# Heart Cable



## Pickleft (Jan 15, 2014)

I'm enclosing a picture. Can a cable like this be done on a single bed machine? I've done cables before on my machine and don't find them difficult at all but can't find directions to do one like this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.


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## linalu (Jun 20, 2013)

This would be done with both beds.


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## knitteerli (Jun 3, 2015)

Well, if you want to spend hours hand manipulating the stitches you could certainly do the pattern on the machine and even on a single bed, including the ribbing, bit I'd opt for hand knitting this lovely cable. Some folk love hand manipulating patterns, others are speed freaks. This looks rather complicated to convert without a chart to help, but there are some good books avaialable on hand manipulating stitches. Good luck! You are very brave to even consider doing this pattern on the machine!


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## Pickleft (Jan 15, 2014)

knitteerli said:


> Well, if you want to spend hours hand manipulating the stitches you could certainly do the pattern on the machine and even on a single bed, including the ribbing, bit I'd opt for hand knitting this lovely cable. Some folk love hand manipulating patterns, others are speed freaks. This looks rather complicated to convert without a chart to help, but there are some good books avaialable on hand manipulating stitches. Good luck! You are very brave to even consider doing this pattern on the machine!


I don't mind at all hand manipulating stitches and have a book by Susan Guaglium with a large chapter on cables. But she doesn't cover this one and I haven't been able to find anything on the Internet. Hoping someone has some ideas.


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## Rita in Raleigh (Aug 20, 2011)

linalu said:


> This would be done with both beds.


As Linalu said, this could be done on both beds. I see knit stitches AND purl stitches and cables. You would need a main bed and a ribber and very good charts and cheat sheets, but you COULD do this on a machine.

Knitting on both beds and also doing cables can be difficult and awkward. Don't let the phone ring or don't let anyone disturb you while you are working.

Rita in Raleigh


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## Rita in Raleigh (Aug 20, 2011)

If you mean just the heart part, yes, it could be done on a single bed machine. 

First you knit an extremely long I-cord. Then you plan your sweater on a graph. Draw out where you want the cable to lie (which row and stitch would have the raised design). 

Then as you knit on your single bed, hang the eye cord to match the design of the cable!

Rita in Raleigh


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## Rita in Raleigh (Aug 20, 2011)

For examples see the Diana Sullivan video





or for written directions and ideas look here:

http://alessandrina.com/category/machine-knitting/i_cords/

These should make big bold cables, where ever you place them!

Rita in Raleigh


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## carbar (Dec 15, 2011)

Wow I never knew you could do that. I can think of dozens of designs to put on sweaters using the Icord as mentioned. Thank you Rita


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## Peanut Tinker (Oct 10, 2012)

Rita in Raleigh said:


> If you mean just the heart part, yes, it could be done on a single bed machine.
> 
> First you knit an extremely long I-cord. Then you plan your sweater on a graph. Draw out where you want the cable to lie (which row and stitch would have the raised design).
> 
> ...


What a good idea!!


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## Anouchic (May 14, 2014)

Pickleft said:


> I'm enclosing a picture. Can a cable like this be done on a single bed machine? I've done cables before on my machine and don't find them difficult at all but can't find directions to do one like this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.


Technically, YES, it CAN be done on a single bed. You have to reform all the purl stitches, which will be tedious without a ribber. It is a nice pattern. It is involved. It will require a lot of concentration-good practice for the brain LOL.


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## Pickleft (Jan 15, 2014)

Yes, I've seen the video by Diana Sullivan and had considered using I-cord as a possibility. I guess I wasn't clear in my original question. Does anyone know of a chart or written directions for this type of cable pattern? As you can see from my avatar, I'm not afraid of cables. That sweater was hand knit plus I've done many others over the years both hand knit and machine knit. 

It's just this particular cable pattern I'm having a hard time getting my head around. I'd like to use it on a wedding afghan I'm designing.


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## janeknits2 (Feb 20, 2015)

Without seeing the graph for the heart it, I am seeing traveling stitches. Susan Guagliumi will be a Founders' Fest in July http://www.midwestmachineknitters.org/events/foundersfest/
and I will be begging her to show that technique! Reforming the purl stitches between the cables is no big deal - drop the stitch and latch up - the vertical cable also is a straight cable cross as is the inside cable at the top of the heart. The X 0 cable (hugs & kisses) is in Susan's book. A slow go and lots of hand manipulation but a gorgeous design.


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## jrstuart (Feb 19, 2014)

I made a sincere attempt at this very cable both on the single bed and double bed. 
I made a detailed chart to keep the cable crosses correct (I've included this chart. I may be of some help to someone.)
The problem I encountered was the incredible strain on the needles with the row that 4 sets of 4 stitches crossing.
I tried bridging, dropping the end purl stitches to help the crosses and a few other crazy things I can't remember. I had no luck and I ended up knitting it by hand. 
Some of the cable crosses in this heart are C3BP & C4BP etc. (These are hand knitting abbreviations for cable 3 back purl and cable 4 back purl) Which means you cross two stitches on the back bed and the third stitch gets moved to the ribber to be a purl stitch etc. 
I needed serious therapy after that. HAHA! 
I still think you should give a try. If you have success please let me know.


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## pdljmpr (Dec 16, 2011)

Yay, I will help you to have her show that technique also. Judy


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## Azzara (Jan 23, 2014)

jrstuart said:


> I made a sincere attempt at this very cable both on the single bed and double bed.
> I made a detailed chart to keep the cable crosses correct (I've included this chart. I may be of some help to someone.)
> The problem I encountered was the incredible strain on the needles with the row that 4 sets of 4 stitches crossing.
> I tried bridging, dropping the end purl stitches to help the crosses and a few other crazy things I can't remember. I had no luck and I ended up knitting it by hand.
> ...


Gorgeous work. 
I got a headache just looking at that cable pattern. My hat off to you for figuring it out the chart plus the knitting. To establish yourself as an expert knitter in any knitting group, just show a sample of that cabling. People would go silent in awe. I did.
Would that make a good entry into a competition or fair?


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## Pickleft (Jan 15, 2014)

jrstuart said:


> I made a sincere attempt at this very cable both on the single bed and double bed.
> I made a detailed chart to keep the cable crosses correct (I've included this chart. I may be of some help to someone.)
> The problem I encountered was the incredible strain on the needles with the row that 4 sets of 4 stitches crossing.
> I tried bridging, dropping the end purl stitches to help the crosses and a few other crazy things I can't remember. I had no luck and I ended up knitting it by hand.
> ...


Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!! You've done 2 things for me - charted the absolutely stunning cable combination I was looking for AND convinced me that I don't want to try this on the machine right now cause I'm on a deadline. You can be assured though that I will be trying this when I have more time to play around.

In looking it over earlier with using icord in mind, I was thinking I'd have to have 2 separate icords going to get the effect. For an afghan 5'-6' in length I figured I'd have to make miles of icord. Thankfully, I was only planning that cable to the center panel.

For this particular wedding afghan I'll be sticking to a simpler pattern cause they'll be getting the gift in about a month - not enough time to hand knit what I'm planning.


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## Sit n Knit (Mar 8, 2016)

Beautiful pattern... where can I buy it, please?


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## MaryAnneCutler (Jul 31, 2013)

Re : knitting it by hand, do you mean the row with the multiple cables only and knit the other rows on the machine?

Lovely patterning.


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## jrstuart (Feb 19, 2014)

I forgot to mention that on the heart cable chart I posted, the black arrows represent the stitches that go from the back bed (knit stitches) to the ribber bed and become purl stitches, thus part of the background that makes the heart cable pop out.


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## jrstuart (Feb 19, 2014)

Macon said:


> Re : knitting it by hand, do you mean the row with the multiple cables only and knit the other rows on the machine?
> 
> Lovely patterning.


I'm not sure if you are addressing me but it you are then,
Thank you! 
With that afghan I knit the entire thing by hand. I used very thick yarn and it went rather fast for hand knitting.

However, on an earlier baby blanket I knit a strip of just the single heart cable by hand and then the rest of the blanket by machine and used the "sew as you go" technique with Much! simpler hand manipulated cables on the sides and boarder.


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## Pickleft (Jan 15, 2014)

jrstuart said:


> I'm not sure if you are addressing me but it you are then,
> Thank you!
> With that afghan I knit the entire thing by hand. I used very thick yarn and it went rather fast for hand knitting.
> 
> However, on an earlier baby blanket I knit a strip of just the single heart cable by hand and then the rest of the blanket by machine and used the "sew as you go" technique with Much! simpler hand manipulated cables on the sides and boarder.


Gorgeous! Now I'm wondering how fast I could hand knit the center panel with the hearts and do the rest on the machine. Hmmmmm..... Actually, if I make this their wedding gift and do something else for the shower, I'd have until the middle of June. Possibilities.

I was looking at the "sew as you go" techniques this week and have already planned what I want to do to join the panels (there will be 3). i just hadn't considered hand knitting the center panel but it makes sense.


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## Bellamalis1 (Feb 20, 2013)

This is similar to the Fisherman Knit Sweaters done by Tami Nobiyuki. She uses a
Brother 970 and the garter carriage which does the knits and purls for you. You have to turn the cables by hand every other two rows.....according to her chart. I bought her book and made two of these sweaters. Two years ago I misplaced the second sweater and still haven't found where I put it. I charted out the pattern and it is easy to follow, but I don't plan on making the other 3 or 4 that are in the book. At 84, my brain won't allow that much strain on the cells. Beautiful to look at though.


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## jeffgillies (Nov 25, 2013)

Diane Sullivan shows on her website a video demonstrating a sew-as-you-go technique for joining two panels together with a narrow strip of knitting (4 or 6 stitches wide). Every "X" number of rows, you cross the stitches of this strip so it becomes another cable design element.

Here's the link to the webpage: http://diananatters.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/septembers-technique-video.html


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## alberta cross (Dec 28, 2015)

Pickleft:

Can your give me the pattern, I do not have a knitting machine. Can this be done by needles ?


Thanks for your help.


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## alberta cross (Dec 28, 2015)

do you just have a machine patterns for the cable heart pattern. I would appreciate it if you could tell me if you have a knitted pattern or where I can find it.


thanks very much for your help.


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## Pickleft (Jan 15, 2014)

alberta cross said:


> Pickleft:
> 
> Can your give me the pattern, I do not have a knitting machine. Can this be done by needles ?
> 
> Thanks for your help.


I was simply looking for the directions on how to do the heart cable in the middle on the picture I put up. jrstuart very kindly posted one here. That's all I have. Sorry.


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## SteveD (Aug 14, 2012)

Pickleft said:


> Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!! You've done 2 things for me - charted the absolutely stunning cable combination I was looking for AND convinced me that I don't want to try this on the machine right now cause I'm on a deadline. You can be assured though that I will be trying this when I have more time to play around.
> 
> In looking it over earlier with using icord in mind, I was thinking I'd have to have 2 separate icords going to get the effect. For an afghan 5'-6' in length I figured I'd have to make miles of icord. Thankfully, I was only planning that cable to the center panel.
> 
> For this particular wedding afghan I'll be sticking to a simpler pattern cause they'll be getting the gift in about a month - not enough time to hand knit what I'm planning.


If you are planning to do a lot of icord there is a machine called "Embellish It". I see these on eBay and they are not all that expensive, I find it much faster than on the flat bed. Knit it Now was selling a more robust metal model of this type of machine and it had 5 needles instead of 4 giving a larger diameter icord.

Steve in PA


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## jrstuart (Feb 19, 2014)

alberta cross said:


> Pickleft:
> 
> Can your give me the pattern, I do not have a knitting machine. Can this be done by needles ?
> 
> Thanks for your help.


The afghan in the first picture I posted (the one that was still in progress) was knit completely by hand. It is a variation of Levi's Baby Blanket. Here is a link to the hand knitted pattern which was free from Ravelry. It's by Lindsay Humphrey.
https://knittikins.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/levi-baby-blanket-8x11-cable-chart.pdf 
The center is combination of three heart cables. 
Not being a hand knitter this chart was daunting at first. I broke it down to the pieces I needed and could read easily.

My "chart" is written by rows and does NOT include plain knit or purl "fill in" stitches that I put in between the cables. You can add them to fit the size you need. Each separate cable combination on my chart is written as one single repeat of that particular cable, the 20 stitch Family cable has a 16 row repeat, the 9 stitch braid has an 11 stitch repeat etc.

To hand knit just a single heart cable panel and add it to a machine knitted afghan, just use the "16 stitch Center Heart" part of my pattern chart and add two stitches (or more if you like) to each side for seaming to the machine knitted side panels.

I hope this is helpful. If anyone would like more information. Please feel free to PM and I will offer what ever help I can.


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## Teatime4granny (Apr 4, 2011)

jrstuart said:


> I made a sincere attempt at this very cable both on the single bed and double bed.
> I made a detailed chart to keep the cable crosses correct (I've included this chart. I may be of some help to someone.)
> The problem I encountered was the incredible strain on the needles with the row that 4 sets of 4 stitches crossing.
> I tried bridging, dropping the end purl stitches to help the crosses and a few other crazy things I can't remember. I had no luck and I ended up knitting it by hand.
> ...


Thank you for the pattern, I will have to try that.


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