Letters
Get Ready: Cables without a Cable Needle
Dear Kay,
Tomorrow will be a glorious day of discovery!
I’m writing today in order to exhort all you cable-curious folks to lean in on November’s project from A Year of Techniques. It will give you such confidence about cables.
Tomorrow we unveil Jen Arnall-Culliford’s video tutorial on how to read a cable chart and how to work cables without a cable needle—yes, friends, without a cable needle. If that little weird needle has always given you the cable shivers, tomorrow’s tutorial will be a revelation indeed.
It is one of the terrific moments in knitting: changing the order of your stitches so you can make them go wherever you want them to go.
I totally jumped the gun on the November project for A Year of Techniques. I don’t know what got into me, except that I’d been doing a lot of knitting that did not involve cables, and I realized that my life was a hollow, empty shell without some cablework to do.
Well, let’s just say I found some serious meaning in recent days, cranking out Sarah Hatton’s Yellow Wagtail Scarf from A Year of Techniques.
Sarah Hatton’s scarf pattern is such a stealth tutorial in making cables. It starts out nice and narrow so you can get your bearings with the chart and the feel of how to make the stitches move around.
The Breather Section, aka the garter stitch center, gradually increases until you’re halfway through, at which point you begin decreasing. By now, the cables are twisting happily. You’re feeling like a genius. And you’re on your way to a holiday gift that is really pretty.
The yarn here is our Haymarket by Lorna’s Laces, in six soft shades exclusive to MDK. The fiber is Bluefaced Leicester, and I love the soft halo of this very soft yarn.
Remember: cables. No needle. Lean in. Tomorrow. Awesomeness. Jen will explain it all for us, in her typically calm, no-fuss way.
Love,
Ann
I look forward to seeing this, but perhaps people who have never cabled might want to try it with the needle first.
I think where people get tripped up is that they try to knit the cable-needle stitches off the cable needle, which becomes an all-thumbs proposition. I have always slipped them back to the left needle before knitting, and it’s a lot easier. Some videos I have seen of the no-cable-needle process are essentially doing the same thing. So my recommendation is, whatever you do, don’t try to knit the stitches off the cable needle!
Cool idea! For me, I did knit from the cable needle, often fiddling as you describe. Also: lost cable needle in sofa cushion = constant problem!
Patience is definitely key when embarking on cables—it’s a cool puzzle to play with.
Can’t wait till tomorrow!
Try a DPN instead of cable needle. Works lije a charm.
I’ve tried that and I don’t like it. There are still too many needles poking about. With the straight cable needle it always falls out before I am ready to knit the stitches. I actually usually use one of those large safety pin stitch holders as a cable needle, even on a bulkier yarn. It does not affect the gauge. Then I can pin it to the knitting when not in use and I don’t lose it.
I’ve tried cabling without a cable needle (or dpn serving as) but with tiny little sock needles, as soon as I take the stitches off the needle, the hole disappears. No matter how quickly or insistently I try to pinch them. One moment they are there, and then they are gone and I am muttering bad words. I’m glad this is a technique-of-the-month, because it gives me a reason to try it again – with bigger needles and yarn! 🙂
Oh, Goodness, I’ve done Basket-weave cables and all sorts of other cables so I’m not too intimidated by them. The tricky part, I’ve found, is COUNTING. Mess that up and, Boy OH Boy, you have a mess on your hands….
Cabling without a cable needle is awesome. I am knitting Starsky now and having to faff about with a cable needle every few stitches would be extremely annoying.