Hey! I have had so much fun lately doing the posts about cabling! First we did our Beginner Cabling, then the Celtic Cables, and now we have my absolute favourite, Braided Cables! I’ve been using braided cables whenever possible, like the Ava Hat pattern in our store, and, now, the brand new Elena Headband.
It is such a versatile pattern. Today, we use just 6 stitches, but you can use any multiple of 3 stitches, up to about 15 stitches or so, or perhaps even more. I’ve made a chunky hat with 15 stitches as the braid, and the hardest part was that the bottom of the hat was wider than the braided section creating a wonkiness. I’m still working on how to correct for it, so watch for a new hat pattern for that one, lol, you know, when I figure it out.
The Art of the Cable
Now, all cables create a tightness width-wise when alternating the sections back and forth. This is fine when working on a headband and the cables are worked all the way along, but when worked over a hat, if the section is too narrow, the bottom section needs to have enough stretchiness to account for the narrowing.
Now, I just love the classical style of cables, and tend to use them a lot to create texture in my knitted projects, but texture can be created in lots of ways, like using purl stitches strategically, like in our seed stitch scarf, moss stitch dishcloth, or ribbing. See below.
Soon, I’ll be putting together a knit blanket tutorial, and we’ll be using some simple techniques, like the above to create texture!
Beginner Cables Recap
So, in our beginner cables post and video tutorial, and Celtic cables post, we used both techniques to create different methods of cables. Today, we’re going to use our same techniques in a slightly different way to create the braided cable!
To recap, we used Cable 4 in front by moving 3 stitches to our cable needle and holding them in front of our work, and working 3 stitches off our left needle, then the 3 from our cable needle, as shown in the top line of our diagram below.
Then, to make our Cable 6 behind, we slip 3 stitches to our cable needle and hold them behind our work, knit 3 from our left needle then the 3 from our cable needle, as shown in the bottom row of the image above.
For this tutorial, you’ll need some yarn (We’re using Red Heart Super Saver big ball in Fuschia), a set of needles (we’re using 5mm round needles, but straight work just as well), and a cable needle.
How to Make Braided Cables
To make the braided cable, we’re going to be using our same 6 stitches, but making 3 strands for our braid. So, we’re only going to cable or twist 4 stitches at a time. We’re also going to add purl stitches to the beginning and end of our braided section to help it ‘pop out’ of our fabric.
For our first cable row, we start the section with a purl stitch, then we begin with our Cable 4 front (C4F) by slipping 2 stitches to our cable needle, holding them in front, knit 2 from our left needle, then the 2 from our cable needle, finally we knit the last 2 stitches from our left needle, and 1 purl stitch to finish the section.
On the Reverse row (Wrong Side), we knit over the previous purl stitch, and purl over our 6 knit stitches, and knit over the final purl.
For our second cable row, we’re going to begin again by purling the first, then this time, knit our first 2, and cable the last 4 stitches, holding our 2 stitches and yarn to the back. So, knit 2, slip 2 to our cable needle, hold them behind, then knit the 2 left on your left needle, and the final 2 from the cable needle. Finally purl the last stitch.
Repeat our Wrong side row, from above for every wrong side row going forward and alternate between C4F, k2, and k2, C4B for the right side rows! Not too bad, right? a 4 row repeat, and 2 of the rows are the same.
So what do you think about this tutorial? What are you going to add braids to? I love, love love the Ava Hat pattern in our store!!! It was a true labour of love and I can’t be happier with how it turned out! Click the photo below to see it in our store!
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Thank you so very much for hanging out with me today! As always, please tag us in your Instagram posts and we’ll share your creations to our stories! @purple.rose.crafts
Much Love,
