Knitting Techniques - Cables

Cables are magic.  They are super cool, look incredibly complex, and make the knitter look quite talented.  But I'll let you in on a little secret: cables are easy and are barely more than beginner-level in difficulty.  

Cable crosses change the order of the stitches on the needle, crossing them in front of or behind the ones next to them.  And by combining cables, you can make incredibly complex textures and designs.

There are two main kinds of cables: 

• Right (or back) crosses - the cable leans or travels to the right
• Left (or front) crosses - the cable leans or travels to the left.

Right Cross (back) instructions: Slip the called-for number of stitches purlwise onto a cable needle. Dangle the cable needle with those stitches to the BACK or behind your fabric.  Work the appropriate number of stitches from the left needle, then pick up the cable needle, and work the stitches from the cable needle. In effect, these stitches crossed behind the ones you already worked.

Left Cross (front) instructions: Slip the called-for number of stitches purlwise onto a cable needle. Dangle the cable needle with those stitches in FRONT of your fabric.  Work the appropriate number of stitches from the left needle, then pick up the cable needle, and work the stitches from the cable needle. In effect, these stitches crossed in front of the ones you already worked. 

Here's a pretty good video that demonstrates how to create cables:

The terminology varies from pattern to pattern, but some use the front/back notation with abbreviations like C4B or C4F (ex., C4B = Cable 4 stitches in total, two onto the cable needle which you hold to the back of the work, plus the next two stitches from the left needle) and some use the left/right (ex., LC 3/3 = left cross three stitches by putting 3 stitches onto a cable needle, holding them to the front, working the next three stitches from the left needle, then working the three stitches from the cable needle).   

I myself prefer the front/back notation because it tells you what to DO, whereas the right/left tells you how it looks when you are done, and I have to translate where to hold the cable needle in my head. But the charting software that I use to create my charts uses the left/right notation, so when I'm designing, that's what I use as well.

There's a nifty pneumonic that helps, though:  "I left through the front door, but I'll be right back!"  Left crosses dangle the needle to the front, and right crosses dangle the needle to the back.

Links to other cable tutorials and informational articles.

• TECHKnitter - an excellent, in-depth explanation
• Purl Soho
• Cabling without a needle (I only do this if I'm working 2, 3 or 4 stitch cables, crossing only 1 or two stitches - more than that, and I'm not confident I won't lose a stitch or two).

Note: When cabling without a needle, I do my right crosses a little differently. I don't like pinching the loose stitches on the back of the needle, both because I can't see what I'm doing and I prefer to pinch with my thumb, and at some point I realized you could accomplish the same result by reversing the left/right needles:

1. Slip all stitches to be cabled to the right needle.
2. Insert the tip of the LEFT needle into the first (far) stitches slipped onto the right needle behind the work.
3. Pinch the left/near stitches against the left needle with your left thumb. 
4. Withdraw the RIGHT needle from all stitches to be cabled. 
5. Immediately insert the right needle into the loose stitches
6. Slip those stitches back to the left needle.
7. Knit across.