Makin' cables!

After doing about seven bands of stockinette on circular needles on the other Gryffindor scarf, I was back in the knitting rhythm and ready to try something new. E was working on the Irish Hiking Scarf at the time and tried to explain cables to me when we were at dinner or something. I couldn't make head or tail of what she was saying, but I thought about it in my private moments and I figured it out!

Since this was my first venture back into knitting and all previous ones had been done with whatever needles and yarn appealed to me at the store, grabbing bulky Wool-ease and size 8 needles (I had bought size 6, but E told me to at LEAST get 8s!) was not working for this pattern as the scarf was 9 inches wide! This was my first foray into the importance of needle size and yarn weight. So after, 12 rows, I started over, altering the pattern, getting rid of one cable so that the scarf was not too wide. I took off about 12 stitches total. This was also my first time switching between knit and purl in a row, so E so kindly explained about moving my working yarn depending on the stitch. Once that was sorted out, I made only a few correctable mistakes and I think I did the cable too early on one row, but I can't even find it.

I shipped it off to my mum and it made it in time for her birthday. She didn't mean to be rude but she couldn't believe I made it! I wasn't offended because neither could I. I'm kind of a bum, so it's always impressive to anyone who knows me when I get busy like this.

I wouldn't use the bulky Wool-ease yarn if I made this again, but I made it work and it looks pretty nice. The colour is wonderful! It's called 'Spice'. I still don't know how to stop the ends from fanning out like that. Any tips?