How to knit a cable

Cables are a wonderful way to add interest and texture to your knitting. The very basic cable looks a lot like a rope in the middle of a field of purl stitches. However, there are hundreds of patterns out there that will teach you how to make large, beautiful, complex cables. Looking at a cable on your sweater makes it seem confusing, but it's not at all. All a cable is is a group of stitches that are knit out of order on your needle. To get your stitches out of order, you put them on what is called a cable needle and hold them to the front or back of your work. After knitting the next few stitches, you slide the stitches on the cable needle back onto your left needle and knit them.

Step 1 Gather Materials

For this instructable, I'll be knitting a simple swatch with two identical cables. I got the "climbing cable" design from this book:

Erika Knight. Cables & Arans: 250 Stitches to Knit. 2007. Interweave Press LLC: Loveland, CO. 70.

Here's what you'll need:

knitting needles
yarn
cable needle
scissors
optional:
cable pattern
stitch markers

Comments

[DragonSpike]

Thank you soo much! I've been trying to learn out of the books, but they were too confusing. Thanks for the helpful pictures and easy instructions!