I’m pretty sure you guys get plenty of posts about this…but…Help me!
I hear cables are very easy. I’ve read a pattern or two with one, but I don’t think I quite get it. I’ve not tried it yet. They look slightly intimidating.
Any tips or helpful information? o_o
Thanks <3
A more specific question.
I was going to make a hat with cables. I was just sort of going to wing it.
How would I decrease with cables? Does anyone have a good cable hat pattern - that’s sort of like a beanie?
Oooh, I’ve got a great one that has really lovely cable decreases too. I just made one in the last few days, intended for my hubby but it ended up not long enough for him. Nevertheless, the pattern is great.
Here is the pattern (pdf file)
=]
Thank you so much!
Do you think someone who’s never done cables could do this pretty easily/ okay?
Also - Do you think it would be okay if I knitted it on straight needles? I’m not sure if I have the right circulars, and I won’t be able to buy anything until Tuesday. =[
P.S. Sorry I’m asking so many questions
If you knit on straights you will have to seam. I’m not sure how changing the pattern would work since you’d have to seam part of it. :shrug:
If you work the pattern on straight needles you will also have to reverse all the stitches on the wrong side rows. Knits become purls, purls become knits.
Ah…Too much work for me. xD I’m a lazy knitter.
I think I only have size 8 and size 10 circulars… ._.
I’ll look for a smaller size…
:verysad: What to do…
Try the cables! They’re really not as hard as they look. You might want to do a practice swatch, though, if you’re not confident with them yet. Just cast on 10 or so stitches and play around.
I guess I’ll just practice cables until I have enough money for the proper knitting needles. and maybe a better yarn…
I’m willing to accept donations. 
When you go to buy circs, also remember that they come in different lengths. For a hat, you will want to buy a 16" circular.
Thanks. =]
So…I found a bigger yarn I could use with size 10 circulars. I’m just going to need to cast on less than the pattern.
How would I go about changing the whole pattern?
It’s like…14 stitches equals 3.25 inches in the yarn I’m using now.
Would I also need to cut out some of the rows to make it shorter?
Argh. I’m having so much difficulty.
In the pattern; It says do the cable pattern every 6 consecutive stitches for the round…
No idea what that means.
I’m about to give up. -_-
You would need to cut out at least one of the cable repeat ‘sections’ which is each 12sts wide. This is the part of instruction that starts on the 10th row in the pattern (K2,P2,K6,P2). If you are getting 14sts/3.25in and the pattern has 108 sts, that would give you a circumference of 27". The pattern gauge of 22sts/4" at 108sts is a circumference of about 20". You can see the difference that this gauge makes!! So if you removed, say 2 of the cable section repeats which is a total of 24sts removed, that would take you to 84sts cast on, you would have an approx circumference of 19.5" at the gauge and yarn you are wanting to use. So that’s probably what you’d want to go with as far as cast on.
You would have to probably omit some rows to make it shorter as well, but you could see how it goes - when I made the pattern I used a size 6 needle and a worsted weight yarn (I was trying to make it a bit bigger than the pattern), the section before the decreases was about 5.5" from cast on and it was just right.
When it says that the cable is done over 6 consecutive knit stitches, it just means that the ‘K6’ in the (K2,P2,K6,P2) repeat is the stitches that the cable is going to be worked on.
I was given a free pattern with some yarn i bought
it was a VERY BASIC Cable pattern
but I was supposed to Buy the yarn to get the pattern so i am not sure if I can share it here
this is one I have not done yet
but it is the one my baby sister learned cables on
and she LOVES the pattern
if you did not want to make it a keyhole scarf, you could just continue with the pattern till you are done
http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter03/PATTtoddle.html
This one i know you do not have to buy, its just a basic link to the pattern
you will be Cabling so much, you will learn the basics pretty quickly
ecb