I knit my very first cable in my beautiful Favo Sweater and it was so much easier than I thought it would be. I knew I wanted to try an all-over cabled sweater, and I found the Honeycomb Aran pattern by Patons. It turned out super pretty and I already have plans to knit another one for myself.
This is a free pattern that looked like it would be a good challenge for me to knit. There are a variety of cables all over, and the sweater is knit in sections and sewn together just like my Favo Sweater.
YARN
I made this sweater for my husband so I wanted to find the perfect yarn that would be soft to wear and in an everyday/neutral colorway. I chose Nimbus Gray in Malabrigo Rios — this is the same base that I used for my recent Flax Sweater. This yarn is perfect because it has great stitch definition and beautiful color options.
The Nimbus Gray yarn has a lot of variegation and is really soft. The color difference between skeins was pretty drastic — some skeins were more gray and some appeared more blue to me. To help blend the colors better, I alternated skeins every right side row.
PATTERN
On first impression, I could see that this Honeycomb Aran pattern was really dense; there was just a lot of information written on each page. I did appreciate that the stitch count was color coded for each size; it made it easy to identify relevant information.
BACK PANEL
Cast On + Ribbing
I started the back panel with a German twisted cast on; I learned it with my Favo Sweater — it looks really nice and it’s stretchy. Knitting twisted rib on the hem was fast and fun; I learned twisted rib from making the Magnolia Little for my niece. I love it when all the techniques that I’ve learned from other projects come together.
Cable Pattern
I knit a size large, so I went through the pattern on my iPad and highlighted/crossed out whatever applied. It took a while to get the pattern organized, then I was able to knit through the first row and place stitch markers at the different sections.
For the wrong side rows, you’re supposed to knit the knit stitches and purl the purls, but I was having a difficult time differentiating some of the stitches. Some of the twisted/crossed cable stitches were especially hard to tell if they were knit or purled.
I didn’t feel confident that I really knew which stitch was which, so I ended up ripping back to the ribbing and starting the pattern over. When I started again, I used the charts in the back of the pattern for the wrong side rows so I didn’t have to try and guess what type of stitch I was working.
Messed Up Cable
I was starting to get the hang of the pattern and things were going well, but then I messed up reading the pattern in the third repeat of pattern A and had to tink it back. After working the following WS row, I saw that my cable was crossed in the wrong direction.
I was discouraged, and didn’t know how to fix the cable even if I ripped back. I wondered if I could be okay with it if I left it how it was. :/ I decided to take a break from the Honeycomb Aran and went on to knit some other fun knits — my Astraeus Sweater, a Flax Sweater, and a cat stuffed toy.
When I was ready to work on the Honeycomb Aran again, I started researching videos on how to fix a messed up cable. This video helped me so much:
I was able to fix my Pattern A cable super easily.
Now that I understand cables a little better, I feel more confident knowing I can easily drop down to fix a mistake.
Life Lines
The pattern repeats three cable charts that are each a different length. I always use my iPad to highlight and track my progress in a pattern, and I found it especially helpful when tracking these three different length pattern repeats.
Whenever all three patterns finally synced up again, I insert a life line. I never needed to drop down to a lifeline, but I felt confident knowing that I’d know where I was in each of the three patterns if I ever did need to.The life lines did come in handy to help me keep symmetry when I eventually seamed the sides and sleeves together.
Pattern Cheat Sheet
Coming back to the Honeycomb Aran after taking such a long break was difficult for me. This pattern is so dense/compact with information, and I kept having to switch from the pattern, to the cable definitions, and to the charts in the back.
I decided to make a separate cheat sheet so I could see all the information I needed on one spread. Here’s the link to my cheat sheet; I hope it can help you if you’re having the same issues.
Keep in mind, I made this cheat sheet for size large and it’s only for the main cable patterns — not the entire pattern (nothing about cast on/raglan decreases/etc). Knitting with the cheat sheet made everything so much faster since everything was organized better for me.
Raglan Shaping
It was exciting to move on to the raglan shaping. With each decrease, the rows got a little faster which helped me keep up the momentum. I continued to alternate my skeins every right side row, but it was a little more difficult with the decreases. To prevent a random floating edge string, I had to carry the second skein up the side along with the decrease stitch.
I reached the end of the back panel instructions and put the final stitches on hold just before Thanksgiving. I was hoping to finish the entire sweater by the holidays, or at least by the end of the year.
FRONT PANEL
I cast on the front panel right after Thanksgiving while we watched the Mandalorian, continuing to alternate skeins. The Malabrigo Rios is so nice and I think I’ll use it in Ivy or Vaa for my future Honeycomb Aran.
I used my cheat sheet for the cables on the front panel as well. I started to get more familiar with the different cable types, and even practiced knitting without the cable needle. I feel a lot safer using the cable needle, but it was fun to practice. It took me three weeks to finish the front panel, and I realized it was unlikely I’d finish the sleeves and seaming before the end of the year.
SLEEVES
I decided to knit the sleeves two-at-a-time. I’ve never knit TAAT before, and it was extra challenging since I was still alternating skeins.
Increases
I found the sleeve increases confusing at first and took another break from this project. The pattern said to increase at the end of the “next and following alt rows”, which sounds like they wanted to only do increases on the next wrong side rows and each WS row following. But I knew that didn’t make sense — the sleeve wouldn’t be symmetrical then.
I looked through pictures of other completed projects on Ravelry and it was clear that I needed to increase on both RS and WS rows. So “next and following alt rows”, really translated to “each RS row, and each WS row”.
Once I’d reached the 63 stitches from my first increase, the increases were only every 4 rows. This instruction was a little confusing to me. With the first round of increases, I was increasing one stitch at the end of a RS row, and then at the end of a WS row. But now to “increase every 4 rows” — did that still mean increasing one stitch on a RS and WS row (so the 4th row and the 5th row?). It wasn’t very clear, and I was kind of over it.
I decided to just do an increase at the beginning, and an increase at the end of my 4th row and hope that’s what they meant. This is my first cabled sweater, and first time knitting sleeves flat. At that point, I just wanted to finish with the sleeves and move on to a new project.
Pattern Cheat Sheet
I made a separate cheat sheet for the sleeves since the cable pattern is different from the front/back panels. It has a little section to tally off the “every 4th row increases” and almost everything on one page (fyi cheat sheet doesn’t include all of raglan shaping instructions). Both of these cheat sheets really helped me to track my progress and save time swiping back and forth.
Decreases
I was so excited to finally start the decreases. Each sleeve had gotten up to 103 stitches and with working TAAT, progress was feeling really slow. The momentum from the decreases kept me going and it felt like I was done in no time.
SEAMING
I was so ready to start seaming and finish this sweater. I set out all my pieces and measured them to the diagram in the back. Some of my measurements were off, but I hadn’t blocked anything yet. I was nervous to block cables because I’d heard that it can really flatten the cable definition. The pattern says to pin the sweater pieces to the specifications and then just lay a damp towel over top until it dried. That seemed like a more mild way to block and hopefully preserve the dimension from the cables, but I chose to skip this step.
I seamed the three raglans using mattress stitch. I first learned the mattress stitch from making my Favo Sweater and I’m still so impressed with how easy it is, and how good the seam looks. Using stitch markers helps to line up each piece and keep everything even.
I liked how all of those neckline stitches were on hold and easy to pick up. I started working twisted rib in the round which I really enjoyed.
Halfway through my neck ribbing, I needed a break and started seaming up the rest of the sweater. I knit the left back raglan sleeve first and then moved on to the sleeves/sides. I did one long seam all the way from the hem, up through the underarm, and down to the sleeve cuff on each side.
And finally, I came back to the neck band and finished the ribbing. I used Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off which I love, and then I seamed the neckband into the WS. The folded over neck band looks super plush and polished.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I am super happy to have made my first cabled sweater! I struggled a bit with understanding this pattern at first since all the information is really crammed onto each page. Making my cheat sheets helped me a lot (front/back, sleeves), and I am actually excited to make another Honeycomb Aran for myself.
This sweater seemed to take me forever to complete (on the needles five months total), but I did take quite a few breaks. I definitely think knitting the sleeves TAAT was amazing. Even though it felt slower in the moment, I was so glad that I didn’t have to knit a second sleeve afterward.
Alternating skeins at every RS row was a little extra work, but I am so pleased with the yarn I chose and how it turned out! Overall, I’m so happy with this sweater and I feel really accomplished!
Update: Check out the Honeycomb Aran I knit for myself in this beautiful Shamrock color.
Pattern Rating
Layout = ★★★☆☆
Organization = ★★★☆☆
Clarity = ★★★☆☆
Value = ★★★★★
Final Product = ★★★★★
Check out my Ravelry page for more pictures of my Honeycomb Aran, and take a look at what other projects I plan on knitting this year!
