What do you think?
Rate this book
Norah Gaughan’s Knitted Cable Sourcebook: A Breakthrough Guide to Knitting with Cables and Designing Your Own
This guide for the modern knitter presents more than 150 new and innovative cable stitch patterns ranging from basic to complex and offers enlightening insight into how cables are engineered, how knitters can design their own, and how knitters can mix and match cables in a knitting pattern. Teacher, author, and master knitter Norah Gaughan shares her design principles and offers clear cable-making instruction throughout, always in a conversational, easy-to-understand voice that proceeds naturally, as one cable idea leads to the next. Master the art of cable knitting, then test your newfound skills with the 15 garment patterns for wraps, sweaters, and accessories.
Also available from Norah Gaughan: Knitting Nature,Comfort Knitting and Crochet: Afghans and Comfort Knitting, and Crochet: Babies and Toddlers.
Also available from Norah Gaughan: Knitting Nature,Comfort Knitting and Crochet: Afghans and Comfort Knitting, and Crochet: Babies and Toddlers.
276 pages, Hardcover
Published October 11, 2016
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
December 18, 2016
An *incredibly* helpful stitch compendium that includes stockinette stitch equivalents for every cable and has an excellent discussion of the anatomy of cables, is inspiring in the way it combines cabling with texture and openwork, and has truly impressive charts that are a sheer labor of love. Gaughan is really smart about the way that cables affect gauge, and the way they riff off themselves. She clearly loves her subject in a way that just delights me as a knitting geek.
The cons are: there's a glaringly awful copyediting mistake that switches "knit" and "purl" in the key to the first example chart used in her otherwise excellent tutorial on how to read her charts *and* it's repeated in the second chart, as well. I had to stare at it for a long time because the text and the key were so at odds with each other (and the key was also at odds with the intuitive way to read the chart) and I've been knitting from charts for 30-odd years. It would be hard to come up with a worse mistake for throwing a novice chart reader. I'm sure this should be laid at the foot of the publishers, rather than blamed on Gaughan, so I'm not taking stars off, but it's so bad it needs to be mentioned.
The second con is that the included garment patterns are lackluster, but maybe they're helpful for people who aren't already comfortable designing their own pieces. I see some other reviewers liked them, so, again, I'm not taking stars off for them, but to me they were a distraction: at its heart, this book wants to teach you how to design your own cable patterns, and it's really, really good at that, but it would have been an even better resource for designers if all of its pages had been devoted to MOAR CABLES.
The cons are: there's a glaringly awful copyediting mistake that switches "knit" and "purl" in the key to the first example chart used in her otherwise excellent tutorial on how to read her charts *and* it's repeated in the second chart, as well. I had to stare at it for a long time because the text and the key were so at odds with each other (and the key was also at odds with the intuitive way to read the chart) and I've been knitting from charts for 30-odd years. It would be hard to come up with a worse mistake for throwing a novice chart reader. I'm sure this should be laid at the foot of the publishers, rather than blamed on Gaughan, so I'm not taking stars off, but it's so bad it needs to be mentioned.
The second con is that the included garment patterns are lackluster, but maybe they're helpful for people who aren't already comfortable designing their own pieces. I see some other reviewers liked them, so, again, I'm not taking stars off for them, but to me they were a distraction: at its heart, this book wants to teach you how to design your own cable patterns, and it's really, really good at that, but it would have been an even better resource for designers if all of its pages had been devoted to MOAR CABLES.
May 14, 2019
Ich liebe gestrickte Zöpfe
Ich stelle dir heute ein Buch über gestrickte Zöpfe vor. Ein dicker Wälzer mit reichlich Inspirationen. Auf jeder Seite findest du einen neuen Zopf, den du bestimmt stricken möchtest. So geht es jedenfalls mir. Die große Zopfmustersammlung beinhaltet 152 Muster für verzopfte Strickereien. Norah Gaughan erzählt auf den ersten Seiten über ihr persönliches Strickleben. Als Strickdesignerin liebt sie die Zöpfe und verwendet sie oft in ihren Modellen. Sie weißt allerdings darauf hin, dass nicht jeder sofort die super Zöpfe hinbekommen muss. Sie ist süchtig nach Zöpfen, weshalb ihr manchmal gar nicht mehr auffällt, wie schwer die Anleitung gerade ist. Also solltest du mutig sein und dich an den Anleitungen versuchen...Grundsätzlich, eigentlich einfach
So beschreibt sie im ersten Kapitel, dem Basiswissen, wie man die Maschen verkreutzt und dreht, damit diese tollen Zöpfe herauskommen. Man nehme...und schon ist man Verzopfungsmodus. Ich will hier auch noch darauf hinweisen, dass ich selber süchtig nach Zöpfe bin. Sie müssen nicht immer komplex sein, manchmal kann ich mich aber nicht beherrschen.
Ohne Fachbegriffe geht es natürlich auch nicht. Eine Doppelseite hilft da weiter. Außerdem werden schriftliche Anleitungen und das Lesen einer Strickschrift erklärt. Alles Dinge, die man als versierte Strickerin schon mal gesehen und gemacht hat. Wichtig sind vielleicht noch die Fehlerbehebungen. Manchmal sieht man den Fehler erst, wenn man schon 20 cm weiter gestrickt hat. Großes Malheur! Norah Gaughan weiß aber Rat.Aber lass uns endlich anfangen
Mit einfachen Zöpfen lässt sie mich Blut lecken, um dann immer komplizierter zu werden. Am Ende der sechs Kapitel malt sie förmlich mit ihren Zöpfen Blumenranken. Die Designerin lockt mit 15 Modellen, die man gerne nachstricken kann und lädt dazu ein, auch eigene Kreationen auf den Strickmodellen auszuprobieren. Nicht jedes Projekt würde ich nachstricken, aber inspirierend finde ich die Pullover, Röcke und Mützen schon sehr.
Mein Fazit
Ein schönes Buch, um super Zöpfe zu kreieren. Die Anleitungen sind perfekt erklärt und man kann sich seinen eigenen Zopfpulli entwerfen. Zumindest, was die Verzopfungen angeht. Jedes Projekt lädt zu Experimenten ein und die passende Hilfe findest du auf den ersten Seiten. Ich habe mich in dieses Buch verliebt und werde es bestimmt öfter aufschlagen, um mir Ideen für meine Zopfsucht zu holen. Es ist kein echtes Anleitungsbuch. Man findet hier viel Inspiration. Für Strickanfänger, die mutig sind und Strickerinnen, die sich mal trauen wollen.
Ich stelle dir heute ein Buch über gestrickte Zöpfe vor. Ein dicker Wälzer mit reichlich Inspirationen. Auf jeder Seite findest du einen neuen Zopf, den du bestimmt stricken möchtest. So geht es jedenfalls mir. Die große Zopfmustersammlung beinhaltet 152 Muster für verzopfte Strickereien. Norah Gaughan erzählt auf den ersten Seiten über ihr persönliches Strickleben. Als Strickdesignerin liebt sie die Zöpfe und verwendet sie oft in ihren Modellen. Sie weißt allerdings darauf hin, dass nicht jeder sofort die super Zöpfe hinbekommen muss. Sie ist süchtig nach Zöpfen, weshalb ihr manchmal gar nicht mehr auffällt, wie schwer die Anleitung gerade ist. Also solltest du mutig sein und dich an den Anleitungen versuchen...Grundsätzlich, eigentlich einfach
So beschreibt sie im ersten Kapitel, dem Basiswissen, wie man die Maschen verkreutzt und dreht, damit diese tollen Zöpfe herauskommen. Man nehme...und schon ist man Verzopfungsmodus. Ich will hier auch noch darauf hinweisen, dass ich selber süchtig nach Zöpfe bin. Sie müssen nicht immer komplex sein, manchmal kann ich mich aber nicht beherrschen.
Ohne Fachbegriffe geht es natürlich auch nicht. Eine Doppelseite hilft da weiter. Außerdem werden schriftliche Anleitungen und das Lesen einer Strickschrift erklärt. Alles Dinge, die man als versierte Strickerin schon mal gesehen und gemacht hat. Wichtig sind vielleicht noch die Fehlerbehebungen. Manchmal sieht man den Fehler erst, wenn man schon 20 cm weiter gestrickt hat. Großes Malheur! Norah Gaughan weiß aber Rat.Aber lass uns endlich anfangen
Mit einfachen Zöpfen lässt sie mich Blut lecken, um dann immer komplizierter zu werden. Am Ende der sechs Kapitel malt sie förmlich mit ihren Zöpfen Blumenranken. Die Designerin lockt mit 15 Modellen, die man gerne nachstricken kann und lädt dazu ein, auch eigene Kreationen auf den Strickmodellen auszuprobieren. Nicht jedes Projekt würde ich nachstricken, aber inspirierend finde ich die Pullover, Röcke und Mützen schon sehr.
Mein Fazit
Ein schönes Buch, um super Zöpfe zu kreieren. Die Anleitungen sind perfekt erklärt und man kann sich seinen eigenen Zopfpulli entwerfen. Zumindest, was die Verzopfungen angeht. Jedes Projekt lädt zu Experimenten ein und die passende Hilfe findest du auf den ersten Seiten. Ich habe mich in dieses Buch verliebt und werde es bestimmt öfter aufschlagen, um mir Ideen für meine Zopfsucht zu holen. Es ist kein echtes Anleitungsbuch. Man findet hier viel Inspiration. Für Strickanfänger, die mutig sind und Strickerinnen, die sich mal trauen wollen.
December 18, 2020
Good overview of knitting stitches, and also a nice book to hold. Hard cover, nice pages. Don't really care for the patterns, though. The stockinette equivalents aren't needed for me right now, but it's nice to have them included, and they'll be a life saver for people with cable needle difficulties.
October 19, 2016
AMAZING. I think this book will become my knitting bible and go-to for all things cabled.
May 23, 2017
I own both Kindle and physical book. I started with the Kindle and realized that the patterns were so complex they would need to be printed. Ordinarily, I would just make do, but this is such a wonderful book that I don't mind giving my money to the author for an extra book. It will be useful to have both versions.
Note: Rarely would I presume to call an author I've never met by her given name, but the book is written in such a personal manner by the time I finished it I felt like I had been talking to a friend and "Ms. Gaughan" seemed almost like an insult.
Not only is the book filled with wonderfully complex and beautiful cables, but the information given about the formation of cables and their characteristics makes for fascinating reading. After finishing the book, I felt like I had been attending a seminar. I also came to realize that Norah had given me the tools to create my own designs with greater control. I have always made up the patterns for my Aran sweaters, but figuring out the gauge meant either "guess and rip" or making sweaters for whoever they fit.
For many of the cable designs, Norah starts from a simple cable and then shares the creative process as she explores variations which build on the preceding changes. I found myself also saying, "What would happen if I....." She also explores the changes to the reverse side of the work making many more options to choose from for scarves or other projects that are much more satisfying if there is no obvious wrong side.
One aspect I was not familiar with was the difference between columns and lines. I have mainly worked with columns with only a few small lines which move the columns only slightly, with the emphasis being on the columns. The addition of lines which make the design look more like landscape knot gardens gave a whole new dimension to the use of cables. The end of the book has patterns which incorporate cables and lines to make the whole front or back a single entity rather than a repetition of cable patterns. The fitted pullover on page 269 is a work of art.
I can't say enough about this wonderful book and every creative knitter should have it on his or her bookshelf.
Note: Rarely would I presume to call an author I've never met by her given name, but the book is written in such a personal manner by the time I finished it I felt like I had been talking to a friend and "Ms. Gaughan" seemed almost like an insult.
Not only is the book filled with wonderfully complex and beautiful cables, but the information given about the formation of cables and their characteristics makes for fascinating reading. After finishing the book, I felt like I had been attending a seminar. I also came to realize that Norah had given me the tools to create my own designs with greater control. I have always made up the patterns for my Aran sweaters, but figuring out the gauge meant either "guess and rip" or making sweaters for whoever they fit.
For many of the cable designs, Norah starts from a simple cable and then shares the creative process as she explores variations which build on the preceding changes. I found myself also saying, "What would happen if I....." She also explores the changes to the reverse side of the work making many more options to choose from for scarves or other projects that are much more satisfying if there is no obvious wrong side.
One aspect I was not familiar with was the difference between columns and lines. I have mainly worked with columns with only a few small lines which move the columns only slightly, with the emphasis being on the columns. The addition of lines which make the design look more like landscape knot gardens gave a whole new dimension to the use of cables. The end of the book has patterns which incorporate cables and lines to make the whole front or back a single entity rather than a repetition of cable patterns. The fitted pullover on page 269 is a work of art.
I can't say enough about this wonderful book and every creative knitter should have it on his or her bookshelf.
October 10, 2017
I love this book! Every pattern in this book is beautiful. Clear, clean-looking photographs display cable patterns ranging from beginner to advanced in skill level. The hard part is deciding where to start! The instructions are written so that knitters can really experiment and individualize each design to suit their projects. The author includes 2–3 projects in each section of the book, but these are meant to be flexible if knitters want to substitute other cable motifs. The author even includes what she calls her Stockinette Stitch Equivalent System to make it easier to do so. Don’t be frightened away by the complex charts. Personally, I prefer to read the written instructions which are also provided.
Even if you don’t try any patterns from this book, flip through the pages to see how Gaughan manipulates and varies these cable designs worked using the same basic cables, twists, and crosses. I especially recommend this book to intermediate knitters looking to develop their cabling skills.
Elizabeth L. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.
December 30, 2017
Cable mania
A most comprehensive book by a brilliant designer. This book has cables ranging from simple to very complex. Each one carefully charted or described line by line. It goes beyond following a template. Knitters are encouraged to play and design their own cable patterns. An excellent addition to any knitter's library.
A most comprehensive book by a brilliant designer. This book has cables ranging from simple to very complex. Each one carefully charted or described line by line. It goes beyond following a template. Knitters are encouraged to play and design their own cable patterns. An excellent addition to any knitter's library.
May 24, 2021
A fantastic resource for cable lovers & knitwear designers! There are so many different cables to choose from, the making possibilities are endless. The only reason I did not give this book 5 stars was the pattern sizing. It is only inclusive up to a 54" bust, and I would prefer it size up to a 62" bust.
March 11, 2025
Awesome
If you knit cables, this book is a must-have. It uses both charts and symbol lists to describe the pattern. The projects start with simple double cables and progress to patterns that have multiple, dynamic twists and turns. It also has full patterns for sweaters, cardigans and scarves.
If you knit cables, this book is a must-have. It uses both charts and symbol lists to describe the pattern. The projects start with simple double cables and progress to patterns that have multiple, dynamic twists and turns. It also has full patterns for sweaters, cardigans and scarves.
March 25, 2018
As usual with Norah Gaughan's work, her coverage of the topic is thorough, combines art and science and mechanics, and gives the knitter tools to strike out with additional permutations. The SSE (Stockinette Stitch Equivalent) is genius! Where has it been all my knitting life?
July 2, 2020
What an amazing sourcebook! It offers so many great patterns and explains how we can interchange the cables combinations. The perfect tool when we like to create our own designs. I highly recommend this book.
April 4, 2022
It's strange to "read" a knitting book, and probably stranger to rate it. But I finished the sweater that I bought this sourcebook for and therefore consider it "finished." Thank you Norah Gaughan for the excellent cable inspiration, someday I'll dive back in for another project!
July 6, 2017
An excellent introduction to working with cables and designing cables knitting projects. I appreciate the unique shapes of both stitch patterns and garments, but found most weren't to my taste.
October 11, 2017
Will keep handy for future projects.
November 19, 2017
Loved it so much I bought a copy. Can't wait to work through the projects I have started so I can get into my own pattern making through this exhaustive cable resource.
January 18, 2018
So many fabulous cables, so much inspiration!
April 26, 2018
Pure, blissfully wonky and delightful cables.
October 8, 2018
A great source book!
December 12, 2018
Tons of nice patterns, not sure yet what I'll make.
February 15, 2019
I'll be dreaming of this book until I can add it to my personal collection.
April 14, 2020
Good cables, though I prefer them to be more symmetrical.
April 28, 2021
Inspiring book on cable knitting and design.
January 2, 2023
A great inspiration book, with a lot of ideas. I plan to use a cable as a design feature on my next sweater, now I just have to whittle down my choices!
This is a great example of using the library.
This is a great example of using the library.
February 1, 2023
Excuse my words, but the growing complexity of the pattern in every page makes me come.
June 20, 2023
I'm currently looking for specifically a cable reference book, but this doesn't have majority of the basics
I would recommend this to knitters who love super intricate cables
I would recommend this to knitters who love super intricate cables
March 10, 2025
Some interesting patterns
There are some motifs I liked. Some interesting ways to adapt motifs. A lot felt like ones I've seen before though.
There are some motifs I liked. Some interesting ways to adapt motifs. A lot felt like ones I've seen before though.
June 6, 2025
Cable knitting
Very intense pattern designs which i will thoroughly enjoy. Grateful to learn more to progress into patterns enable to create my own sweaters.
Very intense pattern designs which i will thoroughly enjoy. Grateful to learn more to progress into patterns enable to create my own sweaters.
March 12, 2017
What an amazingly dense resource for understanding cables. How they work and relate and can be shaped to your will. I will be referring to this text for the rest of my knitting life.
October 11, 2016
Love it!
I learned to knit because I love cables. I preordered this book and I was not disappointed. I can't wait to start knitting some of the cable stitch patterns! I was also thrilled to see garment patterns that incorporate some of the more complicated stitch patterns. If you love intricate cables, you will love this cable knitting book!
I learned to knit because I love cables. I preordered this book and I was not disappointed. I can't wait to start knitting some of the cable stitch patterns! I was also thrilled to see garment patterns that incorporate some of the more complicated stitch patterns. If you love intricate cables, you will love this cable knitting book!
December 30, 2020
So much inspiration!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews