This picture probably shows it more clearly than I can describe: Alternating centre-out and centre-in means that the direction of knitting across the squares, at the edges, is always maintained and so the cable flow perfectly. This helps to avoid the half-stitch jog (illustrated by Joni Coniglio) that will occur if you try to graft/pick up and knit stitches from pieces of knitting where the direction of knitting is opposite. I realised that I could make the cable pattern flow all the way across the border if I alternated centre-out and centre-in squares. Here are some of my notebook sketches that show my efforts to work out a suitable square knot for the border (I wanted to use two different coloured cable strands, so I was trying to figure out one knot that could flow across the entire border, and then another self-contained background knot that only occurs once in each square): After a lot of head-scratching, I realised that this problem could be solved by making a border out of modular squares (which can be knitted in the round), with picked up stitches for the body (which can be knitted flat, and shaped like a traditional right-angled triangular shawl).
by concentrating increases at three evenly spaced points on each round) however, this will produce something more like an equilateral triangle, not the right-angled shape more commonly made (and worn!) by knitters. It is possible to knit a triangle shape entirely in the round (if from the centre out, for example. So, with these constraints in mind, I began to think about how I could use this slipped stitch colour technique in a triangular shawl. When you use this technique whilst knitting flat, you can only really change colours every 2 rows (so that your yarn ends up in the right place to strand up the side), so the contrasting stitches have to be slipped over 2 rows instead - creating even more pull-in and a denser fabric (there are ways of getting around this, so that you can knit flat whilst changing colours on every row, instead of every other row - however this is a bit complicated to describe and not something I wanted to do throughout an entire design I have used it a little bit in this pattern though. Why? Because when you work in the round, you can change colours on every round, so the contrasting stitches only need to be slipped over one round. Because cable knitting also a tendency to do this (particularly the type of complex cables I use, where the rate of horizontal travel can be quite extreme), I decided to only use this technique when working in the round. One slightly finicky thing about this technique is that it does draw the fabric in a little bit (vertically, because of the slipped stitches), and so the fabric becomes much denser as a result. This is the technique that I also used in the Iona blanket and Lindisfarne shawl. The colour-work is as simple as striping the colours on each round, and remembering to slip stitches when necessary (like mosaic knitting). In keeping with the other designs in the Illuminated Knits collection, Durrow uses a technique of cables mixed with slip stitches to create a contrast colour design - I love this technique, because it gives you the chance to play around with different colours without actually having to use stranded knitting or intarsia. I'm very happy with the end result though, and glad that I persevered even when it was completely refusing to make sense! I think it might be fair to say that it's the most complex design I've ever created - both in terms of the cable pattern itself, and the knitting required to achieve it. This design took several months to conceptualise and bring into reality.