By Nikol Lohr
Yes, you still have plenty of time to knit a heartfelt Valentine’s Day gift! This bulky cabled gaiter is toasty warm, subtly be-hearted (or knit the heartless version), and knits up in a few hours. Experienced cable knitters will be able to whip it out in just over 2 hours; beginning cablers will probably spend closer to 4. Because you can combine multiple strands to achieve the super-bulky gauge, this is a great stash-busting project.
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Read the full pattern after the jump!
Materials
Yarn
1 skein Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky (50% alpaca/50% wool; 100g; 45 yd/41m), or about 50 yards of any yarn that knits at 2 stitches/inch in stockinette, or multiple strands to achieve gauge.
Gray version: Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky in Gray Wolf
Red version: 2 strands of Knit Picks Decadence (discontinued)+ 2 strands Knit Picks Merino Style from partial skeins in my stash. If you’re making up a super-bulky from multiple strands of lighter yarn, start with about 5 strands of dk/4 strands of worsted/3 strands of chunky and check the gauge, then add or subtract strands from there.
Needles
US 15 16″ – 24″ circular
Gauge
2 st = 1″
Size
Adult
Directions
Step 1: Cast on 41 stitches for the Heartfelt version or 40 stitches for Heartless version. I like a cable cast-on because it allows you to get the most of your yarn, and this pattern will cut it close to keep to one skein.
Step 2: Join the yarn, being careful not to twist stitches. Place the marker.
Step 3: Work the version of your choice. Heartfelt is fully charted. Heartless repeats the pattern 4x. Note that Heartfelt increases 1 stitch (42 stitches total) at the point of the heart and decreases back to 41 stitches after the heart is complete. Heartless maintains a constant stitch count throughout.
Step 4: Work all rows, then bind off in pattern (bind off purled stitches purlwise and knit stitches knitwise). Weave in the ends.
Thanks to Jacquie for the splendid chart maker
Download the Pattern PDF | Subscribe in iTunes
(Right click to save the PDF to your desktop. See directions on downloading PDFs.)
About the Author:
Nikol Lohr lives at The Harveyville Project with her partner, 2 cats, 7 sheep, and 7 hens. She’s the author of Naughty Needles & founder of Yarn School. She blogs at The Thrifty Knitter, is cupcake on Ravelry, and queenievonsugarpants on Flickr.
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