Day 11 of Winter – Series 2 Edition

This is part 11 in a 12 part series highlighting designs from our 12 Days of Winter, Series 2 Edition.

Say hello to First Frost, an accessory set that is sure to warm you up this season!

Deluxe Bulky
Knit using Deluxe Bulky Superwash, the First Frost Accessory Set is quick to knit and easy to care for.

Ah, knitting. I love everything about it. However, some techniques sing to me more than others. Cables are one of those techniques. I can never get enough. If I can squeeze them in, I do. They don’t have to be complicated – but they can be. Either way, I love them. I want to knit cables as often as I want to eat Kit Kats or Reeses’ Peanut Butter Cups – all the time! 

I actually really like using cable needles, but I occasionally lose them. The crevices on my sofa are likely home to several. So what do you do when you don’t have a cable needle or spare DPN handy? Do you find another project? NO! Of course not! You simply cable without a cable needle. I’m going to show you how with a quick tutorial!

Stitches ready for their next twist.
Cabling without a cable needle is just a matter of rearranging your stitches. I’ve highlighted the stitches we’ll be working with using red and green. In this instance, I am going to cross my stitches to the left.

Going behind the first two stitches (red) on the left-hand needle, slip the third and fourth (green) stitches to the right-hand needle. The first two stitches will be in FRONT of the work. If you were working this as a right cross, the red stitches would be in the BACK of your work, and you would slip the green stitches purlwise from the front.

Alternate view – slipping the green stitches purlwise to the right-hand needle.
Don’t be afraid!

If the above photo scares you, just take a deep breath. It’s really not that scary! When you slip the green stitches, the red stitches will fall off your needle. That is okay – that’s what you want!

Scoop the stitches back up with the left-hand needle.

Carefully scoop the red stitches up with your left-hand needle. Breathe a sigh of relief – your stitches are safe again. Notice, we are simply re-arranging the stitches. * If you were working this as a RIGHT cross, the red stitches would be in the back of your work.

Continue to re-arrange your stitches by slipping the green stitches from the right-hand needle back to the left-hand needle.
You’ve rearranged your stitches. Perfect! Now you’re ready to carry on and knit.

After the stitches are all back on the left-hand needle you may continue knitting as usual. You can already see the twist in your work.

TA-DA!

That’s it! You’ve created a beautiful cable without a cable needle.

I realize that I’ve only included instructions for a 2×2 Left Cross here, but my hope is mainly to give you the courage to go forth without a cable needle. In fact, the pattern features left and right crosses; so if you choose to skip the cable needle you’ll have plenty of time to practice both.

Left and right cable crosses are used to create the traveling cables in the hat. The cables in the crown use right crosses.

You can do this on any number of stitches, but I wouldn’t recommend working cables without a needle on anything more than 3×3 crosses. Any bigger than that and things can start to look sloppy and feel fiddly. Cable needles are great and help to maintain an even tension, but the same results can occur without them. Some find that skipping the cable needle feels faster, too. In personal projects, I go both ways. It depends on my mood and whether I can find my cable needle!

Cable stitches are also used in the mittens.

Remember, you can find the 12 Days of Winter Kit patterns on Ravelry.