1x1 ribbing

[Marlet]

So I'm on my second swatch for the level 1 of the master hand knitting stuff and I'm becoming painfully aware of little things. I've decided to just knit as I normally do and if I have to redo then so be it. However this one is bugging me. My 1x1 ribbing looks twisted. From what I can tell it's my purl's that are doing (working the swatch flat). I haven't done ribbing flat in so long that I'm not sure if it has always looked like that. My 2x2 ribbing doesn't.

Is it just me or does everyone's do it?

[Marlet]

Hmmmm I guess it is just me.

[blizzard_babe]

Do you have a photo of how it ends up? I can't quite picture it in my mind, but a visual might help us help you...

[Marlet]

Sure! The quality sucks since they are on my cell phone at night on a stormy day but I have some!

1x1 ribbing

and as comparison my 2x2 ribbing Pay no attention to my sloppy edge on this one.

See what I mean? They are both the same yarn and needles and both are unblocked.

[mommy2maya]

It's from pulling the yarn from front to back or from back to front., you are pulling tighter in one direction.

[Marlet]

How come it's not there on my 2x2 though? Is it possibly from it being more even/consistent since I have 2 stitches between each switch? I figured it was a tension thing.

[Think of Winter]

Yeah, that picture is bad. Can you take a better one? I think you're probably right that it's a tension thing, and not as noticeable when you're doing 2X2. Are the stitches crossed at the bottom, or are they just uneven, like one leg is longer than the other? I think it looks pretty, btw. Perfect knitting is not more beautiful than what you're doing, it's just more even.

[birdiefu]

You know, I think it looks pretty neat . It's a consistent issue, which gives it a lot of charm. But like the pp mentioned, it looks like a tension problem. Seems to me that when you bring the yarn forwards from a K to P stitch, that's where you are getting loose. Is this swatch before or after blocking?

[Marlet]

Before. I need to get pins before I can block anything. Think that will help?

[flapjack]

Yep: BUT, go and check ravelry. There's a whole load of threads on 'urgh, my ribbing looks fugly' about exactly the same problem. I have no idea what the solution is (this doesn't seem to be a particular problem for me) but it's a tension-yarn moving- issue.

[Marlet]

Good idea. I wonder why it's only on my 1x1. Seriously, all other variations of ribbing look fantastic (IMO ). Oh well. I hope blocking works. If not they'll send it back to me and tell me it looks fugly and do it again. Part of the process.

[birdiefu]

Let us know how it looks after blocking! I really don't know why it would be so noticeable with 1x1 and not with other ribbing, other than maybe since there are more similar stitches together it evens out more. But I'm sure you can find a ton of answers on ravelry (it sucks up my time so badly over there, but I love it!).

One suggestion I do have that has made my ribbing more even is that when go from K to P, I rotate the stitches on the R needle inwards a little bit right after bringing the yarn forward and before doing the P. I don't add more tension to the yarn, but I find that just rotating the stitches themselves closer to the direction the next stitch will be taking place (P) helps make things prettier. I don't know if I'm explaining this clearly, but if you notice where the yarn comes out of a K stitch is in the back, it makes extra slack if you will be doing the next stitch towards the front (P) without adjusting anything. You could try adding just a bit more tension before doing the P, but that made my stitches uglier for some reason- rotating them before the next stitch works best for me.

[Ellien C]

I just want to give you a hearty round of applause for starting the master knitter certs. It's been a goal of mine for awhile and now that I have time and feel like I can mentally tackle that, I need to make funding it a priority. It's something I really want to do. Good for you for starting it!

[Angelorum]

ya know, I remember reading somewhere on rav that some people use a norwegian purl (video on knittinghelp.com) to combat that tension issue in ribbing. With norwegian purl you keep the yarn in the back. It takes longer I think than a normal purl with the yarn forward, but if it makes your ribbing look smoother, maybe it's worth a try. And I find it a fascinating stitch once I figured out how to do it.

[Marlet]

Originally Posted by Angelorum

ya know, I remember reading somewhere on rav that some people use a norwegian purl (video on knittinghelp.com) to combat that tension issue in ribbing. With norwegian purl you keep the yarn in the back. It takes longer I think than a normal purl with the yarn forward, but if it makes your ribbing look smoother, maybe it's worth a try. And I find it a fascinating stitch once I figured out how to do it.

Thanks for mentioning it! I went ahead and figured out how to do it this afternoon and 1. it totally rocks and is so much more fun than your standard purl and 2. my stitches don't look twisted! I'm going to have to practice at it to get my tension even (everything is kind of loose right now) but it totally rocks! I'm going to redo the swatch using that and I think I may make a switch to using it permanently. It's fun!

[Angelorum]

Glad it worked for you, it is a nifty stitch isn't it?