The fun part of designing an Aran sweater is playing with not just the possible cable combinations but also other textured stitch patterns that can be inserted in between the cables, as well as the garment construction.

I’ve also developed (or at least “unvented” as Elizabeth Zimmermann would have labeled it) a shoulder join that works from two sets of live stitches and creates a cable-like ridge on the right side of the work. This development came about years after a shop owner had asked me if I knew of a Norwegian bind off that was worked from live stitches that were transferred back and forth from one needle to another and produced an edge that looks like a mini cable. I wasn’t able to find anything referring to such a bind off nor get any information from some Norwegian knitters whom I’d asked. I played with the idea off and on for a few years, then one day while tinkering with yarn and needles once again, I came up with this method. It may or may not be exactly how the old Norwegians worked the join, but I really like the results, and hope you do too!