Twisted Stitches

I am apparently very late to the twisted stitch party.  All the way through my first sock I dutifully slipped stitches off my needle, put them back on in the order they were crossed and then knitted them.  It wasn’t until this morning when I was flipping through a stitch dictionary did I notice that these one-stitch cables were actually called twisted stitches and they could be performed without taking any stitches off the needles!  Who would’ve thunk it?

So, I had my youngest daughter take some pictures of an easier way to perform this feat.  Her photography is a little on the amateurish side, so forgive some of the fuzzy pictures.  If you have a better way to perform this task, please let me know!

Note:  I’m showing you here how to twist stitches while color stranding.  If you are only using one color, substitute your single color for both the main color and contrasting color in the following instructions.

Here’s the spill on how I’m now accomplishing the task:

Twist 2 Right:

This crosses the left knit stitch over the right purl stitch

1.  Knit the 2nd st on the needle, passing in front of the 1st st. (With main color) Do not slip any stitches off of left needle yet!
2.  Knit into the front leg of the 1st stitch. (With contrast color)
3. Slip both stitches off left needle together.

Twist 2 Left:

This crosses the right knit stitch over the left purl stitch

1.  Knit into the back of the 2nd st on the needle, passing behind the 1st st. (with contrast color)  Do not slip any stitches off of left needle yet!
2.  Knit into the front leg of the 1st stitch. (with main color)
3. Slip both stitches off left needle together.

Cross 2 Left:

This crosses the right knit stitch over the left knit stitch

1.  Knit into the back of the 2nd st on the needle, passing in front of the 1st st. (with main color)  Do not slip any stitches off of left needle yet!
2.  Knit into the front leg of the 1st stitch. (with main color)
3. Slip both stitches off left needle together.

This on-the-needles technique is so much simpler than the traditional cable technique!  You all probably already knew about this nifty trick but for me it was a revelation.  🙂