a simple twist

how can anyone resist a well-formed cable?

In my first few months as a knitting newbie, I saw my mother-in-law knitting cables on a sweater. Having only knit shapeless charity sweaters and scarves, the cables looked incredibly complex and difficult to me. Much to my surprise, my mother said that they were rather easy and encouraged me to try making the same sweater. So I did. After an hour or two of intense concentration, I was pleasantly surprised to see the same beautiful aran cable pattern emerging:

And that is the wonder of cables, and most knitting in general—beautiful, complex-looking but often only a matter of following instructions to create. As some say, knitting requires learning two types of stitches, and the rest is just a matter of counting. Or to borrow the words of former President George W. Bush, it’s not “rocket surgery”.

Cables are made when stitches are knitted out of order—creating the effect of twisting or traveling strands. Many store-bought sweaters, especially the J. Crew and Gap variety, feature simple cables.

For those of you who would like further eye candy, here are samplings of cable designs that go beyond the Gap/J.Crew/Express variety:

• Most sweater designs have cables that run vertically but they can also run diagonally across a sweater.
• Sideway running cables can create beautiful yokes such as this Cable Luxe Tunic and this Tangled Yoke Cardigan (hopefully my next sweater project!).
• A few simple cables can create a gorgeous gathered front or celtic designs.
• Cables can also be used to create elaborate designs such as this wedgewood blouse.
• Twist Collective designs often prominently feature cables. I particular love this sweater coat, but doubt that I'd have the patience (or yarn money) to knit something of that scale.

And for those of you who do knit (I don’t know how many people who read this blog actually knit…I know that I’ve tried to teach a few people who read this blog how to knit in a rather imposing and imperial fashion…), here are some useful tutorials:

• General cable tutorial (in general, knitty.com has excellent tutorials... but really, you could just ask me and I will happily harass you with endless knitting instruction...)
• Cabling without a cable needle tutorial
• Unventing a cable – how to decipher a cable and figure out how it was knit

As for free cable patterns, the Knit for Kids Aran Sweater that I first made was a bit on the complex side for a beginner, but still doable. However, if you're looking for a shorter project, I would recommend trying a headband, a simple scarf or some fingerless mittens. The headband pictured below may also make a good first cable project, but it's not a free pattern. I used the Cabled Headband pattern from the book Knitter's Book of Yarn.**



* The black beret is knit with size 8 needles in Cascade 220 100% wool, based on the pattern Gretel
** The book is actually available from the Philadelphia Public Library, (if any branches still remain open...). I knit this on size 3 needles using Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted Yarn. You may see me sporting this around Philadelphia. It looks a bit like a halo because my head is so round.
*** On a side note, does anyone have good recommendations on how to post photos in blogger? I'd like to show more images on my knitting posts but can't seem to get around the annoying blogger interface...