Baby Cable Rib
Baby cable rib (aka baby cable ribbing) is a very neat trick. It lets you make thin cables without needing to use a cable needle or slip stitches about the place. Plus with most yarns it's a reversible stitch pattern too - one side looks cabled and the other like rib.
Here's a pattern for a basic sampler. The even-numbered rows are the side that will show the cables.
Special abbreviation: BCR (baby cable rib) = K2 tog, but leave them on the left-hand needle. Insert the right-hand needle between the 2 stitches just knitted together, and knit the 1st one again; then slip both stitches from the needle together.
- Cast on a multiple of 4 stitches plus 2.
- Row 1: P2, (K2, P2) to end.
- Row 2: K2, (P2, K2) to end.
- Row 3: As row 1.
- Row 4: K2, P2, (BCR, P2) to last 2 st, K2.
Repeat these four rows until long enough, then do rows 1 and 2 again, then cast off. This is a sampler pattern based on Kake's Purple Wow Scarf for Nick; the cables don't go all the way to the edge. The even-numbered rows are the right side.
Variations on the basic pattern
- Put the cable crossings less frequently - for example, work rows as 1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 4
- Put the cables further apart - for example, replace row 1 with P4, (K2, P4) to end, row 2 with K4, (P2, K4) to end, and row 4 with P4, (BCR, P4) to end
See Also: Knitting Tips