Cables

Name: O – The Skirt - The Statement Skirt
Brand: Cosymonday
Price: 130.0 NOK
Availability: InStock

Cables come in two versions in my patterns, and one of them is far easier than it looks. Thirty-six designs use one or the other. Here's the difference, what they do to the garment, and where to find them.

Mock cables – the look of a cable without a cable needle

A mock cable gives you the structure and the play of shadow from a real cable, but without crossing the stitches onto a separate needle. You knit straight ahead, and the pattern builds itself up as you go.

That's why I use it so much on hats. A hat is a small project, and it should ideally be finished in an evening or two. A mock cable gives a lot of effect for very little work.

If this is your first hat with any structure to it, the mock cable is where to start. If you can knit and purl, you can do this.

Real cables – the stitches cross

In real cable knitting, groups of stitches swap places with each other, and it's the crossing that forms the cable pattern. It takes a little more attention than a mock cable, but not more than you'll manage on your second hat.

Real cables give a clearer, more sculptural cable. Mock cables give a quieter, more graphic look. Both are right — it depends on how much you want the hat to say.

What cables do to the garment

Cables pull in. A cabled section comes out narrower than a stocking stitch section with the same number of stitches. That's why the cables sit where they sit in my patterns — above the ribbing on a hat, where you actually want a bit of shaping.

They also use more yarn than stocking stitch. Take that into account when you buy.

Yarn, needles and gauge

7 mm needles are the main needle in nearly all my cable designs, often combined with 5 or 6 mm for the ribbing.
Gauge 12 stitches × 10 cm is the house standard.
Level: Beginner plus on almost all of them. That means you should already know knit, purl and ribbing — the rest is in the pattern.
Wool and alpaca dominate here, often with mohair as a second strand. Cables show up best in a yarn with some body; completely airy mohair on its own blurs the structure.

If you want to swap the yarn, it's the gauge that decides, not the brand.