CRAFTY CABLES

QI like knitting while out and about, but my current project has several cables in it and carrying a cable needle around with me is a real pain! I’m always worried I’ll drop it. Is there a way to work the cables without it? Billie Morris, via email

Cabling without a cable needle is actually quite simple when you get the hang of it. It’s best suited for “stickier” yarns like wool, rather than slippery cottons, and works best over smaller, 3 or 4 stitch cables.

It works by slipping and knitting the stitches that make up your cable and then doing the ‘pinch and pull’ manoeuvre: pinching the stitches with finger and thumb while pulling the needle out and then sliding it back in to reposition the stitches in a di erent order. Making sure your tension is even as you slip and knit will help keep the cables neater, and snugly knitting the first stitch after your completed cable will help reduce any gaps in your fabric. Here I’ll show you how to work a C3F, left leaning cable.

1 Work to where you want to place your cable. Hold the yarn to the back of the work and slip the next two stitches purlwise onto the right-hand needle.

2 Keeping the working yarn at the back of the work, knit the next stitch on the lefthand needle.

3 Insert the left needle through the front of the two slipped stitches on the righthand needle.

4 Pinch the base of these three stitches with your left thumb and forefinger and carefully pull the right-hand needle out of all of them. This leaves the two slipped stitches on the left-hand needle and the one knitted stitch sitting behind.

5 Insert the right-hand needle purlwise into the dropped stitch.

6 Knit the two slipped stitches. Jen