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Cable Knitting
Cable knitting basically means to cross one group of stitches over another. It lends itself to many interpretations of knitting and is very easy to do and. There are lots of interesting and imaginative patterns that you can purchase and once you have got the gist of cable knitting, you'll find it very enjoyable and quite challenging the more complicated you want to go. All you need, as with all different types of knitting, is a little patience and a lot of practice.
Cable knitting requires using a third needle called a cable needle. It's basically a set of stitches which is suspended on the cable needle and laid to one side. You can make any kind of cable knitting by suspending any number of stitches while you knit that same number of stitches from the left-hand needle. You will then get the suspended stitches either by returning them onto the left-hand needle and knitting them, or by knitting them straight from the cable needle. You're basically knitting stitches out of order but it enables you to cross stitches, hence creating cables. It sounds a little complicated but it's not when you watch the video below.
Rope cables and standard cables are the most basic form of cable knitting and they generally cross stitches up to a single column of stitches. You can make a rope cable over almost any even number of stitches from 2 to 12 commonly but more is certainly possible. If you want to make a cable that looks like it's twisting to the left, you hold your suspended stitches in front of your work. You then it from the left-hand needle as normal. If you want to make a cable that twists to the right, then hold the suspended cable needle to the back.
When making your cables. You don't have to cross stitches on every row. The row on which the stitches are crossed is called the turning row. After the turning row you work several plain rows and then you work another turning row. Standard cables have the same number of plain rows between turning rows as there are stitches in the cable. So for example, if the cable is six stitches wide you work the turning row every six rows - simple!
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