Texture Spotlight: Cable with Cabrito
The accent cable on the Shana hat and sweater is worked with one strand each of the Alpaca Heather (MC) and Cabrito (CC) held together. The body of the hat and sweater is worked with a single strand of the MC. In this tutorial, Alpaca Heather in Harbor is the MC and Cabrito in Sea Salt is the CC.
The Shana hat is knit flat with an asymmetrically placed cable (not in the center of the hat stitches) that is intended to be worn on the side. Once the ribbed brim is complete, the next step is to place stitch markers and work two set-up rows for the cable panel.
We purl as instructed to the beginning of the cable panel with the MC and place our first green stitch marker. This also serves as a visual cue until the cable is established; when you’re on the right side of the work, the green marker is the first stitch marker you encounter. When knitting the cable panel, we hold both yarns together and knit the set number of stitches. At the end of this cable panel, the second marker is placed. We’ve used a red marker here. After the second marker, we drop the CC behind the work, and continue purling to the end with the MC to complete the row.
In a similar fashion, on the wrong side, we use the main color to knit across to the cable panel, (red marker is first on the wrong side!), hold both yarns together to work the cable panel stitches, then use only the main color to continue knitting to the end of the row.
After these two rows, the marked cable panel is knit following the cable pattern in the stitch guide. The use of a cable needle is encouraged when working the cable crosses as it helps ensure you catch both yarns of each stitch when they are knit. Due to the nature of the fibers, they grip and stick to each other, so it’s not likely you’ll lose a stitch and find it dropped several rows down, but you’ll have an easier time if you make sure you’ve got both strands of yarn on your needle.
Because the main color is used across the entire row there are no holes at the color changes and it is not necessary to twist the yarns at the edges of the cable. The Shana sweater features the cable on the center front of the body, and the technique is the same.
We look forward to seeing your Shana Sweaters and Hats and the colors of Cabrito and Alpaca Heather you pair for your projects! Be sure to tag us when you share photos on Instagram, Facebook, and Ravelry!
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