Cables with Increases

The possibilities are nearly endless when it comes to cable knitting. There are so many different cable patterns to learn and use in your knitting projects. One fun technique that can be used in cable knitting is that the cables can be increased or decreased in size. These increases and decreases can be used for decorative purposes to add interest to the cable pattern, and they are also used as an interesting way to shape a piece like a hat or sweater. In this video, Corrina Ferguson demonstrates how to work an increase in the middle of a cable row.

Corrina is using a traditional 4-stitch cable pattern, the C4F (cable 4 front) and wants to increase it to create a C6F (cable 6 front) cable. On the cable row, she increases as follows on the 4 stitches for the cable:

1. Slip 2 stitches purlwise to cable needle, hold in front of work.
2. Knit 1 stitch, backwards loop to increase 1 stitch, knit 1 stitch.
3. Knit 1 stitch, backwards loop to increase 1 stitch, knit 1 stitch from cable needle.

The cable has been increased from 4 stitches to 6 stitches. This increases the overall stitch count of the fabric, with nearly invisible increases. This technique can be applied to many other cable patterns to easily shape your cable projects.