While I was working on the hat for last Friday’s post, I made a mistake with the cables.  I got to a row, ready to work a set of twists, and realized that there was a mistake in the last set of cables - two rows back.  Now, the hat is 34 stitches wide so frogging wouldn’t have been the end of the world.  But what if this had been in the middle of a sweater or a blanket?

This is a somewhat finicky process - but if you don’t try to rush yourself, it’s do-able.  It depends on what your comfort level is.  Me, I’d rather not frog if at all possible. 

Note:  This doesn’t address the issue of spotting a mis-crossed cable in a finished piece of work.  For that, go to Judy Gibson’s tip.  While you’re there, read the rest of her knitting pages - the creative mind in action.  I’ve learned a lot from Judy’s generous sharing of her musings and experiments.

Okay, back to the cable problem! 

Wonky Cable Crossing

See the line that starts in the southeast part of the circle?  It moves up towards the northwest under the stitches above it and then proceeds in the same direction and goes under the next line of cable stitches as well.  It should, of course, have gone over that last set.

As I noticed this mistake when I was starting the row, I worked to the point where those 4 stitches became available.

Working over to the problem spot

We are going to drop all four of these stitches back to the mistake, uncross them, re-cross them correctly and work them back up to the current row.

Moving the stitches

First, slip these four stitches over onto the right hand needle.  Don’t twist them, just slide them from the left needle to the right.

Dropping the first stitch

Remove the first stitch from the right hand needle and drop it down two rows.  When you have done that, insert a DPN into the stitch to keep it under control until you have dropped the other three stitches.  Then do the same with the remaining three stitches.

All four stitches dropped

Here, all four stitches have been dropped and you can see them, still crossed incorrectly, on the DPN.  Note the two loops of yarn behind the needle - those are the two rows we’ve dropped the stitches through.

The next step is to uncross the stitches.  You can do this in whatever way is most comfortable to you.  I generally just use my fingers.  Here, you could use your thumb and forefinger to pinch the stitches just below the needle.  Pinch firmly; you’re going to pull the needle out and you don’t want those stitches going anywhere!  Now, remove the DPN.

Insert the DPN, from right to left, into the two stitches on the right.  Slide the needle through almost all the way and then insert the other end, from left to right into the remaining two stitches (you may have to shift your “pinching” fingers a bit).  Bingo!  Now you have four, un-crossed stitches!

Uncrossed stitches

Now we need to re-cross the stitches the right way.  Probably the easiest way to do this is with a cable needle (though if you’re familiar with the cabling-without-a-cable-needle process, you can do it that way too).  Insert the cable needle into the first two stitches on the left hand side of the DPN.  Remove them from the DPN.

Move the cable needle (and its stitches) behind the DPN to the right.  Then transfer the two stitches on the cable needle back to the DPN.  They should now be on the right hand side.  The wonky cable cross has now been corrected.  All we have to do now, is work the stitches back up to the current row.

Re-crossing the stitches

Your friend, the crochet hook

Insert a crochet hook into the first stitch as shown and remove it from the DPN.  Make sure all the other stitches are secure on the DPN.  Then, using the crochet hook, pull through a loop from the loop of the yarn nearest your hook (this is the yarn you released when you dropped the stitches).  Then pull another loop through from the next loop of released yarn and place the resulting stitch on your original right hand needle.  Do the same for the three remaining stitches on the DPN.

Then slip the four stitches (the corrected cable) back to the left hand needle - and you’re ready to carry on!  You may want to tug gently on the fabric to get these re-worked stitches even and straight if necessary.

Corrected cable

This all sounds a lot more complicated than it really is.  Once you’ve done it a couple of times, it’s really very easy.  Of course you probably won’t need to do it very often - God knows I don’t (watching my nose, like Pinocchio’s, grow to an astounding length!) but it’s a useful trick anyway :)

And there you have it!  You’ve fixed your cable and didn’t need to resort to the frog pond to do it!  Pat yourself on the back and go have a glass of wine.