I can´t believe I´m knitting Cables

My mum tought me this weekend how to knit cables - this is my first attempt. It´s really not that hard as you think it is. All you need is a cable needle I used the so called birds wings or birds beak cable needle (if you click the link, it´s the one in the middle). 

On this small test piece - I repeatet the pattern 3 times. It´s alot of fun kniting this and seeing how your cables are born. It´s a very clever thing - cable knitting - and there are sooo many variations.

It reminds me of a dance - where you step forth and step back. The knitting walz.

For neater edgings, my mum also taught me how to slip the first stich and knit the last, regardless of the pattern you are making. This prevents ugly edgings with bulbs and uneven stiches (beginners problem in stiching). I found a nice video about this you can check it out here.

So I made myself a pattern for this little piece, and always slipped the first stitch and knitting the last, regardless of what the pattern asked for. 

My mum told me it looks prettier if you have 2 purl stiches before and after the cable part, that way the cable pops out nicer. For the edgings I wanted to try a pearl stich (1p, 1k then in the next row the p´s will be k´s and vice versa).

So here we go :)

Cast on 18 stiches and knit them as following:

Left Edging:                   knit - purl - knit - purl - remember to slip the first stich!!

Before Cable:                purl 2 

Cable:                              slip 3 stiches on the cable needle and keep in the back  

                                           knit 3

                                           knit the 3 from the cable needle now

After Cable:                     purl 2 

Right Edging:                 purl - knit - purl - knit

You have successfully finished the first row

CN3= slip 3 loops to Cable needle and put in back, knit 3, then knit 3 from the cable needle

R1 [RS]: k - p - k - p - 2p -    CN3 -   2p - p - k - p - k

R2 [RS]: p - k - p - k - 2p - K3 - K3 - 2p -  k - p - k - p

R3 [RS]: k - p - k - p - 2p - K3 - K3 - 2p - p - k - p - k

R4 [RS]: p - k - p - k - 2p - K3 - K3 - 2p -  k - p - k - p

Complete 4 rows before using your cable needle again. R1 is RS=Right Side and BS=Back Side, back side on row 1 would be p - k - p - k - 2k - 3p - 3p - 2k - k - p - k - p 

Seen on the picture is this pattern repeated 3 times