This is another of those things that I found online several years ago. I made one and let it set in my knitting box for years. I cannot tell you where I found because I really don’t remember. If you have any idea who came up with this wonderful idea I would love to know and give them the credit they deserve.
I’ve used cotton yarns to knit dish cloths and face cloths for my nightly knitting to the point that I have about 30 stacked away in drawers. I do love the plain garter stitch ones to use as face cloths. They are so soft on my skin that I seldom use anything else. However, there are only so many plain garter stitch ones a person really wants to do.. ;o/ I decided that these wonderful small projects would be good to try new things… hence the cables. After losing my cable needle a of couple times down the side of my chair, I decided to dig out this little ring and see if it works.
I love it. No more fear of ca
bles. Just wish I had pulled it out sooner. The picture above shows how the ring is used. Very practical and easy.
The picture on the left shows the finished dish cloth. The beginning of the cloth is at the bottom. This is the practice for making the cables front to back. The upper part of the cloth is practice making the cables front only. I can’t believe how much this little ring made a difference in how I feel about knitting cables.
Making one is as easy as measuring your finger. Mine is 2 ½ inches around. I wanted the ring to ½” across. Here’s what I did.
1. I cut a strip of fabric (I used cotton) about 2 ½” long by 1 ¾” wide. This time I used fabric ribbon. The selvages are tight and it’s woven closely. The grosgrain ribbon would make a good ring, but for the purpose of this tute it didn’t work out very well.. ;o)
2 I folded the cut piece in half lengthwise and pressed it with my iron.
3. I opened it back out flat and then I folded the edges back to the fold line in the middle and pressed each side.
4. For this ring, I used regular sewing thread to make my cord for the buttonhole. Crochet thread, yarn or any other cord of the right size would also work for this. I sewed the two ends of the cord together, placed them to the inside of the folded ring and sewed it very well to the end of the ring fabric. Then I continued to sew along the end, the side and the other end to completely sew the ring together. I did this with a needle and thread (please don’t look closely at the stitches..lol) because it seems the electric cord and foot pedal for my sewing machines decided to stay behind.. I guess they just didn’t want to leave! This is much faster with a sewing machine.. ;o)
5. Now I placed the ring around the finger that I wanted to use it with to decide the button placement. I marked where I wanted the button with a pen.
6. By sliding the needle with the thread still connected through the center of the fabric ring and coming out again at the mark I made for sizing, I continued bye sewing on the button with no cutting of my thread. This step you may want to do differently. You can certainly fasten your thread firmly, cut it and then come back to the mark to place your button. Either way, the button needs to be very securely sewn on. Voila’…
You now have a Cable Needle Ring…
If you decide to make one of these, please let me know. It would be nice to see if anyone else finds these as useful as I do.. ;o)
Have a wonderful day. The sun is shining here in North Texas and temps are in the low 50s. Still not too bad for this time of year. Thanksgiving is coming up soon and here’s wishes for everyone to have a lovely day with family and/or friends.. ;o)
Michele Bilyeu. Michele is very active with charity quilting.. especially the The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative … but here’s the site where she can tell you herself.. ;o)
