Cable Stitch

Well hello my lovely people! Hope you have all had nice weeks. It’s been both extremes of weather for us here, I reckon I could have worn my big coat on Thursday it was so cold. It’s definitely been a funny week. But I did have a lovely trip to one of my local wool shops this week with my Mum. And well I may have bought some Illustrious West Yorkshire Spinners wool. Well it kind of jumped out at me and it would have been rude not to buy such stunning yarn and I did buy it to go with the yarn I bought on my birthday. So that’s ok isn’t it!! Haha! The mind of a yarn addict in full working order!! Justification complete! Yarn bought and stashed away. I was thinking though, I might create my own yarn cake with it all. So I can carry around one big ball of yummy yarn with me and create my birthday shawl. A good plan me thinks. Here’s the colours! Think it will go well as a gradient triangular shawl! Holiday project me thinks!!

Doreen the lovely lady in the Knitting Corner shop, showed me this fantastic contraption!! It’s a yarn swifter. It’s terribly clever. I was explaining how I sometimes get in a pickle when I wind up wool from a skein/hank. And she said you could use one of these devices, thus allowing you to wind wool on your own. So basically your skein/hank goes round all the edges and then moves freely, releasing the yarn as you wind it up. Very clever and a super present for someone who buys and winds a lot of wool. Hint hint!! 😁 Think you can get different types of them, but this one was from the lovely www.knittinggiftsshop.com website. It’s beautifully made, but guessing quite big to store in your home. Heyho, one day maybe. Doreen did say she just winds hers up by hand. So I might have to have a go at that. (I’m sure my husband would be relieved if he didn’t have to help of an evening!!)

I am always amazed by the creations that the little people around us can create. One of my best friend’s daughter’s has made an absolutely spectacular hat for her Uncle’s stag do.

She has based it on the sheep that they had at their families farm – the Hill Radnor Rams.

She is only 9 years old. Can you imagine! What an incredible achievement to have designed and created this wonderful hat for her uncle! Hats off to you little lady. (Excuse the pun!!) Your uncle is one lucky man. She made it in some lovely merino wool, so it will be ever so soft and warm to wear.

You are a true crocheter in the making!! Can’t wait to see your next project and will hopefully share many more on PipsRainbow.

I don’t know about you guys, but I do love a bit of May blooms!!

There’s something about woodland family walks with sun streaming through the May time leaves. 

The flowers on our school run are so full of colour and richness too. Our neighbours seem to be giving us a real treat of May flowers. Look at this corker!!

I loved these as a kid. I used to imagine that they were fairy hats and that the plant was their shop where they bought them from!

May is definitely one of my all time favourite times of the year.

So on to the blanket. This weeks stitch is the wonderful Cable stitch. It’s very similar to its sister stitch in the knitting world. It’s quite a clever stitch as the combination of the stitches helps create an illusion of the stitches changing places.

Stitches –

Chain (ch) – To make a chain, place the yarn over the hook then pull it through the loop on your hook.

Double Crochet (dc) – Insert the hook through the stitch, front to back, then yarn over hook and pull back through stitch. You will have two loops on your hook. Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops.

Treble (tr) – To make a treble crochet, firstly yarn over your hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over your hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should now be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through the first two loops, yarn over hook and pull through the last two loops.

Cable Stitch (Cable st) – This is a stitch where you work 1tr across other stitches. So start off by missing a stitch and then working 1tr into the next 3 stitches. Then put your yarn over your hook and insert the hook into 4 stitches to the right (so back on yourself) into the dc stitch that you missed. Then yarn over your hook and pull back through (3 loops.) Then finish off the tr as normal. So yarn over your hook and pull through the first two loops, then yarn over your hook and pull through the last 2 loops.

Supplies –

So this week I couldn’t not use the lovely lilac colour that seems to be surrounding us all at the minute. So I have chosen this lovely yarn from the wonderful Wendy range of merino wool from our local Knitique shop. They have the whole Wendy range in there, so it was great to stock up on all my colours.

There’s something quite calming about lilac. My Mum loves this flower and it always makes me think of her as it comes out around her birthday. This beautiful lilac tree is on our school run. I hope the people that live at the house didn’t mind me taking a picture. My daughter was all up for me walking on to their lawn to get a better pic! Amazing how kids don’t have any inabitions.

So for the yarn, you will need about 40g of dk yarn. Remember you can use any kind of yarn. Most of blanket is either merino wool or a cashmere mix, so I wouldn’t necessarily use a cotton yarn. But I do think a nice soft cotton yarn blanket would be lovely, especially for the summer.

Ok so here we go …

1 – So this week we are starting on the wrong side of the blanket. Start off by a attaching your new yarn and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the same stitch. Now work 1dc in each stitch across the row. (200)

2 – Now turn your work and chain 3. (This acts as 1tr.) Then work 1tr in the same stitch.

Now miss next dc stitch and then work 1tr in each of the next 3 stitches.

Then work 1 cable st into the dc stitch you have just missed. So yarn over your hook and insert the hook 4 stitches to the right. So back on yourself.

Then yarn over your hook and pull back through the stitch. (3 loops) Then yarn over your hook and pull through the first 2 loops.

To finish off, yarn over your hook again and pull through the last 2 loops. And that’s your finished cable stitch.

Now your ready to repeat this across the row. So *miss next stitch and then work 1tr in the next 3 stitches. Now work your cable stitch in the missed dc stitch which is 4 stitches to the right.* (Remember your working a treble stitch across all of the 3 stitches.) Repeat ** across the row.

When you get to the last 2 stitches, work 1tr in each stitch. (200)

3 – Right so turn your blanket again and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the same stitch. Now work 1dc in each stitch across the row.

At the end of the row, work your last dc stitch in the top of the chain 3 stitches from the row below. (200)

4 – So here we are repeating row 2. So turn your work and chain 3. Then work 1 tr into your first stitch. Then *miss a stitch and work 1tr in each of the next 3 stitches. Now work your cable stitch into the missed stitch, 4 stitches to the right.*

Repeat ** across the row. After the last cable stitch, miss 1 stitch and then work 1tr in each of the last stitches. (200)

5 – In this row we are repeating row 3. So turn your blanket and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the same stitch. Now work 1dc across the row.

Work the last dc in the top of the chain 3 from the previous row. (200)

And there you have it, the super cable stitch.

Definitely one to remember! It would make a lovely blanket or give some great texture to a jumper. I really hope you have enjoyed this weeks instalment of Year of the Stitches! Thank you so much fo following PipsRainbow and having a go.

Happy hooking everyone!

🌈Xx