Celtic cable neckwarmer

It's been feeling more more autumnal here the last week or so which always makes me want to start hunting out loads of yarn and new knitting patterns for some warm, chunky knits. Preferably quick projects like hats, gloves or scarves but with a bit of a challenge to them as well. I managed to find one to start with - the Celtic cabled neckwarmer - full of complex looking cables with a simple button fastening around the neck for a warm snug fit. No flapping scarf ends with this one, just a neat fit for a snuggly neck come winter.

And snuggly it is:) I don't usually like too tight fitting things around my neck but this one has such a snuggle factor and is so warm that I'm tempted to knit another just for me:) I'm thinking a strong red or a forest green maybe? It didn't take that long to make either - a few evenings of tv watching and this knits up a treat. 

The neckwarmer itself is about 20" in length and has a three button fastening to keep it wrapped around the neck. I used two strands of DK yarn on 5mm needles to get a rough worsted weight yarn as per the pattern instructions. It has a simple 1x1 rib border with the cable chart repeated to the desired length then another section of 1x1 rib with two rows to incorporate the buttonholes. It took only 4 repeats for my knit to be 20" although it did feel a bit of a tight fit. But the pattern did say lightly block first so I had fingers crossed that it would ease the fit to a slightly bigger size. I suppose I could just have reblocked it bigger if it was still too neat for me:)

Cable repeat

If you don't want a neck wrap then you could just continue the cable repeats and make as long a scarf as you wanted. I quite like this idea too and I did consider it for a while till the shiny buttons convinced me that a neckwarmer was really the only way to go! Still, I'm not sure how many guys would want this style:)) Happy to be proved wrong!

There is an errata in the pattern at the first buttonhole row - just a small one:) I noted the changes I made on my ravelry project page here if you are thinking of making this yourself or want more technical details of this knit. I personally didn't want to add any bigger sized buttons to this aesthetically and found the buttonholes then a little on the large size so if I knit this again, I might alter that buttonhole row anyway and bind off one less stitch per buttonhole for a neater fit.

So, first knit of the autumn is done. I haven't knitted cables in a while so I really enjoyed this knit. I'd forgotten what a lovely textured effect cables can give and it's been fun to watch the crossovers of the pattern appear as you knit. Hmm, now what will be next on the needles? I think I'll have to have a good look around for some inspiration - something with a challenge, hehe :)

Off to have a scout around - see you all soon!