KNITTING--what happens to backside of fabric when knitting cable?

Question

I'm about to try my hand at cable stitch. But before I start I was wondering what the backside of the fabric will look like?

Answer 1

The reverse side of a cabled fabric does not look like the public side.  It looks more like the surface of the moon IMO <G>.  However, Lily Chin wrote a book and several patterns with reversible cables, which it sounds like what you're hoping it will look like.  While the reverse isn't unattractive, it won't look like what  you might expect.

Answer 2

What exactly it'll look like depends on the type of cable you're knitting, of course, but generally the back of a cable is a sort of snake-y squiggle.  For example--

Front:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53357193@N0...

Back:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53357193@N0...

Answer 3

I've been using a very simple reversible cable stitch. It works off a rib pattern. It's actually a lot of fun, trying to figure out how it happens.

This is the web site I picked up the design. http://www.cometosilver.com/patterns/ind...

The Palindrome Hat  and scarf are very easy to make and very attractive.