Quip: a free cable knitting stitch pattern

Last week’s cable experiment wasn’t a success, but it gave me an idea for how to more reliably encode words as cables: work with narrower charts.

I quickly sketched out about ten possible narrow word charts in my graph paper notebook, and found that a large majority of them were feasible as cables. Success! However, it’s still most practical for short words.

In celebration, here is quip as a cable, encoded in base 3 and then charted with my method 1.

Quip: a free cable knitting stitch pattern, by Naomi Parkhurst

 quip

Notes:

  • This is a stitch pattern such as might be found in a stitch dictionary. This is not a pattern for a finished object. You will need to add selvedges or some other form of knitted stitches to either side.
  • Quip is a multiple of 8+10 stitches and 44+2 rows.
  • I’ve made a stitch map for it.
  • Designers, please feel free to use it in your patterns. I’d like credit but won’t be offended if people don’t give it.
  • If you like my posts like this, please consider supporting me on Patreon or donating with my Paypal tip jar in the sidebar. Thanks!

Abbreviations:

  • 1/1 LC: Slip next stitch to cable needle and place at front of work, knit 1, then knit 1 from cable needle.
  • 1/1 LPC: Slip next stitch to cable needle and place at front of work, purl 1, then knit 1 from cable needle.
  • 1/1 RC: Slip next stitch to cable needle and place at back of work, knit 1, then knit 1 from cable needle.
  • 1/1 RPC: Slip next stitch to cable needle and place at back of work, knit 1, then purl 1 from cable needle.
  • k: knit.
  • p: purl.

Row 1 (RS): k1, p1, 1/1 LC, p2, *(1/1 LC, p2) x 2; work from *, 1/1 LC, p1, k1. [18 sts]
Row 2 (WS): p1, 1/1 LPC, p1, *k2, p1, 1/1 RPC, 1/1 LPC, p1; work from *, k2, p1, 1/1 RPC, p1.
Row 3: 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2, *k1, p1, 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2; work from *, k1, p1, 1/1 RC.
Row 4: p1, 1/1 RPC, p1, *k2, p1, 1/1 LPC, 1/1 RPC, p1; work from *, k2, p1, 1/1 LPC, p1.
Row 5: k1, p1, 1/1 LC, p2, *(1/1 LC, p2) x 2; work from *, 1/1 LC, p1, k1.
Row 6: p1, k1, p1, 1/1 RPC, *1/1 LPC, p1, k2, p1, 1/1 RPC; work from *, 1/1 LPC, p1, k1, p1.
Row 7: (k1, p1) x 2, 1/1 RC, *p1, k1, p2, k1, p1, 1/1 RC; work from *, (p1, k1) x 2.
Row 8: (p1, k1) x 2, *p2, k1, p1, k2, p1, k1; work from *, p2, (k1, p1) x 2.
Row 9: (k1, p1) x 2, 1/1 RC, *p1, k1, p2, k1, p1, 1/1 RC; work from *, (p1, k1) x 2.
Row 10: p1, k1, p1, 1/1 LPC, *1/1 RPC, p1, k2, p1, 1/1 LPC; work from *, 1/1 RPC, p1, k1, p1.
Row 11: k1, p1, 1/1 LC, p2, *(1/1 LC, p2) x 2; work from *, 1/1 LC, p1, k1.
Row 12: p1, k1, p1, 1/1 RPC, *1/1 LPC, p1, k2, p1, 1/1 RPC; work from *, 1/1 LPC, p1, k1, p1.
Row 13: (k1, p1) x 2, 1/1 RC, *p1, k1, p2, k1, p1, 1/1 RC; work from *, (p1, k1) x 2.
Row 14: p1, k1, p1, 1/1 LPC, *1/1 RPC, p1, k2, p1, 1/1 LPC; work from *, 1/1 RPC, p1, k1, p1.
Row 15: k1, p1, 1/1 LC, p2, *(1/1 LC, p2) x 2; work from *, 1/1 LC, p1, k1.
Row 16: p1, 1/1 LPC, p1, *k2, p1, 1/1 RPC, 1/1 LPC, p1; work from *, k2, p1, 1/1 RPC, p1.
Row 17: 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2, *k1, p1, 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2; work from *, k1, p1, 1/1 RC.
Row 18: p2, k1, p1, *k2, p1, k1, p2, k1, p1; work from *, k2, p1, k1, p2.
Row 19: 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2, *k1, p1, 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2; work from *, k1, p1, 1/1 RC.
Row 20: p2, k1, p1, *k2, p1, k1, p2, k1, p1; work from *, k2, p1, k1, p2.
Row 21: 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2, *k1, p1, 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2; work from *, k1, p1, 1/1 RC.
Row 22: p1, 1/1 RPC, p1, *k2, p1, 1/1 LPC, 1/1 RPC, p1; work from *, k2, p1, 1/1 LPC, p1.
Row 23: k1, p1, 1/1 LC, p2, *(1/1 LC, p2) x 2; work from *, 1/1 LC, p1, k1.
Row 24: p1, 1/1 LPC, p1, *k2, p1, 1/1 RPC, 1/1 LPC, p1; work from *, k2, p1, 1/1 RPC, p1.
Row 25: 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2, *k1, p1, 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2; work from *, k1, p1, 1/1 RC.
Row 26: p2, k1, p1, *k2, p1, k1, p2, k1, p1; work from *, k2, p1, k1, p2.
Row 27: 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2, *k1, p1, 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2; work from *, k1, p1, 1/1 RC.
Row 28: p2, k1, p1, *k2, p1, k1, p2, k1, p1; work from *, k2, p1, k1, p2.
Row 29: 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2, *k1, p1, 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2; work from *, k1, p1, 1/1 RC.
Row 30: p1, 1/1 RPC, p1, *k2, p1, 1/1 LPC, 1/1 RPC, p1; work from *, k2, p1, 1/1 LPC, p1.
Row 31: k1, p1, 1/1 LC, p2, *(1/1 LC, p2) x 2; work from *, 1/1 LC, p1, k1.
Row 32: p1, k1, p1, 1/1 RPC, *1/1 LPC, p1, k2, p1, 1/1 RPC; work from *, 1/1 LPC, p1, k1, p1.
Row 33: (k1, p1) x 2, 1/1 RC, *p1, k1, p2, k1, p1, 1/1 RC; work from *, (p1, k1) x 2.
Row 34: p1, k1, p1, 1/1 LPC, *1/1 RPC, p1, k2, p1, 1/1 LPC; work from *, 1/1 RPC, p1, k1, p1.
Row 35: k1, p1, 1/1 LC, p2, *(1/1 LC, p2) x 2; work from *, 1/1 LC, p1, k1.
Row 36: p1, k1, p1, 1/1 RPC, *1/1 LPC, p1, k2, p1, 1/1 RPC; work from *, 1/1 LPC, p1, k1, p1.
Row 37: (k1, p1) x 2, 1/1 RC, *p1, k1, p2, k1, p1, 1/1 RC; work from *, (p1, k1) x 2.
Row 38: (p1, k1) x 2, *p2, k1, p1, k2, p1, k1; work from *, p2, (k1, p1) x 2.
Row 39: (k1, p1) x 2, 1/1 RC, *p1, k1, p2, k1, p1, 1/1 RC; work from *, (p1, k1) x 2.
Row 40: p1, k1, p1, 1/1 LPC, *1/1 RPC, p1, k2, p1, 1/1 LPC; work from *, 1/1 RPC, p1, k1, p1.
Row 41: k1, p1, 1/1 LC, p2, *(1/1 LC, p2) x 2; work from *, 1/1 LC, p1, k1.
Row 42: p1, 1/1 LPC, p1, *k2, p1, 1/1 RPC, 1/1 LPC, p1; work from *, k2, p1, 1/1 RPC, p1.
Row 43: 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2, *k1, p1, 1/1 RC, p1, k1, p2; work from *, k1, p1, 1/1 RC.
Row 44: p1, 1/1 RPC, p1, *k2, p1, 1/1 LPC, 1/1 RPC, p1; work from *, k2, p1, 1/1 LPC, p1.

Repeat rows 1-44 as desired, ending with

Row 45: k1, p1, 1/1 LC, p2, *(1/1 LC, p2) x 2; work from *, 1/1 LC, p1, k1.
Row 46: p1, k1, p2, *(k2, p2) x 2; work from *, k2, p2, k1, p1.

If you don’t want to knit cables on wrong side rows, here’s a chart for a variation with only knit and purl on the wrong side:

quip plainer wrong side
click to enlarge

It is twice as tall because I’ve added an extra row between each cable row; it will stretch the effect vertically. I’m not including written instructions.

Encoding explanation for the curious:

The first thing I did was to turn the letters of quip into numbers, using base 3: 122 210 100 121.

Then I laid out the numbers on a grid, like this:

quip encoding explanation

Rows 1-3 are the letter q, starting at the bottom: 122. Rows 4-6 are the letter u, continuing upward: 210, and so on for 100 and 121. Then I divided the resulting grid up, because each 1/1 cable cross requires 2 stitches and 2 rows (the wrong side rows are hidden in this explanatory chart, but implied by the row numbers). Finally, I mirrored the chart and repeated it so I could put in the appropriate repeat borders. (I also mirrored it vertically, but I didn’t show that here to save space.)

All encoded letters are indicated in the final chart with 1/1 RC and LC cables – the spots where knit stitches cross other knit stitches. Once that was all done, I incorporated 1/1 RPC and LPC cables to tie everything together in an interesting pattern; these cable stitches are not part of the code.