Expert: Deborah Mason - 6/8/2009

Question
I have a book called "one Thousand Sweaters" which has a cable sweater pattern which simply does not work. It is knitted from a chart, but the number of stitches in the key illustrations for the chart don't match the graph.  I've looked for corrections on the net without success. The key for "twist 5 right" only shows 4 stitches for example.  I really like the pattern but am not experience enough to know what to do.  Your advice would be much appreciated.

Answer
My advice would be to put the book away and find another pattern, there is nothing more discouraging while you are still learning that trying to work with a pattern that has errors in it.  

If you really want to use this pattern, you could try contacting the publisher to see if you can get contact details for the author but this is probably a long shot.  

Your other option is to find a good "knitting stitches" book that has instructions for the same cable patterns as those used in this pattern (or something similar) and substitute those instructions for the cable pattern graph.  It is not easy to keep track of but it can be done with a bit of patience.