WIP: Cabled Tunisian Stitches

I started a nice cozy, squishy shawl/scarf/wrap for the winter, went with a Tunisian stitch to try to make it a little bit different. But by row 5 I was already thinking, "this is going to be a lot of the same rows," and wondered what else I could do to add a little something, some design, some stitch feature.  I've seen a few nice knitted wraps that have a lace design along one side and that's what I wanted.  I considered pulling it out and starting over again in regular stitches so I could get something fancy along the edge.

And then, the crochet fairies dropped the latest Interweave Crochet in my mailbox.  And ta-da there's a sweater with cabled Tunisian stitches.  Thus began my first experiment with this little twist on Tunisian crochet.

I've worked cables and twists before, so I understood the stitch construction; now, it was the "how" part, which, actually turned out to be pretty simple using the clear, step-by-step instructions from Kim Guzman.

Tunisian stitches for the forward pass

The return pass - move the stitches for the cable

On the return pass, you take (in this pattern) 6 stitches off the main hook, put the 3 closest to the hook on a second hook (or stitch holder), return the remaining 3 to the main hook, and then replace the other 3 from the second hook.  You'll do this twice, for each side of the cable.  Whether those stitches on the second hook are brought forwards or backwards determines the direction of the cable.  This is the part where you have to pay attention or your cables could end up turning the wrong way.

Return pass after moving the stitch loops

After you've moved the stitch loops, you're back to a regular return pass.  Kim Guzman in Interweave recommends stitching a single chain in the middle of the cabled stitches, i.e. after 3 stitches, to make it raise up more from the fabric.

This was a good find, I like it.  And it makes what would've been a hundred rows of the same ole' stitch a bit more interesting.

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