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learn to knit cables without a cable needle

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Learn how you can quickly and easily knit cables without a cable needle with this easy-to-follow photo tutorial.

image of different knit items with cable patterns. Includes taupe mittens, a grey hat, a pink hat, and a green sweater.

I have been spending a ton of time lately knitting up a cabled sweater.

If you are like me, you love the look of cable knits but don’t like fiddling with a cable needle. Having to stop, grab another needle, and move all the stitches slows things down quite a bit for me. 

Luckily, you don’t have to use a third needle for cable knitting. Let me show you how!

Jump ahead

Two stitch left-leaning cable/cable two front (C2F)

Two stitch right-leaning cable/cable two back (C2B)

Four stitch left-leaning cable/cable four front (C4F)

Four stitch right-leaning cable/cable four back (C4B)

Six stitch left-leaning cable/cable six front (C6F)

Six stitch right-leaning cable/cable six back (C6B)

Things to consider when using the no cable needle technique

There are a few things you need to think about to make sure your cables will be successful.

Number of stitches per cable 

Using the no-cable needle method works best with smaller cables. If you are trying to work a ten-stitch cable, this technique won’t work very well.

​Knitting needle sharpness

Needles with a long, sharp point will work best. That way you can easily slip multiple stitches at once. 

​Type of yarn

Delicate yarns or specialty yarns (I’m looking at you mohair) can make things difficult. A sturdy yarn works best.

How do you knit cables without a cable needle?

The basic idea of this cable needle-free technique is to use your right-hand needle to pick up the second half of the cable stitches. Then all the stitches for the cable slide off of the left-hand needle and the left-hand needle quickly picks up the first half of the cable stitches that are left free. 

The factors that determine how the final cable will look depend on how many stitches are picked up and whether the right-hand needle picks up stitches on the front or the back of the work. 

I knit continental style (with the working yarn in my left hand), but this technique works no matter what knitting style you prefer!

Two stitch left-leaning cable/cable two front (C2F)

white knitted fabric with cables. A small cable on the right with left leaning stitches is circled and the photo is labeled two stitch left leaning cable.

Using the right-hand needle, slip the second stitch on the left-hand needle purl-wise, from the wrong side of the work. 

close up of dark wood knitting needles picking up one stitch from the back of the work labeled pick up from the back.

Gently slide the next 2 stitches off of the left needle. The second stitch will be on the right needle, and the first stitch will be loose.

close up of wood knitting needles with one stitch hanging loose labeled loose stitch.

Quickly pick up the loose stitch purl-wise with the left-hand needle. 

close up of dark wood knitting needles picking up one loose stitch labeled pick up the loose stitch.

Slip the stitch that was picked up by the right-hand needle back onto the left-hand needle purl-wise. 

close up of dark wood knitting needles moving one stitch from the right needle to the left needle to complete the cable. Image is labeled pass stitch from right to left needle.

Knit the two cable stitches. 

Two stitch right-leaning cable/cable two back (C2B)

white knitted fabric with a small right leaning cable motif circled. Image labeled two stitch right leaning cable.

Using the right-hand needle, slip the second stitch on the left-hand needle purl-wise, from the right side of the work. 

close up of dark wood knitting needles picking up one stitch from the front of the work labeled pick up from the front.

Slide the next 2 stitches off of the left needle. The second stitch will be on the right needle, and the first stitch will be loose.

close up of dark wood knitting needle tips with one loose stitch. image labeled loose stitch.

Quickly pick up the loose stitch purl-wise with the left-hand needle. 

close up of dark wood knitting needle picking up loose stitch. image labeled pick up loose stitch.

Slip the stitch that was picked up by the right-hand needle back onto the left-hand needle purl-wise.

close up of dark wood knitting needles with white yarn after having moved stitch from right knitting needle to the left. Image is labeled pass stitch from right to left needle.

Knit the two cable stitches. 

Tip: Cabling with no cable needle is the opposite of cabling with a cable needle. If you would normally work a cable with the cabling needle in front of your work, you will pick up stitches with the right-hand needle from the back. If you would normally work a cable with the cabling needle held to the back of your work, you will pick up from the front.

Four stitch left-leaning cable/cable four front (C4F)

white knitted fabric with medium left leaning cable motif circled. Image labeled four stitch left-leaning cable.

Using the right-hand needle, slip the third and fourth stitches on the left-hand needle purl-wise, from the wrong side of the work. 

close up of dark wood knitting needles picking up two stitches from the back of the work labeled pick up stitches from the back.

Gently slide the next 4 stitches off of the left needle. The third and fourth stitches will be on the right needle, and the first and second stitches will be loose.

close up of white knitted fabric on dark wood knitting needles with two loose stitches labeled loose stitches.

Quickly pick up the loose stitches purl-wise with the left-hand needle. 

white knitted fabric on dark wood knitting needles showing the two loose stitches from previous image being picked up by left hand needle. Image is labeled pick up stitches.

Slip the stitches that were picked up by the right-hand needle back onto the left-hand needle purl-wise.

white knitted fabric on dark wood knitting needles with all four stitches for left leaning cable on the left hand needle. Image labeled pass stitches from right to left needle.

Knit the four cable stitches. 

Four stitch right-leaning cable/cable four back (C4B)

white knit fabric with medium right leaning cable circled. Image labeled four stitch right leaning cable.

Using the right-hand needle, slip the third and fourth stitches on the left-hand needle purl-wise, from the right side of the work. 

close up of dark wood knitting needles picking up two stitches from the front of the work labeled pick up stitches from the front.

Gently slide the next 4 stitches off of the left needle. The third and fourth stitches will be on the right needle, and the first and second stitches will be loose.

close up of white knitted fabric on dark wood knitting needles with two loose stitches behind the right hand needle. Image labeled loose stitches.

Quickly pick up the loose stitches purl-wise with the left-hand needle. 

image of white knitted fabric on dark wood knitting needles with the left hand needle picking up two stitches for cable. Image labeled pick up loose stitches.

Slip the stitches that were picked up by the right-hand needle back onto the left-hand needle purl-wise.

close up of dark wood knitting needles passing one stitch from the right needle to the left. Image labeled move stitches from right to left needle.

Knit the four cable stitches. 

Six stitch left-leaning cable/cable six front (C6F)

white knitted fabric with large left leaning cable circled. Image labeled six stitch left leaning cable.

Using the right-hand needle, slip the fourth, fifth, and sixth stitches on the left-hand needle purl-wise, from the back side of the work. 

close up of dark wood knitting needles picking up three stitches from the back of the work labeled pick up from the back.

Gently slide the next 6 stitches off of the left needle. The fourth, fifth, and sixth stitches will be on the right needle, and the first, second, and third stitches will be loose.

white knitted fabric on dark wood knitting needles with three loose stitches. Image labeled loose stitches.

Quickly pick up the loose stitches purl-wise with the left-hand needle. 

image of white knitting on dark wood knitting needles with three stitches on the tip of the left hand needle that were picked up to form a cable. Image labeled pick up loose stitches.

Slip the stitches that were picked up by the right-hand needle back onto the left-hand needle purl-wise.

close up of dark wood knitting needles with white yarn moving stitches from the right needle to the left. image labeled move stitches from right to left needle.

Knit the six cable stitches. 

Six stitch right-leaning cable/cable six back (C6B)

white knitted fabric with large right leaning cable circled. Image labeled six stitch right leaning cable.

Using the right-hand needle, slip the fourth, fifth, and sixth stitches on the left-hand needle purl-wise, from the right side of the work. 

close up of dark wood knitting needles picking up three stitches from the back of the work labeled pick up stitches from the back.

Gently slide the next 6 stitches off of the left needle. The fourth, fifth, and sixth stitches will be on the right needle, and the first, second, and third stitches will be loose.

white knitted fabric on dark wood knitting needles with three loose stitches behind the right needle. Image labeled loose stitches.

Quickly pick up the loose stitches purl-wise with the left-hand needle. 

image of white knitting on dark wood knitting needles with three stitches picked up by the left hand needle behind the right needle. Image labeled pick up loose stitches.

Slip the stitches that were picked up by the right-hand needle back onto the left-hand needle purl-wise. 

close up of moving three white yarn stitches from the right knitting needle to the left. Image labeled move stitches form right to left needle.

Knit the six cable stitches. 

Give it a try!

This technique makes knitting cables go much faster and more fun. I have used it for knitting socks, sweaters, hats, and more. Anywhere there are small cables I skip the cable needle and just keep going!

I hope you give this technique a try. The whole process of cable knitting gets so much faster when you don’t have to reach for an extra needle. 

It will be scary to have loose live stitches the first time but once you’ve tried it, you’ll see why I love to knit cables without a cable needle!

close up of white knit fabric with different size cables.

If you would like to see more knitting, click here.

What knitting techniques do you want to learn? Let me know in the comments below!

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