The horseshoe cable is a raised 'u' shape that is created by knitting both a front cross and a back cross cable on the same row. It's a particularly versatile cabling technique because you can also knit this shape upside down - to create more of an 'n' shape instead.

The 'u's and 'n's can be used individually or combined together to form 'O' (circle/globe) or 'X' shapes. A popular pattern is to make a chain of 'X' and 'O' shapes to represent hugs and kisses :)

If you would like to see a demonstration of this pattern being knitted, take a look at the video below. Otherwise, please find the written pattern here:

I began by casting on 12 stitches. The cable pattern itself is 8 stitches wide, and I also wanted 2 columns of reverse stockinette (2 stitches wide) either side of the cable.

If you want to remove the reverse stockinette at the edges, just cast on 8 stitches instead and remove the first 2 and last 2 stitches on each row in the pattern.

Pattern:

Rows 1 & 3 (RS): p2, k8, p2

Rows 2 & 4 (WS): k2, p8, k2

(i.e. 'knit the knits & purl the purls')

Row 5: p2, C4F, C4B, p2

(to make an upside-down horseshoe cable ('n'))

OR Row 5: p2, C4B, C4F, p2

(to make an upright horseshoe or 'wine glass' cable ('u'))

Row 6 = row 2

Where k = knit, C4B = a back cross cable worked over 4 stitches, C4F = a front cross cable worked over 4 stitches

You'll see that row 5 is the only cable row, and is the only row you need to change depending on if you want to create a 'u' or 'n' shape cable.

To make an 'X' shape, you would knit the 'n' shape then the 'u' shape. To make a circle 'O' shape you would knit the 'u' shape first, then the 'n' shape.