One of the biggest problems with knitted ribbing is the relative lack of stretch in the cast-on or bound-off edges.

 Ribbing is almost always at the edges of a garment, and we usually want it to stretch as much as possible. If the cast-on or bound-off edge is really tight, it can even break when the ribbing is stretched over a heel or a head. And then calamity ensues.

One solution to this problem is to use tubular cast-on and bind-off techniques, but I think those really only work well on 1 x 1 ribbing, especially when you’re using smooth yarns.

When I did my recent “Sassy” sweater, which is all 2 x 2 ribbing, I used a couple of specialized methods – one of which was new to me – to cast on the sleeves and bind off the neck. I think they both worked really well, so I’m sharing.

Unfortunately, I used these techniques on the part of the sweater that is in mohair, which means the close-up pictures (shown below) are a little fuzzy, because the yarn is a little fuzzy. If anyone wants to knit up better samples and send me pics, I’ll be happy to post ‘em.

P.S. Obviously, I didn’t use the ruffle technique (described below) anywhere on this sweater, and now I’m kind of thinking, “wouldn’t this be just a little bit SASSIER with cute little ruffles at the sleeves?” Damn.

 

Ribbing Cast-On

I learned about this one recently by - um - sort of eavesdropping at a LYS. A student in one of my classes was showing off her socks, on which she had used this technique. As she explained to her friend what she had done, it immediately made a great deal of sense to me and was almost one of those “why didn’t I think of that” moments. However, I don’t know whether the idea was original with her, or where she got it, nor whether it ought to be credited to someone, somewhere. I was quite pleased with the results on my sleeves; I expect it would work like a charm on any style of ribbing.

Step 1: Cast on twice as many stitches as you need for your ribbing.

Step 2: Work the first row of your ribbing pattern, EXCEPT work 2 cast on sts tog for every stitch you would normally work. For my 2 x 2 rib, instead of working [K, K, P, P] I worked [K2tog, K2tog, P2tog, P2tog] over all my cast-on sts. (One-half the sts decreased.)

Then proceed as usual – in this case, in [K2, P2] rib. Simple, no? But very effective and hardly noticeable.

Ruffle Cast-On

This one came to me from Sandi, a LYS owner.

A method similar to the cast-on described above can also be used to put a cute little ruffle at the top of a sock, or any other cast-on edge:

Cast on 2x the needed sts and work in stockinette (or whatever) for a few rows, as deep as you want the ruffle to be.

Then go into your ribbing or other st pattern, working 2 sts tog for every st of the pattern, as described above.

Ribbing Bind-Off

To be honest, I’m not sure where I picked up this little gem. In my notes it says it’s for 1 x 1 ribbing, but I’ve successfully used it on other rib patterns too, such as this 2 x 2 rib.

** Look at 2nd st on LH needle. If it is a knit, k2tog; if it is a purl, p2tog. Slip the new st back to LH needle without twisting.**

Repeat between ** until all sts are cast off.

BTW - do you know why ribbings are traditionally worked on a needle 2 sizes smaller than that used for the stockinette portion of the garment?

The usual answer is that this causes the ribbing to be somewhat tighter, and thus more elastic.

The real answer is, that it also causes the knit stitches in the ribbing to look about the same size as the knit sts in the stockinette portion.

When you knit a 1 x 1 ribbing, the knit sts are not constrained by the sts on either side of them, so they are able to spread laterally and they look bigger. So if you use a smaller needle for the ribbing, the knit sts in the ribbing will end up looking about the same size as the knit sts in the rest of the garment fabric.

Try knitting a swatch of a few rows of 1 x 1 ribbing, then a few rows of stockinette, all on the same size needle, and you’ll see what I mean. Those ribbing sts look huge and ungainly next to that tidy stockinette.

Color Changes in Ribbing

If you purl on the RS of the work, on the first row of a new color, you’ll end up with the new color showing up as purl “bumps” or “blips” in the old color, and vice versa. If you want a clean color change in ribbing – or any time you have a purl st involved in a st pattern – you can introduce an all-knit row on the right side of the fabric when you introduce the new color. Depending on the st pattern, this all-knit row can be surprisingly unnoticeable.

I learned this hint from Jacqueline Fee’s “The Sweater Workshop", although I didn’t use it on my Sassy sweater!  Because this ribbing was going to be fairly stretched out when worn, I was not sure whether the color blips or an all-knit row would be more noticeable. Frankly, the idea of blips didn’t bother me enough for me to swatch it – so I just went with the blips, as you can see.

Stripe Exercise:

Work a sample of ribbing in any pattern you like.

On a RS row, change color and work the first half of the row just knitting across, and the second half in your rib pattern. This should put no blips on the first half of the swatch, and blips on the second half of the swatch.

Continue the rib patt in the new color for several rows, and compare the looks of the two halves of the swatch.

Happy Knitting!