Be careful what you wish for! A few days ago I said I wanted to get back to more complicated knitting instead of all the scarves, shawls and hats I've been turning out over the last few months. (I almost forgot the dishcloths.) So I decided to make the cabled raglan that is in Knitting in America.

Well, I'm started and it is indeed a lot more fun that what I've been doing. Yesterday I said there were no charts for the cables. Well there are, but they're on the next page, which I hadn't read yet. But some of the cables are text only, the ones that are easy to describe like the right and left twists, the symetrical braid, the ribbed pattern and the garter stitch rib. The other four cables are too complex to write out, unless each right side row were to be written out. The only problem I'm having is trying to hold an oversized book on my lap while I knit. I have to keep checking each row to see if it's time to do a cable or change the direction of one of the patterns. The top of the needle gets caught on the book sometimes and I either pull it out of the stitches or the book falls to the floor. Or both. The overall cable pattern is asymetrical so it's a little difficult to memorize, or anticipate what the stitches will be. I do have markers between each pattern, eleven markers in all. I think I'm going to switch to a circular needle though. A hundred and twenty six stitches in a bulky yarn is a bit much for the size 10 straights.

I'm only a few rows into this so I think it will get easier but will remain interesting, at least until I have to start the front.