Cable knitting explained

cable needle

Aran Sweater Example

 It is knitted in a cable pattern. A cable is a knitting stitch that you knit the stitches out of order to make the fabric bumpy Most people are familiar with cable  patterns from Aran sweaters or Fisherman sweaters.

Knitting cables look so complicated and intimidate those learning to knit.  All a cable is, is knitting the stitches out of order so they form a raised pattern. If you can do the knit and purl stitches you can do a cable.The only thing you need is a cable needle. They come in many shapes and sizes. They are short and bent so the stitches don't fall off. I just use a double pointed needle, again it's personal choice.

Cable knitting is usually less flexible fabric and more dense than typical knitting, having a much more narrow gauge. Cables tend to pull in, meaning that the cable stitch puckers the fabric. So extra stitches need to be added to compensate for this.

So now that you understand a little about them, let's try one.  

Cast on 12 stitches. 

Knit 4 rows.

Row 1: Purl 3, knit 6, purl 3

Row 2 and all even numbered rows: knit the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches.

Hold cable needle in the front

Row 3:  Purl3, slip 3 stitches onto the cable needle and hold in the front, knit the next 3 stitches, then knit the 3 stitches from the cable needle, purl three.

Knit the stitches off of the cable needle

At this point it doesn't look much like a cable, but keep going.

Row 5: Repeat row 1

Row 7: Repeat row 3

Row 9: Repeat row 1

Now it's starting to look like a cable, right?

At this point you can bind off or keep going for a beautiful scarf pattern!