How to Knit Cables

Set up a rib before you cross anything. A column of knit stitches, two or three purl stitches beside it, repeated across the row. The knit column is the cable. The purl stitches on either side are the valley it sits in, and they are the reason a finished rope stands proud of the fabric instead of vanishing into it.

Ryan runs two sizes side by side on this swatch. A narrow cable three stitches wide, and a six stitch panel. Three is a comfortable place to start. Six pulls tight and takes more wrestling.

Work along the row until two stitches are left before the cable column. Those two are purl stitches, part of the background. Slide the cable needle through both of them and lift them clean off the left needle.

They stay parked there while you deal with the cable. Nothing is worked on the cable needle at this point, and nothing is twisted. You are only getting two stitches out of the way so the cable can move over the top of them.

Let the cable needle drop behind the work and leave it hanging. Pinch it between two fingers if it swings around. Then knit the cable stitches straight off the left needle as you normally would.

Holding those two stitches at the back is what sends the cable to the right. The cable column has now travelled over the top of them. Everything on this row is worked with your usual needles, so the crossing takes no new hand movement at all.

With the cable knitted, bring the cable needle back up in front of the left needle so the two waiting stitches sit in line again. Purl them straight off it.

Purl, not knit. This catches people out every time. Those two stitches were purls before the cross and they are still purls after it, and knitting them leaves two stray bumps sitting in the middle of the valley. Slide the cable needle free once both are worked, then purl the rest of the row.

Cross again a few rows later, then spread the swatch out flat and look at it. The cable has shifted four stitches across and the lean is obvious now. One cross on its own barely shows. Two or three stacked up is when the line appears.

How many plain rows you leave between crosses sets the angle. Fewer rows gives a steep diagonal. More rows gives a lazy curve. Neither is wrong, and the swatch is where you find out which one you want.

To send the cable back the other way, reverse which stitches go on the cable needle. Slip the cable stitches themselves onto it and hold it across the front of the work, flat against the fabric.

Purl the two background stitches sitting behind it. Bring the yarn to the back, then knit the cable stitches off the cable needle. The cable has moved left. Front means left, back means right, and that one sentence covers every cable you will ever knit.

Hold the swatch up once you have crossed a few times each way. The narrow cable climbs to the right, then swings back to the left, a zigzag running up the purl ground. Keep alternating and it will travel as far in either direction as you want it to.

Two or three stitches per cross is the working limit. Push to four or five and the fabric goes rigid, the stitches fight the needle, and the row takes twice as long for no extra payoff.

A rope cable works on one wide panel instead of travelling across the fabric. Purl up to the six stitch column, slip the first three onto the cable needle, and hold it behind the work. Knit the next three off the left needle, then knit the three waiting on the cable needle.

Six stitches crossing over six is tight, so knit two or three plain rows before you twist again. Those rows give the yarn slack. Repeat every few rows and the rope grows.