making: how to knit cables

this is one post in a series of technique blog posts. you can also find how to knit lace, how to work in the round, knitting socks, and knit that sweater in this series. each blog post gives a couple of pointers, some helpful links, and suggests a collection of patterns to build up your skills. if you want to spend some time practicing a specific skill, these posts are the ones for you!

i love a good panel of rich cables. the more complex or fuller the panel, chances are the more i’m in love with them. cables are a fantastic way to add extra warmth and depth to a garment (there’s a reason so many of the traditional sweaters you’ve seen from northern fishing climates like ireland and the scottish highlands feature full-body cables).

cables can look really intimidating, and in all honesty sometimes they are tricky. my personal favourite trick when i’m designing, however, is to stack multiple short cables next to one another. i hate using cable needles because i find they slow me down, so i rarely create cables with more than 4 stitches involved (occasionally 5 or 6 stitches, but i dislike dropping more than 3 live stitches off my needles at a time).

some of my top tricks for good cables are:

use a good wooly wool. and by that, i mean one that isn’t treated with superwash or blended with more drapey fibres, like silk or alpaca (although sometimes you can get a great farm alpaca yarn that has better stitch definition like from eddlewood farm or hinterland textiles). you want those wool scales to hold onto one another and pop those cables up. plus stickier yarn makes cabling without a cable needle infinitely easier.
a background of reverse stockinette can help to pop smaller panels of cables.
if you want to learn how to cable without a cable needle, check out this tutorial.