Fixed My Ribbing!

As I mentioned in the last post, I've been working on ways to fix my ribbing. Specifically, fixing the last knit/first purl stitch. They always come our looser than the other stitches, and the column seems to wobble because the stitches aren't consistently the same looseness. The sloppy appearance annoys me so much that I avoid ribbed patterns at all -- a serious problem for my sock knitting, since I love the way ribbed socks fit. And there are so many lovely variations of ribbing that I have to avoid!

For 1x1 ribbing, I generally cheat and use twisted rib. But for 2x2, 3x3, etc, the best I could think of was putting good firm YANK on the offending stitches. This approach has several obvious problems; it's tiring, and it makes my wrist hurt; "yanks" are highly inconsistent in and of themselves; it makes ribbing something I have to concentrate on instead of something that is, and should be, nearly mindless; and finally, it only addresses the looseness, not the wobble.

This is an issue for both flat and circular knitting, since when you work the wrong side the first purl becomes hte last knit. I recently re-read the first few chapters of Montse Stanley's Knitter's Handbook. She had a wonderful tip for fixing the loose knit stitch: on the right side of the work, knit through the back of the loop; on the wrong side, purl but wrap the yarn under the needle. In essence, purling with yarn under puts the stitch on the needle backwards, and KTB puts it right. On both sides, there's a bit less yarn in the throw and the stitches tighten up nicely.

But, how to adapt it to circular ribbing? Miss Stanley offers no advice.

After a couple of false starts, I think I've got it.

Here is a sample of circular 3x3 ribbing with my normal tension, no yanking or other techniques for the loose stitches:


I cast on too tight for this sample, masking the problem in the first few rows. But the sample still clearly shows the relative looseness of the last k/first p. The purl stitches seem to cringe to the left, as though there's something repulsive about the last knit stitch. And the last k stitch does form a wobbly column, even though this particular yarn is exceptionally forgiving.


Flip the blocker over, and here is the other side with the improved rib technique:



Not perfect, but vastly improved. When it's not stretched, the unevenness isn't noticeable.



So, here's how I did it.



On the first round (set-up round):

• last k: knit by wrapping yarn in front of the right needle


• first p: knit by wrapping yarn under the right needle
  

On all subsequent rounds:

• last k: knit through back of loop, wrapping yarn in front of right needle


• first p: purl through back of loop, wrapping yarn under the right needle

Here's how the last knit stitch will appear on the left needle after set-up -- the loop is backwards on the needle:

Wrapping the yarn in front of the right needle:

The first purl stitch as it appears on the left needle -- again, the stitch is hanging backwards:

Wrapping the yarn under the left needle:

I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who has this problem, and I'm equally sure I'm not the first one to fix it. But I wanted to share what I've learned so that I might help one of my fellow knitters (as so many of you have helped me through your web posts and podcasts.)