The visual complexity, the romance of the stitch names.  It’s a wonderful garment that can be both utilitarian and fascinatingly complex.

However, not nearly all knitters feel up to the challenge.  This is something that can be corrected.  For all the visual complexity, the working of cables is quite simple.

Cables are formed by changing the order in which the stitches are worked by use of a cable needle.  Stitches are crossed either in front or behind the work.  The number crossed, the direction, and the frequency go to make up the pattern.

Stories are told and retold that families used a certain set of patterns so that a drowned man could be identified by his clothing.  Rather ghoulish, and fortunately, a marketing fiction.

In designing items with cables and textures, the only “tradition” that one needs to keep in mind is the wishes of the designer.  There are no sets of family patterns to  use like a label.  The designer is not even limited to the off-white of “fisherman” wool!

This is an area where a good stitch pattern dictionary is a key tool.  There are dozens in my main stitch pattern dictionary, and that is simply scratching the surface!

Well, I just finished it!  I’m very pleased with the result on this.  I haven’t washed and blocked it as yet, but I stuffed it with a small pillow so the stitch pattern shows up well in the picture.

That’s a 14″ pillow form, so the bag is plenty roomy for just about any use.  The strap is long enough that the bag sits comfortably at the hip when slung cross-body like a bandoleer.

It did use almost exactly 300 yards of yarn.  I hope to have all the bags that are done in the Bag Suite up to now written up and the patterns available for purchase and download in a very few days!