Knitting chunky cables

I've been absent from this blog for a long time. Let's just get that past us and marvel at what I'm teaching myself right now! This is by far accomplishing one of my New Year's resolutions in knitting: learning to knit cables!!! You know what cables are. They look like 3-D twisting vines or braids. They're in a lot of chunky, warm sweaters in the winter time. They're also seen a lot in a small-scale form in men's dress socks.

A few months ago I visited a yarn shop for my first-ever time! I went with Chelsea in Macon and purchased three balls of this Spud & Chloe yarn in the color you see below called flannel as well as one that's a sort of heathered reddish color called sequoia. It's so chunky that it would be nearly impossible to knit a flattering sweater with it. Plus, I'd need tons more of the yarn than I have right now. And at $13.40 a ball, that's not very likely to happen.

But why not make a killer bag? I could use a handmade purse. And a big one. There's enough of this stuff to go very far and make a beautiful bag! So, I set out to find a pattern and found the perfect one for free. I know, big plus there. The pattern for the bag shows cables all over, which is very pretty, but I found someone's version of the same bag posted online and loved it even more than the original.

 Original:                                                                  Modified:

It's only one round of cables at the top opening to frame off the rest of the bag which is simple and pretty. It seemed like the perfect beginner's project that wouldn't fatigue me too much on this attempt at a new-to-me knitting technique.

Excuse the lazy Sunday afternoon nightgown and un-manicured hand with a weird amount of wrinkles on my thumb. Here's what I've done so far today since I started the project: