Knitting cables

[Purlywhites]

Should it BE such a ball-ache?

I can't see how anything with cables is quick or easy.

Can anyone convince me otherwise before I give up cabling completely?

Well I love cabling, it used to be my favourite type of knitting but I am a recent convert to colour work and fair isle which I am slightly mad about at the moment.

What is it you find a pain ,I find I prefer some kinds of needles, I use wooden knit pros or bamboo generally but need to use a metal cable needle because I find it easier to slide the stitches on and off.

Have a look online for videos and tutorials on cabling without a cable needle.

Takes a bit of practice to get the knack but I've found it much quicker and easier not having to faff about with cable needle.

It's the addition of a third needles gets on the way and it takes so long to knit a row after all the faff.
It's a shame because cables are a beautiful.

I nearly did some twists but I miss counted and it ended up wonky. It was so faffy just to get a row finished.

Perhaps I should try a straight needle, mines a bent plastic thing.

It does take longer to do a row but it keeps the knitting from getting boring i think. My advice is to go for a pattern with a diagram for the cable part. I find em way easier to follow than the written out type coz you can see what bit of cable your doing and how it fits with the rest very easy. And i only use a short cable needle and once your stitches are on it, flip em to the front/back and forget em till you need em again. So your only knitting on 2 needles.

I've ordered some DPNs (small) as its pay day. Also a circular needle dun dun DUN!
I have both cables and knitting in the round to practice.

I love doing cables. I like to admire the twistiness

A short straight cable needle is much easier than one with a bend in it.
Also, remember that you only do in in every 4, 6, or 8 rows(depending on the sort of cable you are doing), the rest are just plain and purl. Start with a pattern that does not have too many different cables in it and you will soon get the hang of it.

I second having a look for videos on cabling without a cable needle.

I've seen a couple of videos and one without a cable needle, they make it look so easy.
Oh well! Gives me an excuse to keep practicing (and buying more wool) :)

To be fair though I did try one that was cable every 3rd stitch on every row to get a thin plait effect, it was hard but what I did looked really delicate and pretty. Shame it went wonky!
That was following a Youtube video.

This is favourite ever cabling work and ,yes ,it can be a total pain but it is so lovely. Nicky Epstein block.

I'll have look at that properly later, thanks.

I just saw a tutorial for a mock cable (twist). Looks very easy and lovely result.

I don't know whether it would work for anyone else, but I find the cable needle cumbersome but weirdly slipping the stitches onto a stitch holder lets me forget about them rather than worrying that they'll fall off. I have only done a couple of cable things though.

1944girl, the trick with fair isle is to learn to knit with a thread in both hands: the right hand thread to be 'thrown' and the left hand to do continental knitting (bit like crocheting.
It sounds difficult but is quite easy once you get the hang of it.
You know that true fair isle is only ever done with two colour in one row? That makes it easier. Also fair isle is best done in the round, I can't purl back in fair isle. If you want to see any on my fair isle look on Ravelry, same user name.

Fair isle is way beyond my skill level ATM.
I love the effect though.

You can get the effect from yarns like Sirdar Crofter with zero effort :) (Well I mean beyond normal knitting anyway). Comes in a chunky weight and also baby colours.

I tried that once and didn't like the effect at all. But then, I can do proper fair isle so maybe that stands to reason.
If you are on Ravelry you can see it under Zac's cardigan, same user name.

I can do proper fairisle as well. I think the Crofter gives a reasonable effect but is not the same as the real thing.