Cable help?

[Fenhir Noble]

I'm learning to make cables, but I'm having a hard time making them look nice.
I see pics and videos and they look like rope (all nice and rounded), mine are flat and bumpy. I also saw a video on knittinghelp.com and she can effortlessly cross the strands and can knit off the cable needles with ease. When I do that, it's all tight and very hard to knit off the cable needle (when I knit the "first" stitches). When I do cross the strands, am I supposed to pull the yarn tight right befrore I knit the last (soon to be the first) stitches?

For the bumpyness, I think I have trouble with the transition to purl after I knit the cable. The right side of the cable looks alright, but the left side looks flat because the stitch is loose I think.












 

[Tinuvial]

Everything looks right here. I think what you're seeing is just an artifact of having such a thin swatch. Try putting some extra stitches on the outside (and maybe flank the cable with 3 purls instead of 2). Also a quick soak and dry will help to even up lose stitches - though I really am not seeing those.

Knitting from the cable needle generally does feel tight if it's a new technique or if you're cabling over lots of stitches. I've noticed that I can do up to 3 stitches held to the front or back without feeling strained - but any more than that and it gets tough! That 5-stitch cable is a rough one! The more stitches your cable has the deeper it will be - that's why it's "bumpy." If there are lots of stitches to my cable I will use a cable needle that is slightly smaller (in diameter) than the working needle to give a little extra room to stretch.

A great starter project for cable work is the Besotted Scarf from Hello Yarn - it teaches you cabling front and back and really mixes things up for a neat effect.

Finally, are you using an acrylic yarn? They don't have the same flexibility as animal fibers. I generally prefer the wooly stuff for textured work.

Honestly, this cable looks great, but if you're not happy with it keep working on it. Good luck!  

[Chaotic_Mind]

Momo wants it to be Halloween already,

Truthfully I think your cables are gorgeous. When I do cables I have the same tightness issue but I believe it has something to do with the actual swapping of the stitches, not your tension, just keep at it!

And you should too...