How to Knit a Sloping Cable

The sloping cable design is a very graceful and smooth design bordered by a background of reverse stockinette stitch. You need to know how to do knit and purl stitches, slip stitches and pass slipped stitches over, and increase by knitting into the front and back of a stitch--as well as how to cable stitches to the front and back--to create a beautiful sloping cable design. Instructions for doing some stitches are included in this article; however, basic knowledge of how to cable will be useful. For those who love cabling, or who simply love a challenge, this is a unique stitch.

Things You'll Need

• Yarn
• Knitting needles
• Cable needle

Instructions

1. Choose the yarn you want to work with and needles that match the weight of your yarn. (See the yarn packaging for needle size suggestions.)

2. Begin the work. This particular design is a panel of 10 stitches knit on a reverse stockinette stitch background. Cast on 10 stitches plus the number of stitches you want on both sides of the design. For example, if you want a panel of 30 stitches total, then you would have 10 stitches on either side of your 10-stitch cable pattern.

3. Create the sloping cable pattern as follows:Row 1 (the wrong side of your piece): Knit until you reach the 10 stitches that make up the center, knit 1, purl 8, knit 1, continue knitting to the end of the row.Row 2: Purl until you reach the 10 stitches that make up the center, purl 1, move yarn to back, slip 1 stitch knit-wise, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over, knit 4, increase into the next stitch (by knitting into the front and back), knit 1, pass 1, continue purling to the end of the row.Rows 3 through 9: Repeat the last two rows three more times, then the first row again.Row 10: Purl until you reach the 10 stitches that make up the center, purl 1, cable 8 forward (done by slipping four stitches onto a cable needle held at the front of the work, knitting the next four stitches, then knitting the four stitches from the cable needle), purl 1, continue purling to the end of the row.Row 11: Repeat row 1.Row 12: Purl until you reach the 10 stitches that make up the center, purl 1, increase into the next stitch, knit 5, knit 2 together, purl 1, continue purling to the end of the row.Rows 13 through 19: Repeat the last two rows three more times, then the first row again.Row 20: Purl until you reach the 10 stitches that make up the center, purl 1, cable 8 back (done the same as before, only hold the slipped stitches to the back of the work instead of the front), purl 1, continue purling to the end of the row.

4. Repeat these 20 rows until your piece reaches the desired length.

5. Bind off, preferably using the basic bind-off.