I am planning to knit a scarf using a stockinette stitch and i heard that doing a few rows of ribbing will help it from curling. I have a question on ribbing: if the first row is : ‘knit purl knit’, would the second row be: ‘purl knit purl’ or ‘knit purl knit’? i casted on 25 stitches btw if that makes any difference.
thank you!
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A 1×1 rib, where you K1, P1, is a great way to get the stockinette stitch look without the curl at the bottom. If the FIRST stitch of your first row is knit, then the LAST stitch of your second row will be purl…. you want to do the opposite on the other side since knit and purl are opposite of each other. This way, you match up the rib and it looks fantastic and professional
So if you are going to do a knit 2, purl 2 rib then it is best to have an amount of stitches that is divisible by 4, because then you always start every row by knitting two stitches and finish every row by purling two stitches, and this way you don’t have to keep track of anything and you are less likely to forget what you are doing and make a mistake. But I guess to answer your question more specifically if you knit the stitches on one side, then you want to purl them on the other. Also, depending on the type of yarn that you are using you can tell if you have to knit or purl a stitch just by looking at it. Stitches that need to be purled will have a flat piece of yarn across them where as stitches that need to be knitted will have two segments of yarn coming together diagonally.
http://www.theknittingsite.com/images/knit3.gif
That picture sort of shows what I mean, they are knitting in stockinette stitch so the stitches on the right have been “knit” and if you come to a stitch that looks like this you would knit it. The stitches on the left were knit on the other side, so they look how a stitch that you would want to purl would look if you were doing ribbing. For some types of yarn, this is impossible to see though.
Ok, to do ribbing with 25 stitches, you need to knit one, purl one, ending on a knit one stitch in the first row. The next row you will purl one, knit one, effectively knitting the stitches you purled on the last row, and purling the stitches you knit on the last row. that way the ‘bumps’ of the purl stitch will line up,
To make a scarf that doesn’t curl, you can do the rib stitch all the way through the lengthof the scarf, it will look terrific. you can also do a garter stitch for the first and the last four stitches in a row, and do the rest in stockinette, (knit a row, purl a row) That will reduce rolling on the edges.
Ribbing will work and so will seed stitch, so if you do knit 1, purl 1 on both sides this will end up as seed stitch and also gives a nice edge on the side of the scarf.
You could then just keep the seed stitch pattern going for the last two or three stitches on each side and that would work well to stop the stockinette stitch from curling on the sides also.
good luck
You can do one of two different ways — If you do a pattern with first row – K1-P1 and repeat for the row- The second row would would be the same for the ribbing.
You can also do a pattern of K2- P2 and repeat across- The second row would be the same as row 1. Both sides would be exactly alike.
Good Luck! Martha
for your refernce
videos:
1×1 ribbing (english)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZWgwYRopzs
1 x 1 rib Continental method
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qvGnIA4iG4
K2P1 rib- with Finish purl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-s7utgNTJU
i beleive the first video solves your confusion
on the first row you knit, purl, knit and then on the following rows you knit the knits and purl the purls, so yeah the second row will be purl knit purl.
There’s a great scarf that’s very popular right now that LOOKS like it’s stockinette, but it’s really 1×1 ribbing. Check out the blogs of Brooklyn Tweed and The Yarn Harlot for some great pictures. They both used two yarns, one variegated and the other a solid, and changed colors every other row.
Because the purl stitches “suck in”, you only see the knit stitches, so the resulting scarf looks like it’s smooth stockinette without the worry of rolling. It’s also reversible, since a purl stitch on one side looks just like a knit stitch on the other and vice versa.
btw, if you use an even number for your 1×1 ribbing, all your rows get worked the same way!
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