pretty darn wide because there are so many multiple left and roght crosses that overlap and I have to redo all of that stuff. My key tools for this project (besides a keen mind, steady hands, and a ready supply of aspirin) are a pair of US 1 dpns and a crochet hook. I knit back up using the tiny needles (this shawl is knit on US 8s) and then adjust the stitch tension across the row as I do each row. Frankly, it's all that adjusting that takes the most time. Here I am partway back up:

This one worked out well - I can't see where the problem was myself. Well...I probably could find it, but I doubt anyone else could without me giving them a hint.

May the Force of Knit Repair be with you!