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Knitting cables is fun and easy, especially when knitting basic braided cables, but it can be fun to know some mock cable knitting patterns, too.
These mock cable designs add a little twist that’s reminiscent of a cable without needing to use a cable needle.
There are a few variations on mock cable knitting patterns, but they are generally variations on ribbing, so they’re fun to add to projects in place of regular ribbing.
Basic Mock Cable Stitch Knitting Patterns
This version of mock cable works on multiples of six stitches. Here’s I’m using 24.
The first row is considered the wrong/back side.
Row 1-3: *Knit 2, purl 2. Repeat from * across.
Row 4: *Skip the first stitch and knit into the back loop of the second stitch, leaving it on the needle, then knit the next stitch and pull both off the left hand needle, purl 2. Repeat from * across.
The photos above show the step by step of that move, and this is what it looks like completed.
In A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, Barbara G. Walker calls this one Tamerna stitch, and as you can see it twists the stitches to the left.
But what you if you want to twist the stitches to the right? That’s even easier. On row 4, skip the first stitch and knit the second stitch as normal, leaving it on the needle.
Knit the stitch you skipped and pull both off the left hand needle. Then purl 2 and repeat across.
You can see here using both in the same swatch that the bottom one twists to the left and the top to the right.
Mock Cable Rib Stitch
Walker also offers a pattern she calls the mock cable rib, which is worked on multiples of 5 plus 2 stitches, so I have 22 stitches here. This is similar to the mock cable leaning to the left above, just worked over more stitches.
Instead of a 2×2 rib, this is a 2×3 rib, and again the first row is considered the wrong/back side.
Rows 1 and 3: Knit 2, *purl 3, knit 2. Repeat from * across.
Row 2: Purl 2, *knit 3, purl 3. Repeat from * across.
Row 4: Purl 2, *skip 2 stitches and take the needle into the third stitch as if to knit, swing the needle to the back to knit the stitch, and as you pull it off the needle take it up and over the other two stitches, leaving them on the needle, then knit those 2 stitches, purl 2. Repeat from * across.
Here’s that in photos, but I felt like a video can show this better than I can say it in words.
On this heavier yarn I definitely prefer the original mock cable knitting patterns over this one, but it’s still fun to know the variations and try them out in patterns.
Have you ever knit a mock cable before? I’d love to know what you used it for!
