Starting & Finishing Cabled Motifs

I was recently contacted by a lovely knitter who was puzzled about knitting my hat pattern, Anchors & Ropes. I was able to help her through email but it occurred to me that others might find a little photo-tutorial a useful thing when knitting the anchors. And there'll be a knotwork motif in my Countess Cathleen that you haven't seen as yet. Considering I've only just recently finished knitting the hood ;)

I learned to knit knotwork cabled motifs from Alice Starmore's brilliant books "The Celtic Collection" and "Aran Knitting". And while the anchor in my Anchors & Ropes hat came from a stitch dictionary published in around 2005 (I knit the original Anchors & Ropes hat in the fall of 2009), it uses pretty well the same method put forward by AS. This has continued to be the way I start, and end, motifs that need this rounded shaping.

Enough background! Let's jump into how to start a motif.

I'm working with worsted weight yarn on size 4.5mm (US7) needles for both sections of this tutorial. The knotwork shown is a swatch for my Countess Cathleen pattern; the final pattern may not look the same. I haven't decided which of my knot motifs I like best. I've only created five possibilities for this design ;) 

(For knitting in rounds, you'll need to knit where it says purl in steps 3 and 4 of the starting a motif section.)

Starting a motif:

Step 1:

Work to where the pattern says to start your motif.

Step 2:

In the next stitch, you'll work 3 stitches. First by knitting into the back and then the front of the stitch:

Then by knitting into the vertical line that sits on top of those  2 stitches:

Here's the 3 sts completed:

Step 3:

In the next row, purl the first new stitch, work (purl, yarnover, purl) into the second new stitch, and purl the third new stitch:

Step 4:

On the next row, work the stitches as the pattern tells you, remembering to purl the yarnover through its back loop to twist it and avoid a hole:

And there you have two 2-stitch strands to work your cables from. The anchor motif I used in Anchors & Ropes has a pair of additional increases on either side of the first 1-into-3 stitch, which are knit on the next round; the anchor's arms are made of 3 stitches rather than 2. A slight variation that shouldn't cause you any pause.

Ok, now how do you close up those stitches that you've added into the fabric of your knitting? You could decrease them away over a few rows, but if you're working a knotwork motif it won't resemble the beginning.

Ending your motif:

Step 1:

Look at the stitches of your motif; you have 5 needing to be reduced down to 1. I've numbered them for you in this photo:

Note that stitch 3 is a purl stitch between the two pairs of stitches that have been the strands in your motif. 

Step 2:

Slip stitches 1, 2, and 3 to the right needle, purlwise (don't twist stitch 3 throughout this process):

Step 3:

Lift stitch 2 up and over stitch 3, letting it drop off the needle as if you cast it off:

Step 4:

Slip stitch 3 back to the left needle:

Step 5:

Lift stitch 4 up and over stitch 3, letting it drop off the needle:

Step 6:

Slip stitch 3 back to the right needle:

Step 7:

Lift stitch 1 up and over stitch 3, letting it drop off the needle:

Step 8:

Slip stitch 3 back to the left needle:

Step 9:

Lift stitch 5 up and over stitch 3, letting it drop off the needle:

Step 10:

Purl stitch 3:

Ta-da! Your decrease is complete, and the top of your motif has a similar rounded shape to the bottom of it.

If your motif has more stitches per strand, alternate passing stitches over the center stitch until all of the strand stitches are gone.

I hope this helps you with the start and end of these types of cabled motifs! They're so much fun to knit :)

Yours in yarn and woolly knotwork motifs,

Síle