In this video lesson I will demonstrate how to knit '2 over 1' cables, which are created when you cross two stitches over one stitch. The result is a 2-stitch-wide cable that has moved either 1 stitch to the right or to the left.

The demonstration below includes 4 different '2 over 1' cables, including purl crosses which is where two knit stitches are crossed over one purl stitch. Purl crosses are usually used on a reverse stockinette stitch background, due to the right side of reverse stockinette stitch being formed using purl stitches.

This type of cable is a traveling cable because it is an individual cable strand that only crosses over the background stitches, rather than over other cable strands. It can therefore travel independently, wherever it wants to, over the surface of the knitting.

Even though they both create a cable that is 2 stitches wide, an important difference between 2/1 and 2/2 cables (for example) is the angle of the cable. This is due to the 2/1 cable moving over 1 background stitch only, whilst the 2/2 cable moves over 2 background stitches at a time.