How To Work A 4 x 4 Left Cable in The Round

In this video, Brenda K. B. Anderson demonstrates how to work a crochet cable in the round. This is a 4 x 4 left-leaning cable, meaning that there are 4 post stitches that cross over another set of 4 post stitches, and the cable slants to the left. Download the 4 x 4 left-leaning cable chart here for a visual reference.

A note to left-handed crocheters:
Left-handed crocheters should watch the video in a mirror (or flip their screen horizontally) in order to see what it would look like if a left-handed person was crocheting it. In order to work the chart from left to right, a left-handed person should make a copy of the crochet chart with the image flipped horizontally. The resulting cable would be the mirror image of this cable—it would lean to the right instead of to the left.

Brenda works this cable across 8 stitches, on a background of extended single crochet (ESC). She notes that the ESC stitch pattern is great for a cable background because it is a flat, smooth stitch, and the stitches stack vertically on top of each other and do not “lean” or twist off to the side as they are worked in the round.

Brenda begins by working a set-up row: she works ESC across to the location where she wants her cable to start, then she works 8 DC stitches where she wants the cable to be. She then continues with ESC. Then she positions the first stitch from the set-up row right next to the last stitch worked, preparing to work in the round.

Brenda begins working the cable stitch pattern, beginning with Round 1 of the chart and working as follows:

Rnd 1: ESC in each stitch to cable section, FPDC in each of the next 8 DC sts, ESC in each stitch to end.

Rnd 2: ESC in each stitch to cable section, skip next 4 sts, FPTR in each of next 4 sts, working in front of sts just made, FPTR in 4 skipped sts, ESC to end.

Rnds 3–5: ESC in each stitch to cable section, FPDC in each of the next 8 sts, ESC in each stitch to end.

Repeat Rnds 2–5 for pattern.

Brenda gives a couple suggestions at the end of the video for how to incorporate this cable into a project of your own design. Cables are super fun to work up—and this one is simple enough for someone trying them out for the first time. If you’ve ever wanted to learn to crochet cables, this is the perfect place to start!