Tiny Size Me
Haven’t made your own personalized icon yet? C’mon… everybody’s doing it. 
No pictures of knitting today, but I do have a question for any of you masters of ribbing out there. What’s the secret to keep my stitches tight when switching from knits to purls?
I thought that it would be the cables that would throw me off with this Rowan pattern — but it’s my messy ribbing that’s driving me nuts. I feel like I’m keeping my stitches as tight as humanly possible — which is actually making the experience somewhat unpleasant — but what else can I do?
June 23rd, 2004 at 3:57 pm
I think i’ve had this problem too…Is it a problem where the knit stitch on the left of the ribbing looks looser than the other stitches. If this is indeed what you’re talking about, this is due to the uneven tension you get from switching from knitting to purling. Tightly pull the two pul stitches FOLLOWING the last knit stitch of your ribbing, and your ribbing to tighten up that edge stitch.
June 23rd, 2004 at 3:58 pm
er, at the end of that post i meant to say “…and the edge stitch of the ribbing will tighten up…”
June 23rd, 2004 at 5:45 pm
I have had a hate/hate relationship with ribbing all my knitting life. For me, it’s definitely the problem Nik describes: that one column of icky knit stitches. Her solution is the only way I know to make it better, but even so, my ribbing never looks like it would win a beauty contest. (The sweater I just started, Asta, has a wealth of irregular ribbing at bottom and cuffs. What was I thinking??)
June 24th, 2004 at 5:50 pm
I’m having this same problem with my Onde pullover. And the whole sweater is ribbing on small needles! I’m tugging away, and it seems to be helping.
June 25th, 2004 at 4:01 pm
Try purling the stitch next to the knit stitch the wrong way (counterclockwise). Then in the next row, knit through the back loop.