How to Add a Cable to Your Knitting

Back to Basics :: Day Four

Adding cablework to your knitting is a great way to accent a piece or make an otherwise plain-jane stitch look elegant and complicated. For this demonstration, you will need yarn, needles and a cable needle. Cable needles come in several sizes and can be bought from JoAnn, AC Moore, Walmart, etc for less than $4. If you have a double pointed needle that also works great.

For my sample, I will be working on a reverse stockinette background (the "wrong" side of stockinette) because I think it accents the the cable well.

I casted on 24 stitches.

Row 1-2: K

Row 3: K2, P5, K10, P5, K2

Row 4: K2, K5, P10, K5, K2

Row 5: K2, P5, C10F, P5, K2

Transfer 5 stitches onto cable needle, pull forward.

Knit 5 stitches from working needle while holding cable needle forward.

NOTE: C10F= transfer 5 stitches purlwise onto the cable needle, move the cable needle forward, continue to knit 5 stitches from working needle, then knit the 5 stitches on the cable needle

Row 6: K2, K5, P10, K5, K2

Row 7: K2, P5, K10, P5, K2

Row 8: K2, K5, P10, K5, K2

Row 9: K2, P5, K10, P5, K2

Row 10: K2, K5, P10, K5, K2

Repeat rows 3-10 for your desired length, and end your piece with 2 extra rows of K to complete the border.  

After a few repeats of the pattern, your piece will look like this....

Enjoy :)