Cables are Cool!

Written by: Catherine Hoben

Author's email: c.hoben@hotmail.com

Credits: Photographs by Catherine Hoben

Cables are cool! I used to think cables were waaaaay beyond my beginning technical knitting skills. I would look at an intricate pattern in a sweater and wish I could just crank them out. But if a pattern had a cable in it, I would pass it by and find something “easier” to do. I might be still avoiding a cable, until I learned how simple it is to do. If you can knit and purl and count, you can make a cable. Get your needles and a ball of plain light colored worsted weight yarn and try knitting a sample gauge swatch. You can turn it into a scarf if you keep knitting. Then try knitting my “Little Old Aran Vest” as your introduction to using a cable in a design.

Let’s take a look at a cable. It snakes up both sides of a sweater, sometimes it is in such a tangle that it looks impossible to unravel. Don’t be discouraged. Take a simple cable and look at it closely. Do you see stitches crossing behind or in front of each other? That’s all it is to begin with. Then it gets more involved, but that’s another story.

Cables need to stand out in a design. To set them off, cables are surrounded by purl stitches. The purl stitches fade into the background, and allow the knit cable design to “pop out”. Since cables are the “star of the show” they are placed where you can see them. Cables look great in sweater fronts and necklines. Cables can be an “allover” design if they are smaller in scale.

But let’s get started. Cast on 30 stitches with size 10 needles, using a smooth light colored worsted weight yarn.

Knit in k1p1 ribbing for 4 rows. To make a k1p1 ribbing, you knit 1 stitch, then bring the yarn to the front of your work, and purl 1 stitch, then bring the yarn to the back of your work, and continue across the row. Then on the next row, you knit the knit stitch, and purl the purl stitch. This will stack up the knit stitches on top of each other, and the purl stitches will be stacked up on top of only purl stitches. This will be our “base”. Take your ever-present tape measure and note the width of your swatch. Do you think knitting a cable will change the width of your swatch? Heh heh heh, you bet it will!

You don’t want your swatch to curl up on the sides and make measuring a tough job, so you are going to make a seed stitch border along each side. Read this section first before trying it to make sure you know what to do.

To make a seed stitch border, begin the row with k1, p1, k1, p1, then you’ll work these middle stitches as it tells you below, and finish with a k1, p1, k1, p1 (and you’re now at the end). On the next row, p1, k1, p1, k1, then work the middle stitches as it tells you below and repeat the seed stitch sequence for the last four stitches at the end of the row. (In other words, for the seed stitch border you will knit the purl stitches, and purl the knit stitches. Then on the next row for the seed stitch border, you knit the purl stitches, and purl the knit stitches. This will stack up the knit stitches on top of the purl stitches, and the purl stitches will be stacked up on top of the knit stitches.)

Ok, now let’s pick up and we can do this together. From this point forward you will continue knitting the first four stitches in every row and the last four stitches on every row in seed stitch (knitting the purl stitches and purling the knit stitches).

Now you need to make the background for the cable, so after you work your first four stitches in seed stitch you will purl across the next 8 stitches.

Cable time! Knit the next 6 stitches.

Purl 8 stitches,

Finish the row with the seed stitch border, just like you began the row, (k1,p1,k1,p1).

We will call what you just did row 1 of the pattern.

Wait a minute! Where is the cable? Is that it? Yes, that’s it! The 6 stitches you knit in the middle will be the cable, but you need to let it “grow”.

So on the next row (this will be the Wrong Side or WS and row 2) make your seed stitch border, KNIT 8 stitches (because these are the back of the purl stitches, PURL 6 stitches, KNIT 8 stitches, and then make your seed stitch border.

So you have done 2 rows of the cable pattern, after 4 rows of k1p1 ribbing. Count to see if you have 6 rows altogether, and pat yourself on the back. Go back and forth to make two more rows of the pattern, and then two more rows of the pattern. You can count to see that you have 6 rows of the pattern (seed stitch border, then the purl and knit stitches, and the seed stitch border), and the 4 rows of the ribbing, and that you have 10 rows altogether. How long did that take you? This is not hard, is it?

Here comes the “magic row”. You have set the stage, and now the star makes a grand entrance on the Right Side or RS of row 7. You make your seed stitch border for 4 stitches, then your 8 purl stitches, and now get ready for the cable. You will need another double pointed needle size 10 or smaller, or a cable holder. A cable holder looks like a big safety pin. By the way, you can even use a big safety pin, because all it has to do is hold 3 stitches for just a little bit, while you knit the other 3 stitches.

The tricky part of making a cable is slipping the first 3 stitches on to the third needle (or the cable holder, or the safety pin), and then bringing those 3 stitches to the front of your work. Now you are going to knit the other 3 stitches that are on your left hand needle. That’s right; you are knitting 3 stitches with another 3 stitches just dangling around in front. But those 3 stitches don’t dangle around for very long. You slip them back on the left hand needle (in order, of course) and knit them over to the right hand needle.

That’s it! You have just knit your first cable. But it may not look like you expected. So you have to finish the row by making 8 purl stitches, and make your seed stitch border.

On the next row (WS row 8) make your seed stitch border, KNIT 8 stitches, and PURL the 6 cable stitches, KNIT 8 stitches, and seed stitch border. Whew! Those cable stitches may have been a little tight. That’s all right. Measure the width of your work. Hmm, has it gotten narrower?

Continue knitting in your pattern for another 4 rows. You can count to see that you have 12 rows in your pattern, and the 4 rows of ribbing, so that is 16 rows altogether.

You made a front cross cable the first time (remember how we held those three stitches in FRONT). Now you are going to make a back cross cable on this row when you get to the knit stitches. Guess how this is different?

That’s right; you will slip the 3 cable stitches onto your cable holder and hold them at the BACK of your work. Knit the other 3 stitches, then slip the 3 stitches from the cable holder back on to the left hand needle, and knit them on to the right hand needle. Finish the row, and come back along the wrong side. When you get to the cable stitches, just be firm with them, and finish the row.

Continue in your pattern for 4 more rows. You can count to see that you have 18 rows of pattern, and 22 rows altogether.

Take your tape measure and find out how wide your work is now, after adding two cables. Your work is probably a lot narrower than you expected. That’s what cables do. Because you are criss-crossing the stitches, you are bringing the stitches together. Remember this fact of “cable life” when you decide to add a cable to an otherwise plain pattern: Cables bring stitches together.

Why did we wait 6 rows to do another cable? Cables are cool, and don’t like to be crowded or even touched by the other stitches. And since the cable is the “star of the show”, it gets star treatment. Cables stand out by spacing the twists and turns in a certain rhythm. For a 6 stitch cable, that means making a cable every 6 rows. You can try making a cable every 4 rows or every 2 rows if you want, and maybe you’ll like the way it looks. Or you can space your cables out and make them every 8, 10, or 12 rows. You can make it any way you want.

How many stitches can you make in a cable? An even number, of course. We used 6 stitches, with 3 crossing 3. And we worked 6 rows between the cables. You can make a cable with only 4 stitches, moving 2 to the back or 2 to the front for your cable, and making your cable every 4 rows. If you use 8 stitches, and have 4 crossing 4, you would make your cable every 8 stitches. That may get a bit bulky. . The proportions of the cable may look better, though, if you match the number of stitches in your cable to the number of rows between the cables.

But first, finish your sample gauge swatch. Make your cables cross every 6 rows, alternating a front cable cross with a back cable cross. You can turn this swatch into a scarf by knitting in the cable pattern for 5 or 6 feet, or your desired length. When you reach the desired length, finish it by repeating the k1p1 ribbing for 4 rows to match the beginning. Bind off in pattern and weave the end of the yarn in.

Sit back and relax, and enjoy your cable. Are all the cables facing the Right Side? Are all the cables in a smooth pattern the slithers along the swatch? That wasn’t so hard, was it? Call your relatives and friends to take a look. Everyone who sees your effort will be amazed at how difficult it looks, and how wonderful you are to have done it! You have just proved that cables are cool, and you are, too!

Meet the Author :

Cathy Hoben has been teaching knitting to everyone she can find who is interested. She became interested in knitting while watching her mother and her grandmother create wonderful knitted and crocheted gifts for everyone in the family. Cathy is continuing that tradition, as she knits for her 10 grandchildren. That is, 10 so far! The grandchildren and their parents all live in Arizona. There isn’t much need for warm sweaters in the desert, so she has to make the sweaters quick before they grow out of them. And before it gets too hot!