Some knitting mistakes are barely noticeable and we can safely leave them hidden in the project. Missed and mis-crossed cables do not belong to that category. These mistakes are far from being invisible. They are staring right at us no matter whether the cable is in the very centre of the project or at its side.
Often we notice those mishaps after we worked a number of rows. If there are a lot of stitches on our needles, the thought of undoing a chunk of our project is rather painful.
Fortunately, it is not necessary to rip out our work to fix a cable. We can easily do it when we follow three simple steps.
WATCH EVERY STEP IN THIS VIDEO TUTORIAL
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NOTES
To make it more comfortable for us to work through this process, we’ll use a pair of double-pointed needles in the same size as the needles we use to make this project.
This method is exactly the same for cables worked back and forth and the ones worked in the round. To keep things simple, I’ll refer to each row or round as “row”. If you fix a cable in a seamless project, follow the same instructions, but think of rounds when you see the word “row”.
STEP 1 – UNDO
We start by getting to a spot where the mistake happened and we do it by a scary but extremely satisfying process of unravelling the stitches of the cable.
Before we do that, let’s mark the row when we should cross the cable when we are ready to fix it.
If the cable that you need to fix is crossed but in a wrong direction, look for the holes that are usually formed at the sides of the cable. Attach a locking stitch marker or a safety pin on a strand that is at the top of one of those holes.
As you see, I placed a marker above the hole at the left side of the mis-crossed cable in my swatch. You can place it at the right side of the cable if you like. The side is not important. What IS important is marking a strand that we’ll use to work the cable-crossing row.
If there are other cables that you will have to unravel on your way to the spot where the mistake happened, mark the crossing rows of those cables as well.
If you fix a missed cable – a cable that you forgot to cross – place a marker at the right or left side of the cable in a row that you think should be the cable-crossing row.
If you work back and forth, we’ll use a simple trick to double check that we haven’t missed the correct crossing row by one row. We’ll do it before we start the second step.
1.1. In the next right-side row, work to the first stitch of the cable that you want to fix. Then place the project on a flat surface with the right side of the work facing you.
1.2. Slip the stitches of the cable off the left needle.
1.3. Gently pull a strand at the back of the top row of the cable until you unravel all live stitches in this row. You can pull the yarn with your fingers or with a double-pointed needle.
1.4. Repeat step 1.3. until you unravel all rows of the cable, including the cable-crossing row marked by a locking stitch marker.
Because I’m going to fix two cables in my swatch, I unravelled the cable to the estimated cable-crossing row of the second cable with a mistake.
In a majority of cases, the cables are spaced by an even number of rows. That means that after we unravel the crossing row, we should have an even number of unravelled strands hanging between the live stitches and the working needles.
That’s how we know whether we guessed it right where the cable-crossing row of a missed cable should be. Once you unravel the strand that you marked as a potential cable-crossing row, count the unravelled strands.
If there is an odd number of strands, your guess was likely off by one row. Unravel one more row or rebuild one more row (see step 3) to adjust the placement of the cable-crossing row.
Because there are only right-side rounds in circular knitting, this trick is not reliable when we fix a cable in a seamless project. In this case, it is better to count the rows between the previous cable crossing and the unravelled strands.
To make it easier to count those rows, insert a needle into a hole at the side of the previous cable crossing and place this needle vertically along the side of the cable.
The number of strands that are lying on that needle should be the same as the number of rows between the cables (according to the pattern instructions).
For example, the cables in my swatch are crossed in every sixth row, so the next cable-crossing row should happen when there are six strands between the hole at the side of the previous crossing and the first unravelled strand.
STEP 2 – FIX
Now, that we’ve got to a spot where the mistake happened, let’s pick up those lonely open stitches and cross them to make our cable consistent.
2.1. Use one double-pointed needle to pick up the stitches of the first group, and the second double-pointed needle to pick up the stitches of the second group.
The cable in my swatch is made of four stitches, so each double-pointed needle holds two stitches.
2.2. Place the right double-pointed needle at the back of the left double-pointed needle if the cable is crossed to the right.
Place it at the front of the left needle if the cable is crossed to the left.
2.3. Slide each group of stitches closer to the other tip of the double-pointed needle.
Slip the stitches of one of the groups to the other needle. so that all stitches are on the left-hand needle.
As you slip the stitches one by one, make sure they are sitting on the needle in a correct orientation, with the right leg of each stitch closer to you.
If you use the Eastern knitting style, the right leg of each stitch should be at the far side of the needle.
Some of the stitches of the other group might not be oriented correctly. We’ll fix this little issue when we rebuild the cable in the next step.
STEP 3 – REBUILD
3.1. Hold the needle with the stitches in your left hand and the empty needle in your right hand. Find the unravelled strand that is the closest one to the picked-up stitches and use it as your working yarn to knit the stitches from the left needle to the right needle.
The first strand will be marked with a locking stitch marker. Remove the marker before you start to rebuild stitches in this row.
Now is the time to look for the misbehaving stitches – the ones that are not sitting on the needle in a correct way. If you come across such a stitch, knit it through the back loop (through the front loop if you use the Eastern knitting style).
As you work more stitches, you will notice that the yarn becomes tighter and tighter. This is expected because we are knitting with a strand of a limited length.
It does not mean that we should make the stitches tighter. No. Try to keep your regular tension, but when the yarn becomes really tight (usually when we get to the last two stitches), it is time to change the approach.
3.2. Instead of holding the yarn with your right or left hand, place the strand on the tip of the left needle so that it sits in front of the first stitch.
3.3. Then insert the tip of the right needle from right to left into the first stitch on the left needle.
3.4. Pass this stitch over the strand and off the needle.
3.5. Slip the resulting stitch to the right needle. Do it purlwise without twisting the stitch.
3.6. Repeat steps 3.2 through 3.5 until you knit all stitches on the left needle.
Slide the stitches of the cable to the other tip of the same double-pointed needle and repeat steps 3.1. through 3.5 turning each unravelled strand into a row of the cable. Make sure you keep all unravelled strands at the front of the work and inspect the unravelled edge every time you start a new rebuilding row.
It is very common for those sneaky fellows to hide at the back of the fabric. If we miss a strand, it will be hanging at the back of the fabric as an unsightly loop, and we’ll have to unravel a few rows of the cable again to turn that strand into a row of stitches. So be careful when you pick a strand to rebuild each row and save yourself from this trouble.
Remember to cross the stitches of the cable again (see step 2) if you had to unravel a few cable-crossing rows in the first step.
Once you rebuild the cable, knit the stitches of the cable from the double-pointed needle to the right working needle.
Then continue to work on your project as if nothing has happened.
Because we used double-pointed needles in the same size as the working needles, the repaired section of the cable will have the same tension as the rest of the cable.
If you notice a difference in gauge, pull the repaired part of the cable sideways and then along the direction of knitting to redistribute the yarn.
HERE’S A VIDEO TUTORIAL THAT SHOWS EVERY STEP
Depending on the complexity of the cable, it usually takes 10 to 20 minutes to fix a missed or mis-crossed cable. It is much more efficient than unravelling several rows or rounds of the project, fixing the cable and then re-knitting those unravelled rows again.
SAVE IT FOR LATER:
This and 36 other in-depth tutorials are part of Knitting Collection #7.
