Editing Knitting (section)

===Cables, increases, and lace===
{{See also |List of knitting stitches}}
Ordinarily, stitches are knitted in the same order in every row, and the wales of the fabric run parallel and vertically along the fabric.  However, this need not be so, since the order in which stitches are knitted may be permuted so that wales cross over one another, forming a cable pattern.  Cable patterns tend to draw the fabric together, making it denser and less elastic;<ref>{{cite book | last = Leapman | first = Melissa | year = 2006 | title = Cables Untangled: An Exploration of Cable Knitting | publisher = Potter Craft | isbn = 978-1-4000-9745-6}}</ref> [[Aran sweater]]s are a common form of knitted cabling.<ref>{{cite book | last = Hollingworth | first = Shelagh | year = 1983 | title = The Complete Book of Traditional Aran Knitting | publisher = St. Martin's Press | isbn = 978-0-312-15635-0}}</ref>  Arbitrarily complex braid patterns can be done in [[cable knitting]], with the proviso that the wales must move ever upwards; it is generally impossible for a wale to move up and then down the fabric.  Knitters have developed methods for giving the illusion of a circular wale, such as appear in [[Celtic knot]]s, but these are inexact approximations.  However, such circular wales are possible using Swiss darning, a form of embroidery, or by knitting a tube separately and attaching it to the knitted fabric.

[[Image:Serweta-na.drutach2.jpg|left|thumb|In [[lace knitting]], the pattern is formed by making small, stable holes in the fabric, generally with [[yarn over]]s.]]
A wale can split into two or more wales using [[increase (knitting)|increases]], most commonly involving a [[yarn over]].  Depending on how the increase is done, there is often a hole in the fabric at the point of the increase.  This is used to great effect in [[lace knitting]], which consists of making patterns and pictures using such holes, rather than with the stitches themselves.<ref>{{cite book | last = Sowerby | first = Jane | year = 2006 | title = Victorian Lace Today | publisher = XRX Books | isbn = 978-1-933064-07-9}}<br />{{cite book | last = Swansen | first = Meg | year = 2005 | title = A Gathering of Lace | edition = 2nd | publisher = Schoolhouse Press | isbn = 978-1-893762-24-4}}</ref>  The large and many holes in lacy knitting makes it extremely elastic; for example, some Shetland "wedding-ring" shawls are so fine that they may be drawn through a wedding ring.

By combining increases and decreases, it is possible to make the direction of a wale slant away from vertical, even in weft knitting.  This is the basis for [[bias knitting]], and can be used for visual effect, similar to the direction of a brush-stroke in oil painting.