Apparently I love cabling.

So as y'all know, I just finished my Olympic Rogue, which was my first project with any significant amount of cabling and big-ass cable charts. During the process, I learned to "read" cable charts based on the logic behind it (once you know where each "strand" has to go, you almost don't need the chart... ALMOST), and I also learned that I prefer cabling with a matte-finish aluminum DPN more than any sort of cable needle. Just enough grip to keep the stitches from falling off, and oh so easy to slide the stitches from one end of the needle to the other. Last week, I also went to my local library for the first time in, well, years. Apparently, I didn't read anything but textbooks in the three years that I was a grad student. (OK, I did get through Lord of the Rings, and an EXCELLENT Robert Zelazny series). Anyways, I ended up with a couple of cookbooks (because I can't afford to buy any more), a couple back issues of Martha Stewart Living, and Alice Starmore's "Aran Knitting". (Ok, I realize that all of those are non-fiction... but in my own defence I just got back into The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). At the time, I thought I was just checking out the Starmore for inspiration. I had no need to embark on some monster cable project... I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And so I leafed through it a few times, and set it aside. Until last night. I was happily working away on my Fibonacci baby blanket (said baby has now been born, so I really need to get a jump on it), when I spied some white wool/acrylic blend that I'd recycled from a thrift store sweater. The original sweater (about 6 sizes too big for me) had had a fairly nice cabled design, so I knew that the yarn would have good stitch definition. And before I knew it, I had cast on for St Ciaran (one of the shawls in the book). So I guess I really do like cabling after all. (Ask me if I still like cabling when I'm 200 rows in... LOL)