How to Fix a Mis-crossed Cable in Your Knitting

You have been knitting your beautiful aran sweater for hours when all of a sudden, you notice a mis-crossed cable several rows back. You could unravel the whole thing down to the error, which takes the longest. Or, if you want to save time, you might drop all of the cable stitches and try to get it right that way.

OR you can drop just one side of the cable, cutting your margin of error in half. This article shows you how to drop and pick up only one side of a cable.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A cable needle or short double point needle
• Crochet hook
• A glass of your favorite beverage (optional)

1. 
   That cable should cross in the back! What do I do, what do I do?

   First, freak out: That cable was TOTALLY supposed to cross in the BACK not the front! Aaaack! What do I do? Lie down in the road and wait for a bus?
   
   No! Take a deep cleansing breath. Say your favorite calming mantra, and assemble the following tools: a cable needle or a short double-pointed needle (a size or two below your knitting size will make things easier); a crochet hook; a glass of your favorite beverage.

2. 
   Insert a lifeline using a cable needle or a double point.

   Put in a life line. Using your cable needle, grab the stitches of the arm that you are fixing (in this case we want to move that back cross to the front) just below the cross. This way, when you start dropping stitches they won't run all the way to the bottom of the piece if you get woozy.

3. 
   Drop one side of the cable down.

   Ready, set, DROP! Carefully loosen just the (in this case, 3) stitches of the side you are dropping. Remember, the beauty of this method is that you don't drop the whole cable, just the side that needs to move. If your hands are too shaky, you can use a crochet hook or the tip of a knitting needle to calmly and slowly drop the stitches down behind the cable.

4. 
   The stitches will pop in front of the cable when you have dropped them far enough.

   Drop til you pop. Keep dropping stitches until they "pop" out from behind the front cable. Then stop. This may be before your lifeline.

5. 
   Move the cable needle up to the live stitches

   Put the loose stitches on a needle. If you didn't have to drop all the way to your lifeline, move the cable (or double point) up to the loose stitches.

6. 
   Your newly fixed cable. How crafty are you?

   Now, hook 'em! You want to take your crochet hook and grab the first "rung" of the ladder in back (make sure to double check that it is the FIRST rung, it may not be clearly visible from the front) and pick up a stitch for each of the free stitches. You will be holding the loose cable in front and picking up the stitches on each rung. You can do this stitch by stitch (pick up the first stitch all the way to the top and put it on the working needle) or one rung at a time (pick up all three stitches before moving to the next row, putting all three on the working needle when you are finished). Personally, the latter method worked better for me, as the ladder can get pretty tight by that third stitch.
   
   Once you get all the loose stitches back up to the top and on your working needle, sit back, take a long pull off of your beverage of choice and metaphorically pat your crafty self on the back.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a cable or double point needle a size or two smaller than your working needle. It will make it easier to catch stitches.
• Perform all of your repairs flat on a table. It is easy to lose a stitch when your fabric is up in the air.

Resources

• Video on how to pick up stitches with a crochet hook