Rib

I love a good rib stitch. I have my favourites and my not-so favourites – and of course this changes depending on what I’m knitting.

For the band of a hat I love a 1 x 1 rib (1 knit, 1 purl, repeat ad nauseam), but if it’s a fair isle hat nothing beats a 2 x 2 corrugated rib.

For jumpers it depends on the finished size and the weight of the yarn. I like a man-size jumper like the GBMJ, (Giant Brown Man Jumper – currently being knit for my fella’s birthday), to have a 2 x 2 rib for the cuffs and hems. A 1 x 1 would just be too dainty for both the yarn and the garment.

Naturally I take each garment on its merits rather than apply a firm rule, but I do find that generally it works. Big item or big yarn – big rib.

One of the biggest ribs I use and love is not really for cuffs and edgings – it’s an all over stitch. While it does pull in very slightly, it is really more of a variation of stocking stitch than a true rib. I’ve seen it called lots of different things: pip rib, wide rib, interrupted rib.

I’m not sure what to call it but it’s basically 4 – 8 stitches in stocking stitch and then one or two stitches in garter stitch. The stitch was used to great effect on the Debbie Bliss Ribbon Edged Cardigan I made.

Making this tiny baby cardigan taught me a very important thing about trims.

I learned that if you are using a ribbon or lace trim on your knitting, you should buy the trim first and match the yarn to the ribbon.

Originally I was going to use some pale shell pink yarn that I had in my stash but it was so hard to find a lace or ribbon trim that was a) frilly not flat, b) not scratchy and c) a colour other than black, white or cream. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be so I ended up deciding to match the yarn to one of the few suitable trims I could find.

Luckily the colour range of Baby Cashmerino is very good so I found a good match for the blue-grey lace.

Anyway, back to the rib. I love how this rib looks. It’s a little bit fancier than plain stocking stitch but not as boring to knit. It makes a good pattern for menswear because it’s not “girly” or overly fussy.

The GBMJ is knit in a similar rib with eight stitches in stocking stitch to two stitches in garter stitch and I’m really happy with how it’s progressing.

I just hope that knitting a whole, man-sized jumper in this rib doesn’t ruin it for me forever.