I have just run across the cable stitch I am using in my Toasty. I initially plucked it out of a vintage knitting pattern I found at a charity shop on the Isle of Wight this summer, but didn’t know what it was called.
Get this – it is called ‘Little Pearl’! What a coincidence!
I am referring to the singular cable, for all I know, multiples might have another name,yet!
It is a super simple cable:
Row 1 lt, rt (left twist, right twist)
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: rt, lt (right twist, left twist)
Row 4: Purl
Here is something kind of interesting…if you do it on a purl ground (or with a purl before the cable, as I am above) it is also sometimes called the ‘Raised Circle’ cable. Wonder if this was just someone in the past naming it as a new stitch, without realising it had already been named?
Here is the difference:
Little Pearl/Raised Circle below
Click on Johnny Vasquez’s image above to view a video from New Stitch a Day demonstrating the stitch (breathe deeply through all the ads!).
Here it is butt up against each other, with no spacing in between, which causes a honeycombe effect and called ‘Ray of Honey’:
There are some great stitches and video demos on this site where these last 3 images are from. Definitely check it out! There are some great interviews with designers, as well.
I am definitely turning into a stitch nerd. It is so fascinating being able to deconstruct stitches and figure out how they are made…and contemplate how you could do something different with them.
Nerd-o-rama.
From the Purl Side 
Wow, I really like the look of this pattern. My favourite is the blue sample. I can see how easy it would be to become a stitch nerd. I’m looking forward to trying out more of them 🙂
It is so interesting. Especially when you start thinking about the history of stitch patterns…how people used to carry around these sampler books and write down their experiments with stitches. I ran across a blog of someone who had found one and was recreating the stitch samples! So cool.
Also, the fact that stitch charts sort of transcend language. If you know the ‘code’ of the symbols anyone from anywhere can recreate the pattern. Like all the japanese pattern books that are cropping up.
Love it.
Well, it sounds even more interesting when you put it that way! How’d you do that? 😛
Hah! Think it was the ‘Bullshit 101’ class I took in first year….he he he…;)