How to knit
A Cable Video
A Beginners Guide to Knitting Cables
Sharing buttons:
I'm curious when you hear the word
cables do you run for the hills or do
you get excited well after you've
watched today's tutorial I hope that if
you're fearful of cables you will now be
excited about them I want to answer some
of the most commonly asked questions
about knitting cables show you some very
basic examples and how you can get
started today to knit your very first
cable
[Music]
the first thing I want to do is show you
how to do a very basic cable twist this
is the fundamental of knitted cables and
I want you to see it first so you know
just how simple this concept is after we
have a look at the very basic principle
and fundamental of knitting cables I
will spend some time answering some
questions that come up we're also going
to have a look at a few different types
of cabled stitches now I personally use
at this book called 400 knitting
stitches by Potter craft it's a complete
dictionary of essential stitch patterns
and I really recommend that you pick up
a copy of this book it's really great to
practice some knit stitches in
particular the cabled stitches the
instructions are really detailed it
tells you exactly what you need to do
and it also gives you diagrams so you
can practice the written pattern as well
as the charted pattern before we step
into the studio I want to let you know
that you can find all of the information
that we're gonna talk about in this
tutorial today over on my website it's
one of those great resources that you
can bookmark save for later
and refer to it anytime you're having
trouble so you can find that linked in
the description below as well as right
here on your screen I also just want to
say a really quick thank you to my
sponsor red heart for allowing me to
teach you this technique today I'll be
using red heart baby hugs in the medium
weight it's a really great versatile
acrylic yarn that I used not only for
baby projects but for projects for
myself because it's really soft very
easy to use and it's great for knitting
cables because it has great stitch
definition and it's easy to work with
alright first up let's see how to do a
very basic cable twist I'm working on a
very simple six stitch cable if you're
working off of that book that I
recommended before 400 knitting stitches
you can find this pattern on page 49 is
a great one to start with so I'm ready
to work my cable row I've already worked
my first few stitches which are really
just my edge stitches and I'm set up to
begin cabling the first thing I need to
have is my cable needle these come in
various shapes and sizes I find that
this one works really well for me
and I need to twist this group so it's a
six stitch cable so these six stitches
are what's making up my cable and I need
to twist them evenly so I'm going to
pull off the first three stitches and
place them on my cable needle
you
and then I want to hold them to the
front and then all I need to do is knit
those last three so I'm essentially just
working these stitches out of order
that's what creates the twist so this is
the easy part I've worked the last three
first and now I need to work those first
three what I like to do and why I like
these this particular cable needle is
because I'm going to slide the stitches
down to the end and I'm just going to
use the cable needle as a needle to knit
with so I'm just letting my other needle
just kind of chill in the background
there and then I'll knit them off the
cable needle
and that's all there is to it I've
completed the cable twist for this first
section of the pattern
the one thing I want to bring to your
attention is that when you're twisting
these stitches like this they're gonna
feel a lot tighter on your needle that's
completely normal
and once you work this row you'll kind
of get through it and when you start on
the next row that's when you'll really
be able to settle things in and your
stitches will be comfortable once again
once you complete your cable row your
pattern is likely gonna have you follow
up with a bunch of rows where you're not
twisting anything if we look at the work
here just this one row right here was a
twist this row was a twist and this row
was a twist where I can really see that
change in shape and the other rows are
really just maintaining my stitch
pattern so the cables are worked with
knit stitches the background is purl so
when I'm flipping my work over
I'm just knitting the knits and purling
the pearls and that's pretty much the
pattern the consistency for a lot of
cables so we've already seen the
physical act of doing a cable twist and
that fundamental is all you need to know
in order to do any type of cabled stitch
I really want to stress the importance
that what makes a cable is the act of
twisting your stitches now you can do
this in any number or any repeat or any
kind of fashion and that's really what
develops a specific knitted cable but
the principle is the same
knitting cables only requires that you
twist your stitches now what does that
mean exactly that means when you take
certain set of stitches that might be
worked in a specific order and you
change that order so you might be taking
three stitches and holding them aside
like we saw on that cable needle and
then working the other ones out of order
when you work your stitches out of order
that creates the twist
now the stitch pattern has to do with
where those twists are placed
how many twists are going to be there
how many stitches are involved what
there
repeaters along the way really the sky
is the limit but I really just want to
hit home with my main point right here
which is that if you understand and you
know how to twist your stitches then you
can virtually create any knitted cable
you want you could even go as high as
sang I can design my own cables how cool
would that be I will be the first to
admit that I lose track of repeats very
often I like to think that I can keep
track of it in my head but in all
reality a lot of times I get distracted
and I know you do too my big tip for you
here is to work through some swatches
first don't try to dive face-first into
a pattern because well learn from my
mistakes I tried to just work a cabled
knitted pattern right off the bat
without having any practice on cables
whatsoever because I thought well I can
read a knitting pattern and I've been
knitting for a while I've got this but I
didn't I failed miserably and that's
just because I didn't have those basics
I didn't really understand the best way
to keep track of my repeats and I
abandoned ship I wasted a lot of time on
that project and I lost a lot of
confidence throughout that process too
and I don't want that to happen to you
so take my advice work through some
swatches first even if you feel like you
don't need to just do it after you've
worked through several different
swatches and you feel comfortable and
confident then I recommend that you
proceed with a pattern a previously
written pattern something that you're
not going to try to design on your own
or even taking those stitch patterns
that are within those books that you are
following for the swatches at first
don't try to create your own pattern I
know as a designer that's a hard thing
to do
but I recommend that you follow with a
written pattern one that's been pattern
tested so that you can continue to build
upon that confidence that you need after
you've completed your first project
following a pattern you've worked
several swatches and you're really going
to have a good understanding of how
cables come together and then you can
tackle designing something of your own
alright now let's talk about
there are a few different ways that
you'll see your cable abbreviated or
spelled out in your pattern and I want
to bring those different methods to your
awareness now so you have a better
chance of following that pattern as you
go along so the most common way that
you'll see a cable indicated in your
pattern is going to be something like
this you'll see see some kind of number
and then F or B now let's break this
down the C stands for cable very simple
there's really nothing that we have to
do here we can just completely ignore
this this letter the number is going to
be the number of stitches within that
cable so you might see four if it's a
four stitch cable six if it's a six
stitch cable eight ten twelve really the
sky is the limit it can be any number
but just know that that is the number of
stitches that is within your cable now F
and B F stands for front and B stands
for back and what those two things tell
you is where you're going to pull your
stitches when you're working them onto
your cable needle so let's say for
example you're working a six stitch
cable and your instructions say C 6 f
what that means is when you pull the
first three stitches off of your your
needle and then place them on to your
cable needle what you'll do is you'll
pull that cable needle to the front of
your work on the flip side if you have C
six B then you're going to pull the
stitches off of your knitting needle
onto your cable needle and then you're
gonna pull that to the back of the work
now there's something really interesting
you should know about front and back so
when your pattern tells you that you're
going to cable to the front that is
going to be a left-leaning cable when
your pattern tells you to pull to the
back just know that that is a
right-leaning cable and it's cool
because when you know these things
you can play with your own designs if
you prefer but it's also a nice visual
cue for you if you know that your cable
is supposed to lean to the left then
you'll you'll always know that you just
need to pull your cable needle to the
front and you don't really have to refer
to your instructions all the time
so this formula right here is the most
common way that you'll see a cable
spelled out in your pattern but
sometimes you'll come across a pattern
that will spell it out even more for you
so you might actually see it's a cable 6
front and in that case you literally
just have to do that now sometimes it'll
take it a step further and it'll say k 3
comma k 3 in parentheses and that's just
so you know that all of the stitches
within that cable are going to be
knitted there are some patterns where
you might be working with a different
stitch so for example instead of having
an all stockinette cable you might have
part of it be stockinette and part of it
might be seed stitch or garter stitch or
something like that but most commonly
this is what you're going to see the
other thing I like that that book does
is it takes this sentence one step
further so you'll see this instruction
cable six front it'll give you the knit
three knit three if that's the pattern
that you're working on but then it'll
also open up another parenthesis and
it'll spell it out even more so it will
say pull three stitches from your left
needle place it on your cable needle
pull that to the front of the work knit
three and then knit the three from your
cable needle for me as a beginner that
sentence was what I focused on first
because it told me step by step what I
needed to do then once I got comfortable
with that then I was able to kind of
follow along with this method cable six
front okay I get the idea I can do that
and then I kind of went to this format
here where I was comfortable seeing see
number front or back I knew what to do
at that point so that book once again is
400 knitting stitches it has well 400
knitting stitches but it does have
several cable stitches in it as well and
I do think it's a great tool for
learning some cables
sometimes you're not always going to
have just the written word you may only
have a diagram available to work off of
so what I've done here is I have drawn a
six stitch cable in in my editing
software here just so you could see an
idea of what a cable diagram looks like
a couple things I want to clarify for
you so you can actually understand what
you're seeing here on your screen is the
the key right so the lines the vertical
line that is going to be to knit on the
right side of the work and when you see
a horizontal line that is going to be a
purl on the right side of the work so
that's what we're seeing here we see a
bunch of knits and we see a bunch of
pearls so these are all knits for the
most part except this row right here
this one stands out to us because this
is your cable twist and believe it or
not this is one single row basically
makes your entire pattern your entire
stitch pattern so you only have to twist
just once out of all of these rows
another thing I want to point out is
that in the cross here we can see that
three of the lines are on top of the
other three and then it's leaning to the
left so again this is that example where
we're cabling six front and that's gonna
give us that left-leaning a good diagram
is gonna do this for you so that you
don't even have to look at written
instructions that you can just look at
the diagram and know exactly what to do
a lot of times what I'll do if I'm
following along with a diagram is I
ignore most of what you see here and
that's not to say that I just kind of do
my own thing but I think a lot of the
information within this diagram is
something that you can learn relatively
quickly so for me the first thing that I
focus in on is how many rows are in my
reapeat so if we count these out one
two three and a lot of times this is
gonna be given to you so you don't even
have to do this but I can see that I
have an eighth row repeat and on row
number seven I'm gonna do my twist
that's important thing number one the
next thing I need to consider is if I'm
working this as a row or if I'm working
it in the round because that's going to
determine how you read your diagram if
you're working in rows you're gonna
follow a similar pattern where you're
going down the row let's change the
color here you're gonna start at one
point you're gonna work in one way then
you're gonna go up work back and then
follow that trend well let's say that
you're working in the round in that case
you might start at the same point down
here but you're always going to be going
in the same direction and that's
important because when we're knitting in
the round we're always looking at the
right side of the world right we're not
flipping it back and forth and so that's
going to change what stitches that we
work so for example my first three
stitches are going to be pearls right
here so I'm going to purl three and then
I'm going to knit six well then if I'm
working in a flat row I'm gonna flip my
work and then all of mine it's become
pearls and my pearls become knits and
I'm probably going into a little bit
more detail than you probably need but
making this association is is when
you're gonna have that aha moment that
when you flip your work and it's become
pearls pearls become knits now in the
case of working in the round and the
point that I'm really trying to make
here is that when you start on your next
repeat you're going to purl the pearls
knit the knits that is the most
important piece of information I can
give you here in most cases you're going
to knit
it's and you're going to pearl the
pearls when you realize this most of the
information on this diagram is going to
be completely irrelevant the main thing
that you'll want to focus in on is at
the cable twist where it occurs in which
direction it leans now the big question
here is how on earth do I knit cables in
the round
whether it be on double pointed needles
or on circular needles the physical act
let's go back to the fundamentals here
is going to be the same we're going to
use a cable needle and we're going to
twist those stitches and that's how
we're going to create the cable now
let's look at a quick example of a hat
that I'm working up now with some cables
so I can show you just how simple it is
to knit cables in the round the first
twist we're going to gather two stitches
on our cable needle I'm pulling it to
the front
and then I'm going to knit the next two
so this is an eight stitch repeat I've
essentially split it in half well the
pattern split it in half and I'm cabling
four on each side so I'm basically just
working two cable twists the same way as
before I've collected them on my cable
needle and I'm working them out of order
now this pattern also requires that I
cable for to the back so I'm going to
grab the next two
pull my cable needle to the back so I
can work the next two
my goal here really isn't to teach you
this stitch pattern my goal is to show
you that we're not doing anything
different
while we're cabling in the round so I'm
working on circular needles here because
that's what I prefer to work off of but
the concept is the same if you're
working on double pointed needles as
well all right we have covered a lot of
ground so far I want to commend you for
making it through to where we are in the
tutorial now but I don't want you to
abandon ship just yet I know you're
excited to dive in and try your first
cables but before we do we need to talk
about the all-important troubleshooting
my biggest problem with knitting when I
first started was that I didn't know how
to fix my mistakes and that actually
steered me away from knitting for like
two years I was terrified because I knew
I was going to be investing a lot of
time into something that I didn't know
how to fix if I made a mistake and the
perfectionist in me didn't allow me to
just leave it be
I don't want that to happen to you so
you need to understand how to fix your
mistakes so that you can continue in the
forward direction rather than kind of
taking one step forward to three steps
back
so first up on the troubleshooting
agenda I want to talk about holes in
your work this is a very common problem
you're probably going to experience it
and I want you to know right off the bat
that it's nothing you're doing wrong if
I pull my work down and stretch my
stitches out a little bit you can see a
couple of holes that have formed as a
result of twisting those stitches and I
want to let you know that is completely
normal
it's actually more pronounced when it's
on your needle then when it's off your
needle so if I flip the work over and
I'm looking at the front now I know that
there is a hole that exists right under
this cable so big that I can fit my
finger through it you can't see that
right now if you find that you can see
some holes anywhere within your work if
you kind of block it out a little bit
like this one thing you can do to try to
eliminate that
is make sure that you have a little bit
of extra tension or you're holding your
working yarn a little bit tighter than
you normally would when you're working
those twists another potential issue you
might run into is with loose stitches
this is another one of those scenarios
where tension is going to be your best
friend or your worst nightmare so you
really need to work really hard to get
your tension
consistent and learn it that as you're
cabling you have to tighten it up just a
little bit in order to kind of avoid
having those loose stitches now what do
you do if you have to heaven forbid tink
or rip out your cable stitches I do want
to stress that if you can avoid this do
because it's not always easy but it is
very possible let's have a look at how
we can reverse knit or tink a very
simple cable the most important thing
you need to remember is the order in
which you worked the stitches because
remember we twisted them so this first
three that I can see on my needle here
is going to be behind the next three so
I want to look at my first stitch and
find the right loop to tink
catch my needle in that loop slide it
off my needle and pull my working yarn
so I've just undid one of those stitches
now I'm looking at my next stitch here I
want to capture
that loop
pull it through and I know I have one
more to work I find that it's easier if
I keep some tension on the working yarn
I can really see that loop that I'm
trying to get my needle into
slide it off the needle
and then place these three on my cable
needle because again I know that there's
a twist here so these are out of order
I still have three more stitches to tink
this time they're in the correct order
you
you can always do a little self check
here to look at your work and make sure
that it's not twisted so you can get an
idea of where you are within the pattern
and then I'm simply going to replace
these stitches on my needle from my
cable needle
I also really hate giving this advice
here but it really is true practice
doesn't always make perfect but practice
does make better I hate that advice
because I feel like we hear it so much I
kind of gloss over and when we hear it
but in the case of knitting and crochet
practice really does work if you would
like a full detailed list something that
you can read in bookmark and save for
later go ahead and check out my website
you can find all of the information we
covered here in today's tutorial right
there on my website once again you can
find that link in the video description
below as well as right here on your
screen you can also find the information
about red heart baby hugs right there on
that page this is one of those yarns
that is kind of a go-to for me I don't
necessarily always use it for baby
projects although it's great for that
it's incredibly soft
I like making the projects for myself
with baby hooks that comes within a
medium weight as well as a lightweight
version and you can find the information
and where to order directly from red
heart on that page now my question for
you today is as it was at the beginning
of this tutorial answer in the comments
below does the idea of cables completely
scare you to death or does it make you
excited and has this video helped you
make that transformation maybe from
fearful to excited let me know in the
comments below be sure to subscribe to
the be hooked YouTube channel if you
haven't done so already and I look
forward to serving you in the next
tutorial
